Balkan trip day 10: How Albanian roads can be and how beautiful the Castle of Shkodra is

After packing our stuff Sinisa came and brought us to the road that would lead us to the border of Montenegro. It was a bad road but through beautiful nature. The border procedures went quickly and the first thing I saw was a goat that stood in the middle of the road probably checking all the foreigners that passed the Albanian border.

We arrived on the road to Shkodra but because of all the constructions it was almost impossible to travel on it. Half on our way, Shaban our contact person was waiting for us with two cars with a local delegation from his party in Shkodra and Koplik. They showed us the city, invited us for a coffee and brought us to the beautiful castle of Rozafa on a mountain overseeing the city of Shkodra. Also the museum showing the history of the city was very interesting.

In the late afternoon we arrived in Tirana where after some hours of rest went to the office of Shaban and had a dinner with some representatives of the 'Center for Dialogue and Promotion of European Values' that he recently officially registered. We discussed about the big demonstrations and unrest that cost the lives of three people last month and that the center is of crucial importance now to stimulate dialogue amongst the parties on order to avoid these clashes in the future. Tomorrow I would have many meetings in order to know more about the political situation and if there is a common ground and willingness of the different political parties to have their youth involved in the development of on dialogue based on basic democratic values focused on the common good for Albania.