Albania like many countries in Europe, has had many different invaders and rulers. The Romans, the Byzantines and many more before finally being conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century until independence in 1912. Then they were invaded by Italy and Germany before Albania emerged from World War II as a communist state. Like many others in the region, the communist regime collapsed after 1989 and they are now a democratic country. It is a secular country with no official religion although it is predominantly Muslim.

It also has the coolest flag in the world.

We have been in Shkodër, Northern Albania for just over 1 week and have been exploring this wonderful city. It is only small around 135,000, and it is very walkable and we are only a couple of blocks from the old town.

It is known as the ancient city and has been continuously inhabited since the Early Bronze Age, it has roughly 2,200 years of recorded history. However as charming as the old town is you can easily see that Shkodër and Albania in general, had lived under a communist regime for almost 50 year which was one of the most brutal and isolated.

Bicycles are king here, along with scooters, mopeds and pedestrians, it makes for chaotic traffic. On our first drive out of the city we dodged pedestrians, dogs (some who just want to lay down on the road), scooters, bicycles and of course cars and everyone just chose to walk, ride or drive wherever it best suited them. Our only saving grace is that most go slow which is good because we have no idea what we are doing or often where we are going. Oh, and all the while dodging the double parked cars – there are so many that the whole lane is pretty much unusable so the 2 lane road out of town becomes one lane. One guy even double-parked in the roundabout!