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Struggling to wake up at 5:30… That is not a normal time to be awake. Surprisingly (for me), it’s already day light. I dragged my ass out of bed, and made it to the station.

Despite a paper saying tickets were sold from 5:30 AM, the building was closed, and obviously not used for a while. Walking on the « platform », I saw a girl with a backpack coming towards the train. Her name is Tatiana and she’s from Italy, and she just asked some people if the train will be running. Turns out she asked to the driver, and YES! The train will run today! YIHA!!

Tatiana stayed at the hostel on the other side of Elbasan, the one I was too lazy to go to yesterday. Lazy, and a bit scared also. Turns out it was a wise move: she actually got attacked by stray dogs this morning, and they ripped off her trousers! Thankfully, she only got a slight bruise and no serious bite injury. Not reassuring in the slightest though.

Now, to the train. Where to start… It was a crazy, unique experience. Almost every windows are either fully opaque with graffitis, or shattered. One of the door didn’t have any window. The door at the back of the train was wide open, and the window that could be opened just couldn’t be closed. Seats had seen way too many winters, and were sometimes replaced by more basic ones… I wonder if that train was respecting a single security norm of Western Europe. Very unlikely. Considering the state of the carriages and of the infrastructure, it’s nothing short of a miracle that the train runs at all. And it’s not with the two euros price of a ticket and half a dozen passenger that the network will be operational again.

But what a fun ride! We managed to find seats were windows on both sides were clean and not broken. Soon after departure, the controller came to sell us tickets. It was a very lengthy process, involving writing with a pen on the back of two different paper tickets. Those were for two different zones. The idea that the ONE of TWO active lines in the country was using zones made laughed, not gonna lie.

Actually, talking about the second line, Tatiana actually took it last Tuesday, so it is possible to get it. And Kamel and I are going in that direction on Tuesday… To be continued.

It’s only when we had left for some times that the realization sinked in: Albania train is checked off the list. Ever since I found out about that week-end-only schedule, on my last night in Bulgaria, I was stressed, and missed out on quite a lot. Even though, as I said yesterday, it’s also kinda motivating. But now, it’s done, I can chiiiiiill. Ouf!

The scenery was beautiful, the pace slow, and the air freaking cold with those open and/or missing windows. I can’t imagine doing the trip in Winter. The local vegetation grow freely on both sides of the railway, so that you’d better not get your head out too much. Branches left a few leaves into the train, as though thrown in by an invisible kid. Of course there was no lights in the train at all, so in the few tunnels, we were plunged in total darkness. Like, literally complete darkness. Pretty fun!

After over three hours we arrived in Durrës, but not in the main station, which is being remade, but a stop before. There the locomotive detached from the train and continued. It’s then that we saw a couple people climbing onboard the locomotive, and realized: « Did these guys just caught a lift further in the city?! » Damn, If only we had known, we would have asked!! That would have been one of the coolest train ride of the trip, and the cherry on top an already unforgettable journey.

Anyway, we went towards the beach, and from there walked towards the city center. After locating the bus station, and checking in my hostel, we went back and walked on the shoreline, got some lunch, and then spent most of the afternoon in front of the sea exchanging all sorts of travel stories. She’s been travelling solo A LOT for the past 10 years, I was really impressed by all the crazy places she’s been, that I wouldn’t dare to go. I like to think my trip as a kind of adventure, but I’m really not the adventurous type to be honest. What I’m doing right now is easy peasy.

And I’m not stating that to attract pity or encouraging remarks (although the latter are always very welcomed), but to help anyone reading this to realize that, yes, it is EASY. I might be pestering about the Balkans transports, but it’s just a different way of doing things, and it works out in the end. And it’s the « hardest » part of Europe. Elsewhere, you just put yourself into a train or bus and go. Get an accomodation few days earlier if you want but that’s all it takes. You don’t need super long holidays, you don’t need to be a billionnaire. You just need to stop finding excuses and get out there. It’s your World as much as everyone else’s, so go check it out.

Later in the afternoon, Tatiana left for Tirana, and I walked a bit before going back to the hostel for a while.

I went out later just in time to catch a beautiful sunset by the beach. What a day…