Conned out of our “big beautiful car” in Albania

From Livadi we followed the coastal boundary of Albania’s Karaburun Sazan National Marine Park.

Famous for its diversity of habitats and its richness in flora and fauna, the park seems all but cut off from the “real” world. From the sea, the dramatic steep cliffs make entry almost impossible. On land the park is located near military bases, so permission is required before entering. If permission is granted the roads are virtually impossible to negotiate. An all-day hike appears to be the only way to see this paradise.

Sailing along its coastline the cliffs looked impregnable and unwelcoming but had a stark beauty all the same.

In contrast, our next stop – our last with our great friends from Brisbane, Cathy and Peter – was friendly, noisy and busy.

Like Sarande, Vlore was extremely crowded but with wonderfully wide boulevards lined with Sycamore trees, the traffic flowed better and was much less frustrating and wearing to deal with.

The ubiquitous thumping music that went on until the early hours was still a nightmare but by then we were more used to it.

One of the excellent things about Vlore (apart from the wonderfully well stocked Italian supermarket!) was the brilliant jetty which made getting ashore so easy and where we could leave the dinghy safely.

On our first day there we decided to walk to the old town – it was quite a hike but there were some interesting sites to see en route – statues, a tiny 16th Century mosque, the Monument of Independence, the war memorial commemorating Albanian partisans who died during the Second World War, and some archeological remains that looked likely to be Roman.

Due to lack of wind, or if it was blowing, wind “on the nose” we had motored almost all the way to Vlore from Corfu. As we wanted Peter and Cathy to have a proper sail we decided to head to Sazan Island just 9.7 nautical miles off Vlore’s coastline, on a day when the wind was perfect to sail across and back.

In the 19th Century the Sazan Island belonged to Greece and then the Italians in the early 20th Century – until after World War 2 when it was ceded to Albania.

During the Cold War Albania allowed the Soviet Union to build a submarine base and a chemical/biological weapons plant on the island.

The island is now uninhabited but there is a small Italo-Albanian naval base, used mainly to counter smuggling between southern Italy and Albania. The island has been open to the public since July 2015.

We had a wonderful sail over, and anchored in Saint Nicolo Bay. Later we motored round to the old naval port but we didn’t stay long as two massive tourist boats arrived soon after we did.

Fortunately the windy conditions held and we had a very enjoyable sail back to Vlore.

Cathy and Peter’s stay with us was drawing to a close and they were travelling next to Albania’s capital city, Tirana. We were planning to drive them there but hadn’t yet hired a car so the following day we went looking for a car hire place in the shopping area.

The first place we stopped at would only hire a car for two days so we kept going. Another place was marked on Google maps but was impossible to find. Then we remembered seeing a car hire sign near a cafe on the main boulevard. We found the place but there was no sign of an office. However, I sent a message to the advertised number and received a message back that there was a car available. In reply to my question “what type of car?” came the answer “for the moment there is no photo, a big beautiful car”.

Then some photos came through of different types of cars – all of which looked absolutely fine. So we happily booked our “big beautiful car”.

In the meantime we had a farewell meal at a lovely restaurant in town called Pulebardha. We ate our way through a series of delicious antipasto dishes – all fish and seafood – and then enjoyed a whole fish that we shared.

Cathy and Peter’s departure date had come round far too quickly! Now it was time to take them to their hotel in Tirana.

Jonathan and Peter left Cathy and I looking after the luggage at a cafe not too far from the jetty while they collected the hire car.

They had been gone some considerable time and we were starting to wonder what on earth had happened when Peter arrived.

It turned out that the guy hiring the car hadn’t realised that the two guys loitering at the cafe were the people he’d arranged to meet. He was sitting having a coffee.

When they eventually made contact, the car hire guy and his friend ushered them into the back of a “beautiful” new Citroen C4 and drove at breakneck speed around the back streets of Vlore to their office.

On arrival, Jonathan and Peter were told that the air conditioning on the right hand side of the car wasn’t working but not to worry as they had another car we could have. Thinking they were going to be given another Citroen or alternative “beautiful” car Jonathan agreed but instead, they were given a beaten up, extremely scratched and rather elderly two-door Audi!

I think Jonathan and Peter were so relieved to be in one piece after hurtling around the city streets and were also concerned that Cathy and I had been waiting for so long, they just took the keys and hoped the jalopy would get us to Tirana!

Did we get to Tirana in one piece? Yes we did. Were we sort of scammed or maybe conned? Yes I think we were as the car definitely wasn’t “beautiful” and the paperwork consisted of the hirers taking a photo of Jonathan’s licence and relieving him of his 50 Euro note.

After a quick lunch at Cathy and Peter’s hotel and some sad farewells, Jonathan and I set out for the return trip. We arrived in time for rush hour but miraculously we made it back to the cafe, found a parking space and left the keys behind the bar for the car hire guy to collect.