Albania - a beautiful country

Albania is a country in rapid development - new BMWs race past old men pushing wheelbarrows of hay or gypsy kids who drive a horse and cart with a jaunty standing style. Everyone seems to want a slice of the boom times that are happening right now.
We soon stopped for coffee at a restaurant on the river Boyana and walked out onto a cool and stylish terrace with a view of kids bathing in the river below. It was the opposite of my expectations  which if I am honest included dust, flies and garish plastic. The toilets were new and western (I was worried they would be holes in the ground) - there was a young couple at the next table and a two groups of older men. The coffee had the now familiar Balkan mule kick. Three coffees and glasses of water were 2 euro 10 cents.
After crossing the new bridge (where contrary to expectation little gypsy kids did not throw stones at the vehicle) we noticed traffic was heavier and there were large numbers of enormous petrol stations, many offering personal car wash services called Lavazh. We stopped at one to hose down the camper van though we discovered there was no personal service, only a hose. There was a big boss in an air conditioned office, an enforcer who was a young man as slim and sharp as a blade who appeared and went to look at our vehicle. There were two pump attendants who jumped up and made themselves busy when he walked past. When we asked to pay they made quick no gestures. Maybe this was not the correct interpretation.

Every few kilometres there was another huge petrol station, each one new and gleaming under the hot sun. Between them, there were the fields and little stalls selling perhaps melons or fish or vegetables.
There were a lot of police patrols on the roads. We maybe saw about 15 today. The state of the roads was fine to Durres which is a hyper-developed seaside town west of Tirana, the capitol.

However, the driving was interesting to say the least. Anything could happen on the roads and did so with great frequency. Here are some of the things we saw today: horse dung on the main motorway, a tractor driving on the motorway, a gypsy kid who looked about fourteen driving a motorbike with a front cart in which his little brother sat on the motorway, cars using the hard shoulder as an extra lane ...to travel against the flow of traffic on the motorway and with all this, in the outside lane are the BMWs whizzing past. Other hazards included cars parked on a roundabout,  pedestrians running out, pedestrians hobbling out, dogs running out, bins in the road, overtakers coming towards you on your side of the road, turkeys on the road, cows on the road... I could go on. And this is before we even got onto the mountain roads.
Beyond the fields were always distant mountains - the houses big and small looked bright and airy. The people were hospitable and honest. The roads prpvided a sense of adventure so often lacking in our well-ordered lives. I recommend a visit to drivers with quick reflexes and good periferal vision and their passangers.