Last view of Albania

We left the campsite at around 10.30 and we had a long journey ahead of us. The satnav said we would arrive at 7pm in Lefkada.
After a good night's sleep we discovered we were used to the Albanian driving and we stopped exclaiming over it and just took it as normal. We could see people in the fields gathering in  the harvest, hoeing plants or picking flowers. There were no big combines or other heavy machinery that we saw but the work was mainly carried out by people with the help of animals.
We stopped at a stall by the edge of the road and bought honey and half a kilo of dried plums. A moment that seemed to sum up new Albania was an old couple riding in a horse-drawn cart past a big furniture warehouse with bright advertising billboards.
We stopped to get Mrnous the van cleaned. The man took a lot of care and about half an hour. It cost four euro. Maros got his change in lei which needed to be spent so we stopped at a last petrol filled the tank with petrol, had a coffee in a little cafe of great character and Maros bought some more drinks with the last of the money. I don't think the cafe generally had women in it but the petrol pump attendent gestured that it was fine and no one batted an eyelid.

I made friends with a serious young boy in the cafe with his father when taking a photo of a stuffed pine marten. They thought I was photograhing them and posed for me. The boy then stood beside me and looked at my photos on the phone. I showed him the picture of him his father and the marten. I showed him a picture of Katka and pointed to her. He nodded seriously. I showed him a picture of the men washing a combine harvester outside and pointed. I showed him a picture of a model of the petrol station and the boy pointed at it. Without a single word of shared language we made first contact as they say on Star trek. Then I ran to the van to get two bags of boiled sweets and gave them to the boy. He didn't know what to do but one man told him it wad ok to take them so he did. The man then said thank you to me for the boy. I hope the serious boy grows up to be the Albanian Ambassador in the UK.

There was a long chaotic queue at the border. People were helpful though and pointed us into a different queue. We crossed in about 20 min and told customs we had nothing to declare but our genius and we were back in the EU.

All of us were a bit worried about what we would experience in Albania. We all left with a very positive view of the country and the people who were serious, helpful and honest. Perhaps they all need a  'drive safely' refresher course or maybe our own driving style just lacks creativity. Our view is only the
superficial view of holiday makers but it seems clear that Albania is open to visitors and appreciates them.