Albania - off the beaten track

When we arrived in Durres and drove down the main road which was full of life and noise and seaside trinkets and double parking and holiday-makers and even a bear on a chain accompanied by gypsies, it was like an Albanian Las Vegas. So we decided it was time to leave behind all the hubbub and head for the mountain lakes. This meant turning off the main road and with minutes we were in a line of traffic waiting to lurch between deep potholes. It was the same on the other side of the road where a learner driver in a  driving school car was also doing the same. After that though the road was fine.
At Elbasan the gps led us astray and to get back on track we found ourselves driving down narrower and narrower lanes until the tarmac gave out and the van was only just able to sqeeze between the walls. We entered an area of houses without glass windows and dusty dogs and very real poverty. It was a gypsy settlement. To say that we and the gleaming camper van looked out of place is an understatement. We couldn't have looked odder if we had arrived in a space ship. We stared at the women in Indian looking dress and they looked back at us. A mutual confrontation with the other. I took no photos. No one seemed angry or aggresive though, just a little surprised and we just kept driving on, at one point squeezing through with only millimetres to spare. There was no way to go back and we just had to keep going forward.

After this the road began to steeply climb in the mountains but nothing too hair-raising. We travelled behind a van carrying melons. We imagined what would happen if the back doors came open and the melons spilled out.
We drove over gorges on high bridges and stared at spouting water pipes by the sides of the road where people would hose down your car. Now we reached a 1:10 slope and hairpin bends. I shut my eyes at this point as I couldn't look at the steep drop to our right. Then finally we were over the top of the mmountain and below us was spread the vast gleamung waters of the Ohridsko lake with the moutains of Macedonia on the other side. Here was real unspoilt beauty. The lake was completely empty at this point - no boats, swimmers or windsurfers  - just gently lapping waters.