After a five-hour drive from Shkodër, we arrived at the coastal town of Sarandë in southern Albania. Sarandë is located a few hours from the Greek border and is opposite the Greek island of Corfu.

It feels like a whole different world. It is essentially a coastal resort town which we knew but had only heard good things about the town and the surrounding area. We had a great apartment overlooking the town and the coast. There is a wonderful promenade that runs along the foreshore where you will find both locals and tourists and lots of restaurants and bars.

We spent one month here and it wasn’t a terrible place to be, we did some amazing day trips but overall we were disappointed. It is very overdeveloped and we found it much more expensive than elsewhere and it lacked the authenticity of other places we visited. We could not understand how it constantly received so many glowing reviews from other travellers.

Even our host agrees that unfortunately in Sarande it is all about money which she says makes it hard for the locals who of course struggle to pay the inflated prices. Albania is a very poor country with little support from the government.

Luis met us here on his way from Romania to Cyprus as it was our last chance to see him before we return to Australia in January. We had not seen him since April so it was wonderful to see him and hear about his travels, and of course, say a sad farewell to him. Hopefully, we will see him next year if he manages to return to Australia for a visit.

We had some wild storms in our last week. Thankfully not as severe as those in central Europe and then parts of the Balkans.