Day 60 : Bye Montenegro, Hello Albania

Today is very much a day just spent for travelling. Ideally I would had loved to take the 8.30am direct bus from Budva to Shkodër, but since it doesn't run everyday during low season, I just had to settle for a less direct route via Podgorica.

Leaving Budva on a 10.55am bus, I arrived at Podgorica by about 12.15pm. With more than 3 hours to while away and having spotted Ramada Hotel not far from the bus station yesterday, I decided to just settle at the restaurant for the next few hours, grabbing lunch and dessert.

Dessert - Date Cake with Ice cream, was highly recommended by the waiter and although a little on the sweet side, it was sooooo good.

3 hours went by very quickly and I slowly made my way back to the bus station.

Here I met Brandon, a British currently living in Cologne, and have a bus ticket on hand to Tirana. We both took the same bus and when he heard my plans to Shkodër and how I will be doing the Lake Koman crossing into Kosovo, he decided to change his plans and joined me instead.

Immigration clearance on both Montenegro and especially Albania was super smooth, no questions asked, just scanned my passport and stamped and I am through! 

The arrangement with the Koman Ferry with pick up from Shkodër from the hostel also came through and I got confirmation that they will be doing the pick up at 6.20am tomorrow. 

I had picked a hostel (Hostel Central Shkoder) that had road access, though it did mean climbing 4 flights of stairs to get to the hostel. Stairs are my nemesis at the moment especially with luggage! Not the nicest hostel even though its said to be fairly new. Mattress was also the least comfortable. 

The town of Shkodër surprised Brandon and I, as we were both expecting it to be a really small town. But it was bustling and lots of activities going about. There were 2 pedestrian only streets which we walked through but was not overly exciting. The shop houses architecture could easily be passed off as something from Singapore / Malacca or some parts of Asia. 

We also spotted a huge mosque and a church located in close vicinity with one another. 

I was craving seafood and we found a restaurant Rozafa Seafood and ordered a few dishes to share. The food was yum! We cleaned out almost everything on the table with the exception of the olives in the salad 😂

With an early morning start tomorrow, we headed back early to get rest. Looking forward to tomorrow's trip as it comes highly rated by Clemens! And he just confirmed he might be able to join me around Albania! Yay!