lukebuehler.com About the life of a pilgrim

The Land of Mercedes: Albania

The first impression of Albania I got in Shkoder a dirty but lively city in the north. I stayed there the night in a hotel. People are quite rough here but still hospitable and friendly. They try to help when you ask, sometimes I cant shake off the feeling the roughness comes from a sense of inferiority towards the "rich" wester countries. Anyhow, I like it here.

From Shkoder I started walking towards Tirane what would have taken around 3 days. As I asked someone for directions he was confused that I was walking and just stopped the next bus for me and shoved me in there, before I knew what was really happening I was in a bus into Tirane. Combined with my motivational low point it is hard for me to resist the continuous thread of being piked up by a car and driven to the next destination that would usually have to be hard earned work by foot. As I arrived no one could really tell me how to get to the hostel so a taxi driver helped me out again b driving me there. The hostel is awesome, its the only backpacker place in Tirane and the people are so cool. I stayed for three nights planing to get some rest and trying to refocus on my mission.

What am I dong this for? Why do I walk and not take buses? And how can I keep going when winter is coming? I spent time today to refocus. The problem is that all the admiration I get in the hostels for walking doesn't help too much, I need to see why I chose this and why I should keep going. I feel like the only valid reason is that it is not a geographical journey but a inner, spiritual journey. The times I profited most until now was when it was hard and I got somehow through instead of taking the easy way out. I don't mainly grow by sight seeing but by facing the challenges ahead of me. So with new strength I try to move on tomorrow.

Here's the link of the recommendable hostel: http://tiranahostel.com/

PS: It's true, there is a mind boggling amount of Mercedes here in Albania. The saying is: "The roads is bad, Mercedes is strong, Mercedes it is then".