~ Amazing Albania – Corfu to Sarande ~

This is the first in a series of posts about our wonderful visit to Albania. It’s an 11 day itinerary where we visited coasts, mountains and cities.

We checked out of the Odysseus Hotel in Corfu and took the bus to Corfu Port for our ferry to Sarande. Just €10 for a one way crossing which I thought was good value including luggage. The slow crossing takes around 75 minutes and the fast 30 minutes. We took the slow ferry and were able to go back and forth outside.

Sarande is the gateway to the Albanian Riviera and around 33,000 people live here. In recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of overseas visitors and cruise ships. Several people I mentioned it to didn’t know where it was or if it was safe to travel there.

First glimpses of Sarande from the ferry

I was surprised to see how built up it was, with hotels and apartments jostling for space on the seafront and the streets behind.

Researching this trip took many weeks, with hotels booked, cancelled and rebooked. Changes in destinations, lots of reading other articles and blogs about where to go and not to go, I felt like I knew the place like the back of my hand.

Our hotel was just a five minute walk from the port and even though we were early for check in our room was ready. The Royal Sarande Hotel was right on the sea front, it sounds grand but it was a small family run boutique hotel. We had a tiny verandah attached to our room overlooking the beach. It was in the perfect spot and Jimmy and his wife and staff looked after us admirably.

There is a boulevard along the seafront that stretches for one kilometre that comes alive at night. The locals come out in the evening for a stroll and get together with friends. With so many restaurants that line the promenade it was hard to make a choice.

It’s hard to imagine from these scenes that this country was once locked in from outsiders and overruled by the harsh dictator Enva Hoxha. Some of these locals would have lived their early lives in brutal conditions, as we later came to see and learn. That night there was a fish festival going on and there were many food stalls selling all kinds of seafoods and long tables to sit and eat. There was also a music concert with different bands performing. All in all it was a fun and vibrant atmosphere.

Waking up one morning we saw that a large cruise ship from the Holland America line had docked. We sat and watched each life boat being lowered and taken to shore. The passengers were met by coaches to begin their day of sightseeing. We did meet some of these passengers later when we walked up to Lekursi Castle.

We were both looking forward to seeing more of Sarande over the next couple of days with visits to Butrint and Lekursi Castle planned.

~ A Review of My 2023 ~

Jumping on the bandwagon with everyone else and thinking about my year that has flown by.

There have been highlights and lowlights (not just for my hair) but we have all ended up healthy and well and that’s all we can ask for. The fact I don’t live anywhere near a war zone makes me all the more thankful for this good life I lead.

I have travelled far and wide and to places I’ve never been before and enjoyed every moment.

January

January saw me travelling to the UK to celebrate my mum’s 90th. I took this trip alone and was able to stay with my parents. I could see my Dad was becoming more frail and my mum was slipping into dementia. However we had a fabulous party for her and I’m so glad I was there to be with her. I also took a sneaky side trip to Dublin.

I enjoyed Dublin very much and it was thanks to my neighbour here in Perth who was also there at that time.

February

Back in Perth we continued to enjoy the summer, relaxing on the patio, catching up with friends and trips to the beach.

March

Once again I was travelling back to the UK but this time with Elena and the kids. My Dad had taken a turn for the worse. We arrived just in time for him to see Elena and Lachie again and also to meet Rosie for the first time. A few days after he slipped away. I am thankful that we made it back to see him. He was 91 and had lived a very fulfilling life.

There was still entertainment to be planned for the children though, so we went up to London and visited parks and playgrounds. They managed to keep themselves very amused in my mum and dad’s house with just everyday household objects. They took the net curtains off one of the windows and used this as a flagpole, found a rolling pin for a microphone and were fascinated by the letter box.

I was hoping any passers-by would not think they were being held hostage!

April

Elena and the kids returned to Perth in April and Anthony arrived. We would be taking care of my mum until the end of the month when the funeral would be held. I caught up with a great many relatives and friends during this month and Anthony and I did manage some days trips to nearby villages and up to London. I was lucky with the support from my relatives and friends in caring for my mum.

Anthony was missing Australia so decided to have a makeshift BBQ in the back garden.

**View from my brother’s garden, South Fambridge, Essex**

May

After a sad goodbye to my mum we headed back to Perth. We had a fairly quiet May and began our preparations for another trip to Bali, Lake Toba and Penang.

June

This month we travelled to Ubud, Samosir Island on Lake Toba and Penang. We enjoyed all three destinations. The highlight though was definitely Samosir Island, the stunning scenery and the pace of life was just so relaxing. The people are some of the friendliest we have ever encountered.

July

It was time to visit Melbourne again to celebrate Laurence and Maddie’s engagement. We all went and I’ve already posted about the awful accommodation we stayed in!

August

It’s hard to believe that I again took a long haul flight back to the UK for the third time this year! This time for my cousin’s wedding. It was a spur of the moment decision to go back, but I’m so happy I did. The wedding was such a joyous occasion and enabled me to see my many cousins again. I also had another little side trip to Paris, with the same neighbour and friend who was staying there at the time. It was a fantastic three days, and to travel through the Euro Tunnel was an added bonus.

September

It was Laurence and Maddy’s turn to visit us and we had them for a week, which we loved. We managed a couple of lunches and dinners with them, although their feet don’t touch the ground while they are here.

October

Enjoying some down time this month and catching up with long forgotten jobs!

Elena bought costumes for the boys and I have to say it was a hard job putting them on.

November

Time for my girls’ trip down south to Dunsborough. We had the best three days, chatting, laughing, drinking and eating.

December

So here we are at the end of the year already. I’ve only just posted about recent trips to Bali and Hong Kong so won’t go over that again! Just to say another trip is planned in March to Bali, basically to collect my engagement ring which I left in the bathroom at the hotel! I have to ask myself why I didn’t listen to my dear hubby as he said “do a last sweep”. So I lifted my head and scanned the room. Fortunately I got in touch in time and they had found my ring. Ironically the day before at immigration I had found a “diamond ring” on the floor and asked around if anyone had dropped it. I put it in my pocket and forgot about it. That’s karma I suppose.

And so that’s a wrap as they say and if you have read to the end, my thanks to you.

I wish everyone a fabulous 2024 but most of all a healthy one.

~ Hello Hong Kong, It’s Been So Long ~

Finally after three long years we are back in Hong Kong. But first a brief stopover in Singapore. We had so many hoops and hurdles to jump through and over to get here and I’ve never filled out so many forms and scanned so many QR codes.

We flew Scoot to Singapore and then Singapore Airlines to Hong Kong. In January we said never again would we fly Scoot! Seems like we have memories like goldfish. When we arrived at Perth Airport the checkin line was huge and could see that the flight would not depart as scheduled. The plane finally left at 10.15 pm, 45 minutes late. Arriving in Singapore at 3.15 am I didn’t realise that we had to fill out an immigration card online! I have to say that I was very impressed with my dear hubby who actually managed to do his on the phone. We eventually got into bed at 4.30 am. Luckily our flight wasn’t until 1pm the next day so we managed a few hours sleep.

We stayed at Yotel Hotel located just outside Terminal 1 for convenience. It turned out to be a very expensive few hours sleep in a damp and mouldy room the size of a shoebox.

I wasn’t expecting anything large as I had seen photos and reviews, but this was smaller than a cabin on a ship. It was overpriced and needed a good refurbishment.

Someone who is confused or unclear about a situation
Image from Sushi restaurant
Christmas Decoration
Christmas display

After not much sleep I was definitely “blur sotong”.

It would be easy to spend a few days just in the terminals at Singapore airport. If we had been there longer I would liked to have walked around the huge fountain and waterfall.

Hong Kong – Day 0

Our first day in Hong Kong is classified as Day 0 and when we arrived at the airport, we were whisked away for a PCR test. I can’t imagine that there is any unemployment in Hong Kong judging by the amount of people there telling you which way to go. Maybe people can’t read or follow signs so you are herded onto elevators and walkways to the appropriate places. It was all very efficient and we were in our hotel by 6.45 pm. We ordered room service, no other choice, which we will have to do for the next two nights.

The view from our room on the 19th Floor

Day 1

After a fairly good night’s sleep we had breakfast (or I did) in the room and then headed out to the Immigration Department.

**A grey day from our window. Looking out towards Kowloon**

One of the reasons we are here is to renew our HK ID cards, very important to Anthony to maintain having lived in Hong Kong for 45 years before emigrating to Australia. This was a fairly easy process and we were finished within 30 minutes. We walked into Central from Wanchai which was around a 20 minute walk.

Everywhere is now fully decorated for Christmas and with the weather being fairly cool, it was starting to feel a lot like Christmas.

**Christmas displays inside and outside every shopping mall**

Picking up a takeaway lunch we headed up Battery Path to the park outside St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Not too cold to sit outside and eat.

Even though this is an urban jungle there are many small parks around surrounded by towering Banyan Trees.

Everywhere you look there is art and it’s all free! Such incredible sculptures and murals are found on walls and outside buildings.

There’s no better way of seeing Hong Kong than riding on the top of the tram, even better if you can get a seat at the front.

Anthony has been in his element all day, in a bit of a daze really. It’s been a stop start kind of day with him pausing all the time to look in all the shops. For me it’s a fantastic photograph opportunity, and I hope to be posting more in the next few days.

Such a contrast between the old and the new buildings. It’s hard to believe that there are people living in the apartment building above. Anthony pointed out that they are also likely to be paying a high rent as it’s bang in the middle of Central.

At the end of the day I had walked 13,000 steps, time for us to head back to the hotel. After a quick rest for Anthony he has headed back out again for another walk around the shops, for me I’m going to have dinner without him.

Hong Kong is a special place for both of us as this is where we met. I was on a two month working holiday and met him after five weeks and the rest as they say is history!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first day back with me

🖼 In the Frame 🖼

In Sarah’s Friendly Friday’s Challenge the topic is “Framing your photos naturally”. I am always on the lookout for unusually framed photos and often cross the road back and forth to see it at the right angle, well sometimes, not the one from the beach where I just sat and focused!

My gallery of naturally framed photos.