Embraced By Locals In Albania: Our Epic Van Life Adventure
we are headed over to Carnival this is pretty exciting now it rained all day and so we missed the downtown festivities so we were disappointed in that but there's supposed to be a cool little party over here and I have to tell y'all something funny this is as dressed up and snazzy as I can get living in a van and I've never wore this dress I bought it in Brazil specifically for Europe knowing there might be times I had to step it up a notch so I even pulled out a little bit of my old snazzy jewelry Kurt tucked his shirt in and put on his vest from Guatemala this is as fancy as she'll see us [Music] guys all right so it is Saturday night and when we got here and she told us about this Saturday night was completely booked up now we'll come tomorrow on SE Sunday night but Linda the lady that owns the campground here her and her husband she invited us to come over for a sneak peek tonight and that we could do some filming and kind of see and we'd know what to expect so we just did our initial walk through and the tables are set beautifully and there's definitely like a a little clown theme going on it is different than the carnival which you might would experience in New Orleans it doesn't seem to have the crazy party Vibe more of a relaxed adult dinner Vibe but everybody's been very kind so far we're going to stick around for a little while and just watch a little bit of the people coming and going maybe get a shot of what they're eating but we will be bringing you back tomorrow when we actually get to sit down and try some of the food at this great restaurant oh thank you so much you're so kind recky Rey about the wcky Rey thank you what do you say in Albania so we say cheers yeahor Z all right thank you Z cheers Z sure woo all right you're supposed to sip this this is not I remember I remember being told that this is wrecky it is a liquor I believe mostly made from fruits um here in Albania and Eastern in most of Eastern Europe we've been offered this and kurd has tried it when we were in Croatia visiting Tim and his friends and today Linda told us that her and her husband have owned this land and his family has owned this land since the 17 or 1800s is that right Kurt 1700s and they had a wck they used to make Rey here so they processed the REI here for apparently centuries now when I believe it happened right after World War II I do not know the exact year but this country fell under communist Rule and a lot of families had to kind of leave their land behind almost go into hiding that is what happened with Linda and her family and probably most of her family there was some very sad stories shared with us that um we'll just leave it that it was a bad time here in Albania so they left their land but when communism fell in 1992 they were able to come back and regain ownership of their property and instead of starting back up the Ricky manufacturing or processing they decided to open the hotel I think the restaurant might have been here I'm not sure but they kind of transformed the property and now it's this beautiful Campground with a hotel attached beautiful uh C cabins back in the back in this restaurant which is amazing and an extremely welcoming and friendly place to come visit for this part of Albania so we're really really loving it here guys oh hi hi what is this like some kind of traditional Pake it's like right oh okay additional also for the carnival party all right what is it called what's the name all right we got the preview and that all of a sudden like all the people in costumes started showing up the music started playing they started singing autic masks and dress I mean the energy in the place just absolutely came to life we did get a little glimpses of the food we're not showing you but it's authentic food we get tomorrow night and it looked delish we are excited for the real deal tomorrow big party tomorrow as you know we've been here for several days and it is an amazing Camp there are over 60 sites all with water and electricity the showers are hot and the facilities are clean now it's winter but I can imagine that this pool is hopping during the summer this property is steeped in history in 1901 it was the home of the first Albanian alcohol Factory where they made wky and it was owned and operated by the grandfather of the family that still runs it today during the Communist Regime from the 1940s to the 1990s this place was abandoned and not in operation but after communism fell the family worked to transform this place into what you see here today an amazing campsite with a the hotel attached and a restaurant which is where we are headed right now restaurant leenda hello Hi how are you wow there's food everywhere look at this all right guys we're here with FICO and he's camping here also so we're sharing a table with him but the food has showed up and so we have some kind of salad I don't even know what's in there these are of a traditional biscuit or a snack Fritter like a Fritter Meats cheeses oh that one looks good little blue cheese look at these wraps and some sort of bread little fukashi breads back there and little little rolls I am afraid we're going to eat way too much all right we got something like with Pho dough spinach looks like some cheese in there we know what the names of these things are we just can't remember it but that's that little lasagna pastry that is like [Music] lasagna that's why I got two of [Music] them well I think it is safe to say that we are having a a great time here with the locals the atmosphere is festive and the locals are truly welcoming and happy to share their culture I even joined in with the dancing a bit but I could not get Kurt to get up and join me maybe because he was too busy laughing at me now the singer tonight was truly truly talented guys she was amazing I wish I could let you hear a lot more of her singing but we have to worry about getting copyright complaints from YouTube so you're just going to get that short clip the locals join in singing the traditional Albanian songs and they were all happy to join in with the dancing The Young and the old alike costumes are for sure a part of the carnival celebration here but the venan masks are truly a schoder tradition all around you can see the influence of the past here where many different empires have ruled this area but the Italian influence is the strongest the Venetian Empire left a mark on this area for sure in fact here today there is a large Factory where they make handmade Venetian masks of course a lot of those masks are shipped to Venice and all over the world but you can see that many are kept right here as well shod is the first city in Albania that officially celebrated Carnival it started in 1860 Carnival was banned during the communist regime but it picked back up in the 1990s and it grows each year of course locals participate and many albanians from all over the country come up to join in but as you can see it's starting to draw more and more people International Travelers alike as the festivities start to come to an end here tonight The Echoes of music and laughter and colorful masks linger in the air leaving behind memories of a vibrant celebration that transcends time Scot's Carnival is not just an event it is a testament to the city's Rich cultural heritage and its enduring Spirit we can literally feel the Dee rooted tradition as we enjoy our front row seat to all of the fun thank you schoder for an unforgettable night we have been here for 2 hours we have been eating food and food and food appetizer after appetizer we have drank a couple of too many drinks we have danced we thought dessert was coming but no I think we just got the main course I was telling her it was lasagna she didn't believe me we have to eat more it's all been delicious but we are stuffed over stuffed just so I'm clear I am not gloating but I am pretty excited now I should probably wait till the job's over but we're here in Albania we stopped in at this glass repair store they said they could change out our windshield and it would only take about an hour to do so now if you guys remember we got this chip in the windshield all the way back in Argentina about 4 months ago now when we went in France to get price checks on replacing the windshield they wanted €800 and above and some of you guys commented that in the UK that was a pretty normal price for a windshield guess what guys here we're going to get it done for 270 again fingers crossed sometimes you never know how this stuff's going to work out so we're out the Mystic but but they're started and this is going to happen all right there goes the windshield wow look at that guys out with the old look at that crystal clear all right they're putting the goop around the outside of the new windshield I think it's going to be going in soon look at that guys look at that clear beautiful brand new windshield we still got a little bit of tape holding it up that they said we can take off tomorrow my future so bright I got to wear shades we do need to pull out our sunglasses woohoo all right the main thing guys is the big chip that we got when we were in Argentina is gone also there was a bunch of scratches on the inside of the windshield we had a tent on there and well this does so it's a lot clearer and a lot better so we are excited to have a new windshield 27,000 Le which is a little more or 27,000 which is a little more than $270 so so good all right now we had to sit there for a while so it's getting late in the day we need to find somewhere to camp for the night a giant bag full of all kinds of veggies and a little bit of fruit look at that at a roadside vegetable market what was the grand total $14 Mel Manos pretty good price considering all the good stuff we got so woohoo so we're heading out towards the east side of town where we hope we can find a campsite along the beautiful cerr River K iir but one thing you have to see when you come to sko is the bridge it's messy Bridge mes I and it translates it translates to the bridge in the middle now it was built in 1770 and it's got lots of cool little archways and it's just a quick little Landmark to stop off and take a look at so let's go see messy Bridge so I love how they use these rocks to make the roads but I would not want to walk on this with Fancy Shoes this is an ankle breaker for sure but look at this I would say it's probably 10 ft wide maybe 11 got the walls on each side constructed out of stones helping to hold everything in place and they Ed the long skinny rocks kind of like a center line but but I would imagine that is just to help them you know keep the rocks in line so to speak for lack of a better word but I can just I can't help it but dork out on how they used to build these things when they didn't have equipment right Kurt yeah it's fascinating work in this region is absolutely incredible and the water is Crystal Clear Blue all through here I don't care if you're in a river or the or lake it is just beautiful clear blue and uh history abounds so cool guys now when I was reading a little bit about this bridge before we got here they said that it constructed the one big Center Arch first and then connected it to the river bank with the smaller arches that was the technique the guy that built this bridge used but it's time to head back the short walk to our van we still got to find somewhere to sleep tonight Kurt yeah we do before it get started I say we drive up along this beautiful Blue River see if we can find a spot so we're going to follow this River out a little ways see if we can get outside of town and maybe find a place to Camp alongside the river but on our way out here not only are we passing some farmland and some little houses but we're going over our rickest Bridge so far in Europe now to be completely honest it does not compare to the panol bridges in Brazil and a few other Bridges from Latin America but that is one that made us stop and think about driving across it CU it was thin and it was narrow and it had no walls on the side well and it was concrete and it looked old yeah but we've been chomping at the bit to kind of get out of the regions less explored to get off the beaten tourist trail and I think we have succeeded now to see if we can find somewhere to sleep out here who knows but we're going to give it a try anytime you're on these narrow roads one lane roads that are meant for two-way traffic and you come up on a particularly tight spot you always hope nothing's coming and luckily there the bigger truck that we were coming up on and we're going to meet somewhere really narrow he did a little it the back up so we didn't have to we got lucky woo I am grinning ear to freaking ear because we just came around a curve and came up on a husband and a wife up here in the mountains hering their goats and sheep down the road there were teeny tiny little babies one of the goats was eating grass the the husband and wife were super friendly that's the kind of stuff you don't get to to see unless you travel in a van guys on these scary little tiny roads that was awesome what it Kurt that was incredible and I got to tell you driving through these old houses some of them are kind of in Ruins some of them are still standing but you can see the years and then this tranquil Blue River is just a stunning backdrop to this windy road and guess what guys in front of us we have a beautiful mountain range as well so really good call on coming up this Road Stone yeah now we can't go all the way to the end of this road it goes deep up into the tall mountains where everything is still frozen over and the roads are closed but I can give you a sneak peek to somewhere deep in the future we will be back out here because there is a hike at the end of this road literally the end of the road where you hike to the end of another road through some beautiful mountains and valleys it's called the te hike and O this is never good hold on guys this is what you dread on a road like this all right back to our regularly scheduled programming at the end of this road where we will eventually get to one day is a hike that Kurt will do he has put it on his list Buck of bucket list hikes it's called the te hike te th and we'll be back but this time we're just about as far as we're going to go because you start to get too far up into the mountains and they Clos the road for the winter but uh hopefully we can find a place to park before the road closes we are home for the night and this place is better than I could have imagined holy cow this is an awesome wild spot to camp for the night I had heard that it existed but when we were coming out here on this road I was afraid that it was a figment because there were no wide spots there was no place but this is an awesome place and we're fixing to show it to you and this is where we're going to sleep so you'll get to see it even more tomorrow because we are playing on these rocks by the river for sure ah look at this place what you doing what you doing baby doll what you doing huh what you [Music] doing sometimes we act like a fool not aware we're trouble makers sometimes we try to be cool not being giv only takers stop for a minute stop and breathe for a minute don't get over your head try to listen instead won't you think for a minute who you want to be for a minute don't get over goe you're like everyone else are you you could gain from me and have been nicer KN when to talking when it shut your mouth feel so moody you're such a fighter try to open up your mind sometimes you'll be just F got got got got you'll be just [Applause] F sometimes we yell when we're sad and sometimes we laugh when we're afraid sometimes we smile when we're mad and some lines we wished we never said stop for a minute stop and breathe for a minute long it over your head try to listen instead won't you think for a minute who you want to be for a minute don't get over your head you're like everyone else aren't you it is time to leave our campsite drive back down this windy narrow Mountain Road with lots of No Passing zones I know Kurt's already told you it was a great campsite the kitties loved walking on all the Rocks I loved walking on all the Rocks now there's a place about a half a mile down that we hope we can find a place to pull off on the side of the road and walk down to the river because it's supposed to be beautiful uh little slot canyons with little Rapids running through them but to be honest I don't know if we'll be able to pull it off but if we were able to pull it off you're looking at that footage right now and if not well you're looking at our dash cam as we leave and weren't able to park but this Blue River Kerr k i r that's the name of this thing the blue is stunning and I don't know if it'll come through in the video or not I sure hope it does crystal clear with a turquoise slate shade to it Rapids big rocks beautiful mountains Albania is something else and with that guys we're going to wind this video down we will see you in a few days from somewhere just a little farther south here in the beautiful country of Albania cheers guys if you like this video be sure to subscribe to our Channel and hit that notification Bell so you guys know when we put out new videos and don't forget you can always follow us over on Instagram to see what's going on in between videos cheers guys
2024-03-31 05:59
