Due to forecasted rain (which has arrived) I rode a second big day to get here, where I'll stay until Sunday. My  lovely Airbnb hosts Majlinda and Adri had a welcoming beer waiting for me. That and a hot shower felt great. Then  an excellent dinner and good night's sleep.  While not busy, I've found a reasonable number of tourists, all seemingly German, including several camper vans. I visited Butrint, an ancient settlement and UNESCO Heritage site, today. There was a small museum that did a nice job showing how Butrint evolved. The contrast between Greek and Roman architecture was well-defined. Worth a visit...

Vlore to Himare. Bonus 1 - had a companion, Jared, an American working online and living all over. The route looked daunting and the climbing was STEEP, but we ate at the top (no beer due to 3k descent to follow). Then the scenery went nuts Bonus 2. I knew tomorrow would be hilly, but not how much. On the original plan it would be more than 7000', yikes! I decided the weather, time and energy were favorable so rode on to Himare for another 1500'+ of climbing.  I found my way to the hostel, but it looked closed and under construction. After I closed the gate I started looking for a new place when the owner found me. He gave me a private beachfront room and is a great host - Bonus 3. Monasteries and Orthodox churches started appearing after the pass and I had souvlaki for dinner, must be nearing Greece! Feeling grateful for good health, friends and family.

Since you asked...here's a sampling of today's roads - happy to satisfy your curiosity. The easiest (flat, well-paved, very low traffic) to the hardest with even less traffic. No pix of the bikeways in the cities though. Vlore, Albania's 3rd city, is nice, but I'm going to keep riding to Saranda in two days because there are 4 days of rain after that. Big pass (Llogara) to climb tomorrow - I'll be ready for a break!

After a long sleep and late start I rode to Divjake-Karavaste NP which is known for wintering birds. Most had left...but still saw some good ones. Look up Hoopoe for my favorite.  On the weekend the park was busy, especially the beach resort area. I was planning to camp, but the bugs were out in force. A room is under $25 (FYI) and a shower feels very nice after riding. Still having trouble combining pix and text (any Blogger users able to advise me?) so here are captions. 1 - many fields of cherry (I assume) trees blooming and a few on there own.  2 - not what you'd find in Rocky Mountain!  3 - a classic bunker from the communist era.

I made it out of Tirana in under an hour and immediately climbed over some steep hills. Within a few km it was all rural agriculture with a mix of livestock and crops. The road turned to dirt and got rougher as I climbed over a bigger range. The decent was too rough to enjoy, but I made to a highway with a shoulder. Big change from 1 SUV in 2.5 hours to all kinds of vehicles passing by. So far the daytime rear blinks seems to get me extra room which I like. Here's to a good night's sleep!

 I'm staying in a conveniently-located downtown apartment. Thanks to Itena, Giselda and Rozeta, (friends of a Boulder friend) the trip got off to a great start with good company and delicious food. After a 12-hour sleep, I took care of my trip prep needs and walked around. As I write the adhan (call to prayer) reminds me how long it's been since I've traveled alone without knowing the language. I'm up to 20 words of Albanian though... The city has lots of construction underway, mostly a result of money laundering I'm told. I've only seen one other tourist, even in the touristy area, and he is a Floridian cycling as well.  Tomorrow I head south 50 km with 950 m of climbing. Time for a good dinner and sleep.

 I'm staying in a conveniently-located downtown apartment. Thanks to Itena, Giselda and Rozeta, (friends of a Boulder friend) the trip got off to a great start with good company and delicious food. After a 12-hour sleep, I took care of my trip prep needs and walked around. As I write the adhan (call to prayer) reminds me how long it's been since I've traveled alone without knowing the language. I'm up to 20 words of Albanian though... The city has lots of construction underway, mostly a result of money laundering I'm told. I've only seen one other tourist, even in the touristy area, and he is a Floridian cycling as well.  Tomorrow I head south 50 km with 950 m of climbing. Time for a good dinner and sleep.

It was a reasonably stress free trip with the airlines getting my bike here without damage (the biggest worry). The flight over the Alps and Adriatic was beautiful. I'm meeting friends of a Boulder friend this evening before a good night's sleep. 

So I'm off Wednesday morning and arrive in Tirana, Albania Thursday.  The rough plan is to ride down to Corfu to meet my friend Bryan, who lives in Turkey.  From there we'll head back through Albania to North Macedonia and then through Kosovo to Montenegro.  I'll head back to Tirana to fly back May 25th.  Here's the general idea:

The bike goes in the black bag and the rest in a duffel...