Small as it is, Albania offers quite a breath-taking landscape. Although it has roughly some 500 kilometres of coastline, its beaches down south of the country are magnificent. My favourites are the small rocky ones, hidden and waiting to be discovered by adventurous daredevils who are willing to be scorched under the sun for hours, until someone remembers they left them there.
However, I am personally more attracted to the mountains which cover up almost 70% of the country. Whenever I can, I take weekend trips to the north, which I believe is still left intact and not messed up by humans at all. These are some pictures I took last year from a trip to Vermosh, the northernmost part of the country, which luckily, I am going to re-visit this coming weekend. Enjoy responsibly :)
A short one-night stop by Shkodra Lake, before hitting the road:
This is what the road that takes to Vermosh actually looks like:
Word has it that our (former/late/not-yet-forgotten/may-he-rot-in-hell) dictator Enver Hoxha travelled up to this very point in the direction of Vermosh, and got so scared by looking at the mountains, that he never returned to those areas. This balcony, built long after his death as an attraction, is actually called "Enver Hoxha's Balcony":
Gems you discover by accident on the way:
Granted - some paths are not exactly inviting for some:
But it's totally worth it. Even if fog covers 80% of the mountains:
