We arrived in Tirana this morning off the ferry and were welcomed by a commitee of scary looking customs officers and four different sets of passport controls. We don't have a clue about the lingo here, we've learned thank-you but that's it so far. A few people speak English but they seem to prefer German, that's what the passport guys used and we just muddled by with a few inane grins thrown in for good measure.

We spent the day wandering the streets of Tirana, now a very colourful place due to the mad painting sprees since the Communist downfall. You can see the craziness of it in the above picture, I think speed rather than style were of the essence when the painting began. We're staying in a hotel as there are no campsites and Nads is parked on the street, fingers crossed we get him into the university car park overnight which our hotel landlord is trying to sort for us. He's a total crack -up and speaks great English, asking us why we were weren't married yet and the next time we come to Albania we should be married and visit him with our children.

Currently there is a power cut in the city, the only places with light are those with their own generators, all the restaurants and bars seem to have them and obvious places like internet cafes. We were in a lovely restaurant for lunch and the whole place went dark until the generator cut in a few seconds later. Fun and games...

Tomorrow we head to Berat about an hour or two south of here and then on to Macedonia. You really do feel that your itinerary is at the mercy of the customs Gods though, so our route may alter depending on where they let us in. Luckily our friends Jim and Nikki, the fellow campervan travellers, are a few countries ahead of us and are sending us travel advice on various situations and border controls.

Off out for food tonight in a Turkish/Ottoman restaurant, will post more tomorrow if poss.

love to all x