goingeast

Has anyone every been to Albania? If so, is it interesting? If it's interesting, is it interesting in a "gee that was interesting in a, never want to do that again way " or genuinely intriguing.

the shephard

Is is worthy interesting I was htere two months and gladly will go there again.

cliffhanger

If you are interested in culture and history, Albania is very interesting. This is a place where East meets West.<BR>For organized historic and cultural tours go to http://www.kutrubestravel.com an US travel agency specializing in the country with 9 years of experience organzizing tours in unusual places.

mary

Crime and criminals activity such as prostitution, drug and human organ smuggling are rampant throughout Albania - it is a way of life and this way of life is taken with them to Greece and Italy and other neighbouring countries.<BR>check it out on the news !

Ang

I'll copy from a post that I put up a month ago: (By the way, Mary- I bet you don't live in a city, right??? "Crime and criminals activity such as prostitution, drug and human organ smuggling are rampant" You don't think this happens in the US????) <BR><BR>I recently just returned from a 2 week trip to Greece/Italy. We stayed in Corfu, and we took a boat to Saranda, Albania for a day. There were 2 ways to do this, either you could take a very comfortable organized day trip with Ionian cruises, or you could do what we did. The people that I was traveling with like to really "experience" other cultures. We took a boat that mostly the Albanians use to go back & forth to Corfu with. Once we got there we negotiated with a taxi driver to show us the sites for 4 hours, he charged $50. He took us to various points that had amazing views, views that really were as amazing as those in Santorini. We went to the ancient town of Butrinty which was a beautiful archaeological site. What made this area so much more attractive to me is the fact that it is very undeveloped and rugged. There is a very new (in fact they are still working on it) hotel in town, it is open. I believe it was called Hotel Butrinty, I wrote the name somewhere and need to locate it. It was a 4 star hotel and for suites we were told it would be $150. I could probably only imagine a night or two in this area, but if you are going to Corfu it is really worth going to. Many of the Albanians we met kept telling us to spread the word that they are not "animals" and that they are nice people. Which they really were. I think in a few years this area may definitely become developed, so I would suggest for the adventurous traveler that this is a must see. <BR>

ROY

HI THERE<BR>I ALSO WENT TO CORFU AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER 02 AND HAD A DAY TRIP TO SARANDA IN ALBANIA. THE BOAT JOURNEY TOOK ABOUT 1 1/2 HOURS AND AS YOU APPROACHED SARANDA IT LOOKED GREAT. IT WAS SITUATED IN A LARGE BAY WITH THE TOWN BUILT ON THE HILLSIDE SWEEPING DOWN TO THE SEA,BUT AS YOU GOT CLOSER AND COULD ACTUALLY SEE THE BUILDINGS - WELL THAT WAS SOMETHNG DIFFERENT. THEY MADE OUR RUN-DOWN COUNCIL ESTATES LOOK LIKE BUCKINGHAM PALACE, BUT ONCE WE GOT ON THE COACH AND TRAVELLED OUT OF SARANDA AND INTO THE COUNTRYSIDE IT WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST UNSPOIT AND BEAUFITUL PLACES I HAVE EVER VISITED.IT WAS FULL OF LAKES AND RIVERS AND IT WAS VERY PEACEFULL. CAN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE PEOPLE AS WE DID NOT HAVE TIME TO MEET ANY OF THEM. I DEFINATELY WOULD RECOMMEND A DAY TRIP TO SARANDA FOR ANYONE WHO IS HOLIDAYING IN CORFU. <BR>CHEERS