What can you tell me about Albania?

[Steven_Miller]

@Chris Blum

I honestly thought nobody would catch that

I posted the full Cheers video before you posted the short text outtake.

[Chris_Blum]

Ahhh I see the link

[Carlton_McCrindle]

@John Morris

Thanks. I had thought Montenegro might be a better bet, too, since it didn’t have the dysfunctional post-communist period that Albania did. But a good friend whose wife is Montenegran and who has been there says the Montenegran coast has been completely spoiled in recent decades by unchecked development and most of the tourists are Russian. He says his mother-in-law, who still has property there, breaks down into tears when the issue of her seaside village comes up.

In both countries, the upcountry is supposed to be wonderful. My friend’s own sister had a wonderful time hiking in Albania this summer. But we are focused on the coast.

I agree with John. While I have not traveled in Albania I have considered it and have friends that were there last year. It seems the country continues to shake off the ill effects of a Stalinistic Communist reqime which isolated it from the rest of post WWII Europe through the end of the 1980s. They are now a parliamentary republic and a member of NATO. Americans are persona grata in Albania due to US/NATO support of the Kosovo Liberation Army versus Serbia in the late 1990s.
I have a trip to Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia planned.

[Jay_Miller]

@Steven Miller

@Chris Blum

I honestly thought nobody would catch that

I posted the full Cheers video before you posted the short text outtake.

It was my first thought as well but I saw that both of you had beaten me to it.

[Steven_Miller]

I remembered the song before I was reminded it came from a Cheers episode. Perhaps the same for the others?

[Howard_Cooper]

My reaction is that there are also beaches in Nice.

[John_Morris]

I see that the guidebook has a list of key facts, from GDP per capital to voltage. For the latter, it says “220V (in theory)”

[Neal.Mollen]

I turned 21 on the deck of a cruise ship off their coast, drinking vodka from the bottle with a bunch of Swedes who spoke no English but knew the words (roughly, phonetically) to a bunch of Beatles songs, and once drunk enough we sang the night away. After a couple of shared bottles, the deck chairs were surprisingly comfy.

But that likely doesn’t help. Sorry.

[Kent_Comley]

Rick Stein travelled there as part of his excellent series ‘from Venice to Istanbul’. I am sure that you could watch it online. Country seemed very warm and friendly, a bit spartan and the food very basic. Can’t say that it inspired me to book a ticket. Reckon Croatia might be a better bet.