30 minutes into driving in the countryside from Tirana, in the middle of nowhere we saw this place that was called Iliria Palace, which looked way too extravagant for the countryside.
We were wondering if it was a hotel, but turns out it is a wedding venue.
We went in to take a closer look and we were given free access to explore the building.
The entire building was completely thematic, elaborately decorated with statues and furniture to match the theme. Even cornices in the ceiling were very elaborate.
The top floor had about 5 bedrooms, followed by a ballroom hall on the 2nd floor and an outdoor pool at the back on the ground floor.
I was curious to find out the cost and I was told that it's about €47 per guest, which includes the menu as well as using the entire grounds.
They also have a separate hotel to hold guests if needed. Apparently we were told they had a booking from France with guests from France and Spain.
For sure if pictures are taken here, no one would ever expect it to had been in Albania.
We then saw a few other similar buildings along the way, but Iliria still looked the most lux.
Other bizzare things we had seen in Albania included a bridge on a small road, and we've wondered why they build a bridge when people are just going to cross the road and not use the bridge anyway. Traffic isn't that heavy. We've seen at least 2 such bridges along the way.
We also came across this housing project which had numerous houses in the same style built very close together in the middle of the countryside.
We arrived into Kavajë just before noon and went about checking out the town.
This is definitely off the beaten track as hardly tourists would come through here. But Clemens had came here a couple times and liked the town and so showed me around, starting with the market which only operates on Sunday.
Ranging from live produce eg. Chickens, and fish sold out of the boot of car, to vegetable and fruits, clothing, shoes, electrical appliances etc.
We stopped at a shop for a local lunch - Qofte, pilaf rice, beef stew and soup. Food was average in my opinion.
After lunch, we drove around the town a little more, including a very steep road in the middle of the countryside. Clemens had asked me to turn on my video just before we approached the base of the steep road, and as we got to the top to make our way down on the other side, we had a bonus view - a Shepherd walking it's flock of sheeps!
We then continued our way to Spillë beach.
This beach is also off the beaten track, hardly tourists would ever come here. It's cold at moment, so no one was lounging around. There's also a pine forest next to the beach, so if anyone is parked on the main road, they would have to walk through the forest before reaching the beach.
While continuing our drive, we saw these 4 huge bunkers in the countryside located side by side.
We were also property hunting in the area as Clemens was checking out a place to buy around the area, which is close to the sea but with views of the mountain and located not too far from Tirana city.
We detoured back into Kavajë to grab an ice cream and some bozë (fermented corn drink), before making our way to Krujë.
And just in time for sunset!
Krujë is famous for its castle as well as the old town.
We stayed for just about 45 mins before making our way back into Tirana.
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