Albania pictures

Pleased I sailed the Albania route. There are easier ways to reach Greece but the less travelled paths are often the more interesting ones. Here are a few pictures of this ex-communist and until recently very secretive country. It is certainly a largely untouched coastline, though tourism is changing the aspect of the more accessible parts. Behind some beaches - apparently 'virgin' on satellite imagery - are now long terraces of apartments under construction. Time will tell if this progress leads to real benefits for the inhabitants.

The Albanians I met were quiet, unlikely to become animated, but friendly and helpful. Maybe their characters flattened a little by their country's recent history, and by their more limited freedom of opportunity, when compared to the EU tourists who are now beginning to visit. I learned one word of Albanian: "faleminderit" - thank you - which led to an exchange of smiles on the limited occasions I managed to use it. Tourists don't have to do much to show a minimum of respect.

Over two days I sailed and paddled to Himare, which has small quay, where a policeman eventually registered my passport, making me for the first time legally in the country. Later that evening he invited me to a coffee. I stayed on a tourist boat of Turkish flag - meeting Mustafa and Albanian crew member Amar, who next day helped with checking me out of the country, before a difficult paddle towards the border, and then a failing light crossing to Corfu when the wind at last caught up with the sea.