Albania 🇦🇱 : The South

by Jeff Gunn | Oct 19, 2025 | Europe

While several times larger than Montenegro, Albania is still very small so getting from north to south does not take long. That said it’s full of amazing little towns, steeped in history and some pretty stunning natural sites. It’s fair to say that we probably found more of these in the south than in the north. 

In addition to its beautiful coastal attractions ( they don’t call it the “Albanian Riviera” by accident, two inland towns in particular stand out on the itinerary of most who are exploring Albania – Berat and Gjirokaster. Berat was probably the favourite in terms of it authentic Ottoman-era architecture while Gjirokaster had the more impressive fort of the two. Both were impressive, full of tourists and one could easily enjoy getting lost in the cobble-stoned streets of their respective old towns. We certainly did ! Again and again wherever we went in Albania we were shown the most amazing hospitality, especially so in these two places. The camp hosts were extremely knowledgeable and willing to go to almost any lengths to ensure we had an enjoyable stay, but we found the same at restaurants, stores, gas stations and just anywhere we came into contact with local people. Curious, always, as to where we came from and how we liked Albania you could absolutely see these were incredibly proud folks, so grateful to be free of their recent past ( the 45 lost years ) and delighted to be back on the European travel circuit. 

From Gjirokaster our ours took us south through another national park and it’s rather unusual natural attraction, the “Blue Eye” ( named after its resemblance to a human iris). An almost two kilometre hike in from the entrance brought us to a crystal clear creek where a crowd had gathered – right there, below the observation deck was this most stunningly deep blue circle of water which looked almost surreal.

From the national park it was not far to the coast where we’d hoped to experience a couple of day on one of Albania’s top beachside towns – Hisame, Saranda and Ksamil among those vying for the distinction of being the best. Here the weather dealt us a bit of unseasonal blow depriving us of the chance to see these places at their best. We explored Saranda and Ksamil and settled on just one day and night a beautiful and somewhat secluded little beach just north of Ksamil. Despite less than ideal swimming conditions ( it being a bit of a cooler day ) the water was really warm making for a nice dip, the last one in the Adriatic for a while anyway.

With that the Greek border was only about 20kms south so we meandered down that way, this time an easy and quick crossing…😊.

Till next week…

In Case You Wondered:

Q: Has it been easy to get water, dump grey water and empty the cassette toilet everywhere ?

A: Mostly, yes, and bear in mind that we almost NEVER use commercial campgrounds ( we are fully self contained so there is usually just no need ). There’s a variety of places to get water – service stations, public parks, paid filling stations, etc, and so far we’ve found no issue locating cassette toilet style “dump” stations ( though easier in some places than others ). Here is a picture of one of the fancier cassette dump stations ( this one in Norway ):

Albania 🇦🇱 : The Road To Theth

by Jeff Gunn | Oct 12, 2025 | Europe

Probably no country on our European journey so far has been more anticipated than Albania. It was new to us, having never visited before, so there was always the allure of the unknown, but more importantly it has been generally less travelled having only been a popular “mainstream” destination in the 2000’s and especially so in recent years. There’s a lot to offer in a small package and first impressions have been generally excellent ( we knew what to expect with the litter and bad roads, so have discounted those things in said impressions ). First a little history.

Anyone in our age demographic will doubtless recall Albania as the “North Korea of Europe”, the most Stalinist state of all, or the “Hermit Kingdom” where the brutally repressive communist regime of dictator, Enver Hoxha ruled with an iron fist from 1946 till his death in 1985 but the regime survived until 1992 when it was finally overthrown by a popular people’s revolution. In the years since it has developed enormously, and while it is still Europe’s poorest, the trappings of an emerging “nouveau riche” class are visible everywhere. Its infrastructure is improving and in just a couple of decades of alignment with the West a new openness has emerged ( it was essentially sealed off from the world for 45 years ). Practically all young people speak English and are eager to engage – so far we’ve been overwhelmed with friendliness and hospitality !

Happened to arrive on what must have been a busy day ( or we just chose the wrong border crossing ) as it was a long wait to cross from Montenegro – once at the border, though, we were give a very warm “Welcome to Albania” by the border guards. Then by the SIM card guy, then by the insurance guy, altogether making for an extremely smooth introduction to Albania.

Shkodër itself offered a few interesting sights – the Ottoman-era Mesi Bridge, the impressive castle ruins at Rozafa and finally ( but on a rather gruesome note ) the “Site of Witness and Memory Museum” which chronicles just some of the atrocities and persecution methods of the Albanian Secret Police and Military during the 45 year communist era. Pretty shocking stuff.

Needing something a little more mellow after the aforementioned museum, we made the trek up to Albania’s very impressive Theth National Park. It’s not a long drive, but it is extremely circuitous, very steep, and the roads are mostly very narrow, making for some hair-raising driving. It is a spectacular drive though and Theth itself is an interesting little village with some great hikes and good examples of old Albanian architecture. The weather was a bit cloudy on the way up, but sunshine broke through in the late afternoon, so we set off for at least one of the hikes we intended to do up to the Grunas waterfall. Lucky we found some Albanians to help us find the way as it was not well marked, but the waterfall at the end was quite spectacular, as were the views out to the surrounding mountains. Theth itself sits in a beautiful valley high up in the Albanian Alps – everywhere you look is panoramic. Sadly, the following day was quite overcast with rain threatening, so we were unable to get in any more hikes. Sometimes you just have to take what you can get, glad we did the waterfall at least. Also enjoyed a beautiful night camping by the river, which provided us one of the most peaceful night’s sleep we can remember.

From the elevated heights of Theth we backtracked to Shkoder and then on down the main highway to Albania’s capital city of Tirana. First stop was the very impressive “House of Leaves” museum ( documenting the history of the former communist regime, and the degree of secret surveillance they employed on citizens ), some Cold War bunker tours ( there were lots of bunkers ! ), a wander through the heart of Tirana and especially Skanderbeg Square where some of their national monuments are located, An extremely interesting day – we learned a ton about Albania.

With that our time in Tirana was done, incredible to think how much this country has changed in the 33 years since the end of communist era and truly interesting to talk to knowledgeable Albanians about their past, present, and hopes for the future. We’ll continue to explore the south of the country in the coming blog.

Till next week……

In Case You Wondered:

Q: What do you do about washing and drying clothes when you spend so long on the road ?

A: In Western Europe no problem, laundromats are everywhere, but we did find them harder to come by in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia  ( and in some cases much more expensive ). We carry enough clothes to go two weeks between washes and that has been a very wise move. The app we use is helpful in locating laundromats or we simply Google search “laundromat near me”.

Montenegro 🇲🇪

by Jeff Gunn | Oct 4, 2025 | Europe

Montenegro was a place we were quite excited to be returning to. We’d more or less just transited the place on our way up to Amsterdam back in May, so this time we wanted to do a little deeper dive into the country. It’s a very small place, taking only a few hours to drive across, but within that rather short distance, there are a number of worthy attractions.

Things actually didn’t start so well given that there was a massive lineup on the Croatian – Montenegro border as we were passing through. It took much longer than we thought, and to make matters worse the border insurance office was not open when we crossed. Since our green card insurance only covers those countries in the EU, Montenegro, of course, is excluded. It requires a separate policy, typically purchased at the border. The border officials couldn’t help with getting us insured, but fortunately didn’t prevent us entering the country – we just had to drive for the first 30 or 40 km without any insurance. Extremely careful driving I might add…! 

The busy border and insurance issue meant that we were not just arriving at our intended campsite as night fell ( a habit we steadfastly avoid ), but we were also navigating without the aid of any GPS since we now had no data. Our eSIM provider, while declaring our card covered “all of Europe”, failed to mention that it really only meant those countries in the EU. Of course Montenegro is not one. No SIM card providers at the border either…! No navigation aid, no insurance, and driving as night fell – quite a stressful reentry into Montenegro !

Things turned much better in the a.m. as they so often do. Our incredibly helpful campground host pointed us to a nearby SIM card provider, which meant we were quickly back online and could travel with the aid of GPS. With the aid of some British folks we met at the campground, we also got the name and address of a border insurance provider inside Montenegro. Drove down to Tivat and took care of that first thing which reduced the stress level considerably. Now, free to explore…!

If Dubrovnik is the jewel in Croatia’s coastal crown, then Kotor is the Montenegro equivalent. A stunningly beautiful historic old town dating back millennia, it sits at the end of a deep bay surrounded by high mountains. It has a beautiful little beach right by the town, and unusually, a well run campground ( of sorts ) right in the heart of the town and right on the beach. A bit of an oasis you might say for those in vans, we’d heard about it and had hoped we could find a spot. Fortunately, the campground manager made room for us, but of course it was cosy camping Euro-style, something that by now we have come to know and expect.

The couple of days there were just delightful – weather was fine, the sights were great and we appreciated having the old town, the beach, and all the amenities literally at our fingertips. That, and being taken care of by the absolute friendliest campsite manager in all Europe….! His reputation absolutely preceded him and his tips and insights just made our stay that much more enjoyable.

Heading down the coast took us to Budva, another popular beachside community, where we managed to spend a couple more days. Another superbly located campsite made sticking around just way too easy. Budva, too, has a very “old” old town so took advantage of its proximity, exploring its charms. Its walls we did walk – €2 vs €40 at Dubrovnik !

With the weather still being very hot down here the decision was made to skip Montenegro’s Durmitor National Park – a decision we hope we don’t regret but it looked very much like a combination of the Dolomites and Plitvice National Park and since we’d spent time in both those, Durmitor seemed like overkill. 

Beyond Budva, and once past Sveti Stefan, there’s not much left of Montenegro ( that we’d not seen before ) so prepped ourselves for Albania. A closed section of road on our planned route made that drive a little more “interesting” than we expected but we made it through without mishap.  More on that in the following blog.

Till next week….. 

In Case You Wondered:

Q: Roaming charges are so high when you travel, how do you manage your communication with folks at home and others ( and the data needed for the blog and IG uploads ) ?

A: We try to kill 2 birds with one stone here. These days everyone is using either local SIM cards purchased in your destination country, or ( more commonly ) “E Sims”, assuming your phone is compatible ( all new ones are ). These can be bought online easily and inexpensively and can cover just countries, regions, or the globe. We’ve been using a JetPac European ESim, but there are countless others, too. One can’t text nor make traditional phone calls ( you don’t get a “number” but you can use WhatsApp, FaceTime etc etc). It works very well. Unlike North America where free WiFi service is ubiquitous, such coverage is not as widespread in all parts of Europe so a local SIM card ( at least ) is definitely recommended.

I quickly got tired of looking for WiFi locations to upload blog content and social media posts so instead I now just buy big data packs each month ( anywhere from 40 to 100gig). Costs about what we pay at home for a monthly phone plan. So far so good.

More Croatia

by Jeff Gunn | Sep 28, 2025 | Europe

From Zadar, our route south followed a series of picturesque coastal towns around Split, a detour across to the  very popular island of Hvar, a wonderfully secluded little beach camp in Duba, before culminating in that most iconic of all Croatian coastal cities, Dubrovnik. It’s a coastline with a LOT to see ( this did take us a bit more than a week – 10 days in fact ).

South of Zadar, en route to Split, lie two other Dalmatian coast gems – Primosten and Trogir.  We spent more time at historic Trogir, and stayed the night, finding a beautiful park up spot right by a nearby beach. Such gems are exceedingly hard to find in Croatia given its draconian rules on wild camping ( for travellers coming here with a campervan I’ve provided some candid information in the addendum to this blog- worth reviewing before you come! ).

The coast south of Split includes some of the Croatia’s most desirable islands – Brac, Korcula and Hvar just to name a few. They’re all scenic and historic and probably more the domain of the ultra rich but since we were as close as we were ever going to be we decided to put our rig on a ferry and pop on over. Hvar was the choice, and then only because we were closest to it – while the old town is one of the nicest on the coast, it was especially crowded, the roads were incredibly narrow and much of Hvar island, save for the old town in Hvar town itself, is not particularly scenic. Interesting though, to wander the backstreets of the old town and the waterfront marina to check out how the top 0.1% live – there were some incredible motor yachts docked there ( one 70m long ! ). Its impressive old castle affords stunning views over the old town and out to the smaller islands offshore.

Needless to say, we were not long on Hvar and soon left. Continuing on down the coast, we stumbled upon what for us was a real diamond in the rough. A beautiful little secluded, rustic campground, right on the beach, near the town of Duba, away from the crowds and main road, and with all the facilities we needed. For the most part, there were just six of us camping there and we spent a wonderful few days, relaxing and simply winding down – the beach just metres from our van. This we need to do more often !

Freshly rested, we prepared for the final coastal assault in Croatia – Dubrovnik. As mentioned, unquestionably its best known coastal landmark and justly so, its famously walled old town attracts visitors from all over the world. For obvious reasons, they’ve struggled with tourism overload so we didn’t even pretend that we were likely to park anywhere nearby. Instead, we parked outside the city and just walked in for the day. It was a stunningly beautiful day as can be seen from the pics below.

With Dubrovnik’s sights completed, it was a wrap for Croatia. Only about 30kms further south lies Montenegro, a place we loved before and one we were excited to return to. In our minds Montenegro ( which we passed through on our first 3 months in Europe ), was the point from which we started heading north to Amsterdam. Getting back to Montenegro then, was really just picking up from where we left off in May.

Till next week……

In Case You Wondered:

Q: How do you fill propane/lpg tanks given that fittings are different all over the world ?

A: Fortunately we don’t have this issue as we do not use propane anywhere in the vehicle. We use a diesel heater and an induction cooktop and love both.  Propane tanks are a headache to fill on the road and a nightmare when it comes to shipping ( which we discovered in South America – we had a propane tank in our truck camper ). It’s also very flammable. More and more people are foregoing propane. For a camping stove the standard butane cylinders work well, are cheap, disposable, and can be bought everywhere in the world. We carry a couple (as backup only) with a small stove that we have.

If You Take A Van To Croatia

This is a little side note that will be of interest and relevance only to those travelling to Croatia ( and Slovenia ) with a van/RV/motorhome.

We had been warned about Slovenia and Croatia prior to our arrival in these two countries but didn’t believe the stories until until we saw it for ourselves, The hard truth is that these two countries are probably the worst in Europe for travelling with your own rig. They hate people in campervans ( they figure that the Croatian tourism industry is not benefitting sufficiently from them since campers typically don’t stay in hotels, nor eat regularly at expensive restaurants). They make parking very difficult, in some cases, impossible, and always charge punitive premiums for vans versus regular cars, applying differentials that simply defy any logical explanation. There seems to be a national crackdown on parking and any larger vehicles are particular targets. The fines are heavy and it is a “take no prisoner” approach.

Take a look at the picture below as an example. We pulled up behind a German couple on a scenic roadside pull out just south of Split and planned to have lunch there and enjoy the view.. Then we noticed a parking sign just behind us, indicating €2 per hour for a car and, wait for it, I kid you not, €50 per hour for camper vans.!!! Yep, 25 TIMES THE CAR PRICE ! Needless to say we quickly moved on, as did our German friends. This would have been free anywhere else in the world. It was but one example. In many places, campervans were prohibited from parking at all. One Just did not feel very welcome in this country.

Costs at attractions were another irritant in Croatia ( and totally out of whack with costs we saw in other countries in Europe). We paid €40 each and €17 to park at Plitvice ( that’s €97, or $US115. By way of comparison ( and to put the cost into an international perspective), you can get an Annual US National Parks pass for $80 which allows you entry to every national park in the United States and includes everyone that is in your vehicle. Invariably no parking charges. That’s considerably less than we paid to get just two of us and our van into Plitvice National Park in Croatia .

It gets worse – they asked €40 per person just to walk the walls of Dubrovnik ( and understandably got very few takers ). The prices for these types of things in Croatia were just next level and bore no relation to pricing for other comparable attractions in Europe. And yes, lots of folks complained about this as well !

Considering the extortionate fees for the Plitvice Lakes NP visit, the Dubrovnik wall-walk fee and some periodic less-than-friendly attitudes that we encountered, you could say this was just not our favourite place – easily could have been, and should have been….. but wasn’t. Everyone with a camping vehicle that we spoke to said the same thing and no one could figure why the attitude to campervans was so harsh and different to everywhere else in Europe. Hopefully that may change.