Round trip

In the evening, Markus had the brilliant idea that we could just make a round trip today. The route between Krujë and Burrel is mentioned in a motorcycle tour book.

The idea is great, because we can stay a second night in the beautiful Hotel Panorama and only need to take the bare essentials with us, so that we can ride without heavy luggage. A good decision!

The first part of the tour to Burrel leads up to the pass, where we ride on well paved curvy road. Since a Swiss rider is used to curves much more than me, he's far ahead of me. At the peak of the pass the good road ends, even though it is continued here as SH38. Here I wouldn't like to travel by car. It is quite stony and rocky and the chunks, which are lying around, occasionally rattle under the motorcycle. I am very glad that I have mounted a motor protection extension before the trip.

Which are the favorite chocolate bars of the shopkeeper's daughter?

In Burrel we buy some food. There are still supermarkets, where you are served. This means that the shelves are behind a counter and you tell the waitress what you want. Well, for foreigners they make an exception and they are allowed to go behind the counter and search the shelves. Since there's no much choice of chocolate bars in the supermarket, I go to a store opposite the road. There I rely on the expert advice of the estimated 10-year-old daughter of the shop owner, who understands English quite well, so she can show me her favorite chocolate bars. Of course I follow her recommendation.

How can you drive lowered cars if the condition of the roads is as bad as here?

We look for a café on the main street and are a little bit confused about the lowered BMW in quite good condition, which is driving along the main road at a speed of perhaps 5km/h - two cool guys are in the car, trying to look like from a Mafia movie. How can you drive lowered cars if the condition of the roads is as bad as here? That will forever be a mystery to us.

After the short break we ride on further south. We want to take a supposed off-road route through the Dajti Mountain National Park, which is located west of Tirana and which we have already briefly touched on the way to Burrel in the north.

It must be very difficult to live in such a poorly developed area.

Shortly after Klos we get what we were looking for. We ride a long varied route through sparsely populated areas. Here you are really far away from everything and yet there are always small hamlets in which people live. It must be very difficult to live in such a poorly developed area. We do not want to imagine!

In total, we ride about 65-70 kilometers off-road this day. These first days are already a great experience for us!

The unforgettable street of furniture shops

The route through Tirana back to Krujë is a very strange experience. Our sat navs are getting crazy in Tirana and advise us through rather small side streets. At some point, we find the main road to the north, which we will remember for countless furniture stores. And they are really countless, so rather in the higher double-digit range! Incredible!

The evening we stay in Krujë back in the hotel and in it's restaurant, where we are now already well known to the waiters.