Oct. 26: Food poisoning, spent the whole day in bed. Tight and loose stomach. :) Wendi from Albania College Tirana met us at 16:30 and we visit the “bunker museum” to get a first hand look into Albania history. Lots of war. Ended the evening trying to eat and Joe took us home to two great comfortable beds.
Oct. 27: Spend a great day in Tirana at the Albanian College. Addressed three classes on acts of kindness and local peace. Held a Peace Attack and together with the students handed out 200 hundred hearts. Met a great Silent Hero called Jona Hoxolli (see: https://youtu.be/zl5aVsqKU9M).
Instead of guns and violence, these students received hearts and a great day. No sorrow, just happiness.
The Piece Prize’s Silent Hero in Tirana, Jona Hoxolli - here on Ted Talks- knows about the struggle of Albania and this nation’s challenge to care for each other. See: https://youtu.be/zl5aVsqKU9M
Oct. 28: Ready to kayak from Durres to Vlore. Impossible. Waves are high and breaking. No other choice than to ask for help and get from A to B.
30 km of coastline takes 1.5 hours by car. We drive through amazing countryside and see a bit of everything. Lovely.
We find a place to spend the night. Take a long walk on the beach. We come back to find most of our food had vanished thanks to a friendly pack of wild dogs. That is, bread, all meats and a nice chunk of cheese.
Lots of debris and objects on the Topoje beach.
Oct. 29: Up early and paddle. A crazy roller coaster of a trip. The coast of Albania is like Denmark. Shallow and waves. We paddle far out into the sea to get around the challenges.
After 20 km, we stop for a break. It was the first suitable area to stop. I don’t know what the sign says, but it was a beautiful beach.
We continue to paddle thinking set on reaching Orikum. No chance. At Vlore, wepull up to a beach and talk to a restaurant owner. He lets us store the kayaks in his restaurant and also finds us a room for 7€ .
We stayed at a lovely place. The caretaker gave us oranges and mandarins.