Tirana-Kruja-Shkodra-Budva-Montenegro

We left Tirana and climbed up the hill to Kruja.  Kruja was the center of the Albanian resistance to the Ottoman Turks in the 15^th century.  We visited a museum in the fortress.  The museum is in honor of Skanderbeg – an Albanian who had risen to the position of commander in the Turkish army.  In 1483 he led a group of 500 Turkish Albanian soldiers into this fortress and organized the Albanian resistance.  He fought 27 battles with the Turks and won all but one.  In the end the Ottomans left Albania and he established a new kingdom.  (Unfortunately it was only 10 years after his death that the Turks retook Albania.)

Next we visited Shkodra.  Shkodra was established by the Illyrians in about 600 BC.  The town remained as their capital until the Romans captured it in 168 BC.  It was a very quaint town with many monuments and old artifacts.

Then we were off to Montenegro.  Montenegro is a small country – having only about 650,000 citizens.  Most of the cities are focused on tourism along the Baltic coast.  As we drove into Montenegro the weather turned sour with high winds and some spotty rain.  We stopped in Budva to spend the night and walked down from the hotel into the walled part of the city.  On our way back a gust of wind blew some chairs across the deck and pummeled us.  Sandy got a bad cut and bruises on her leg and back.  Tom got a bunch of bruises to go along with his sprained ankle (yes – he got a bad sprain earlier in the day).  All in all not our best day!

The town of Kruja lies up a hill.  The castle is on the hill above as is the museum.  When we were leaving the museum I looked up when I should have looked down and got a bad sprained ankle.

On the way down from the fort we passed through the market place.  Most of these buildings date from the 11th century.  Sandy had to do a little shopping here.

In Shkodra we looked around a bit and stopped at this site.  The wall is an old Illyrian fortress (about 500 BC).  The Albanian hero, Skanderbeg, was buried here in the church at the center (the new columns and roof are enclosing the church remains).  When the Ottomans retook Albania they did not want any reminders of Skanderbeg - so they dug up his remains, burned them, and scattered them in the field.

You can see the church, the town, and the fortress on the hill above the town.  This fortress did not fall to the Ottomans and held out for many years.

These bunkers are just everywhere.  We saw this one in a man's yard and had to stop.  Sandy attacked and captured it.

This 12th century fishing village lies just off shore near Budva.  A company from Singapore ahs rented it and uses it as a private retreat.  No one knows how much they are paying, but the word is that it amounts to over half of the country's budget!

Here is the view from our window.  You can see the old walled area of the city just below.

Those chairs really packed a wallop.

Despite that Sandy kept her smile intact.