Dajti Ekspres, yet another cable car

Excerpt from my Albanian travel journal notebook:

Mon 20/2 klo 13.25

Cold so won’t write for long, but just to share magical moments w/ you.

Sat alone @ top of Mount Something, maybe begins with a Q (pronounced “ch”), maybe not.

I LOVE THIS.

Views are PHENOMENAL.

Just had a nutritious lunch of yesterday’s peanut butter-filled pretzels, nuts & raisins & an Elovena patukka. SO glad I thought to buy water before my ‘spontaneous’ mountain climb (1.5km doesn’t sound bad, but alas twas all uphill #surprisesurprise).

I like feeling slightly dizzy of vertigo on this rock.

#thisislife

There’s clouds coming my way. I wonder whether I’ll be in them.

Oh, someone else arriving.

Maybe she can take a pic of me

My first full day in Albania included, what else, but a Cable Car (yes my apologies true fans, yes another one, but none of the previous ones have been The Longest Cable Car In The Balkans right!?). This was called the Dajti Ekspres, some kilometres from the town centre. It took about an hour to walk there, admiring the looming mountains ahead of me, wondering if I’ll be going up one of them.

Purchase ticket, hop on Cable Car, enjoy.

When it’s on-season, the top of the cable car brings you to a great holiday complex featuring hotels, restaurants, adventure parks, playgrounds, etc etc. On off-season, a bit less-so. I purchased a Freddocino from the man at the restaurant and wandered about. Twas very pretty and atmospheric, and I enjoyed observing the cable cars warble over my head (what do cable cars do? Float? Whizz? Rumble?).

My aim was to wander, wonder, and perhaps see if I can climb a mountain.

So as I wondered and wandered past some horses, and when others turned right (assumedly towards the restaurant), I turned left, and found a little signpost, mentioned above, saying “Qafa e Qershisë”, Main Trail, 1.5km. Sounded promising.

I walked past a cool-looking yellow house, adamant on my Quest for a Mountain, and to my great sadness only once I had internet after the day was over did I learn this was actually a site on Google, “The Abandoned Hotel”, wow what a miss. 🙁

Anyhoos, after going past the abandoned hotel, the path continued going up up up, gradually. Always a fun challenge finding the next red-and-white Main Trail sign, but luckily they never failed me. I wasn’t really dressed for a hike, but enjoyed the weather all the same.

At some points I saw glimpses of a couple in front of me, but otherwise I didn’t really see other people. At some point, around the time there started being snow on the ground, a group of perhaps ten hikers were descending. I erroneously I assumed the peak was nearby. It wasn’t.

1.5km is indeed a bit more hardcore when going up a mountain vs. walking on flat ground.

It was a leisurely, fun, chill climb tho. I could stop when I wanted and persevere when I wanted.

Here is another viewpoint, unfortunately the fog was very prevalent but it felt epic anyhoos.

Finally nearing the top, I had a chat with the Swiss couple I’d been half-following – they’d been to the peak and were coming down now. I asked them how it was. “Snowy!” was the answer.

I asked them to take photos of me and we discussed the peak and shared some tips about Tirana (like when they recommended the free walking tour and the Radio Bar). Nice little chat.

Then, I was off and the peak was definitely a peak and yes there definitely was snow!

As recorded in the excerpt at the beginning, it was MAGICAL and one of those moments of pure, pure Happiness. The views, the experience, the vertigo, the achievement.

As well as eating “lunch” and experiencing emotions, I had fun taking self-timer pics of myself, and got pretty okay with them didn’t I, despite the unfortunately placed red blob (no twasn’t my time of month).

The person who appeared at the mountain top, mentioned in my travel journal excerpt as a potential future photographer, became my newest travel friend. T was currently living in Durrës, a town an hour away, and had done a daytrip to Tirana.

After taking pictures of each other it was nice sitting in companionable silence. Yes sitting alone, all alone in the magnificent nature is amazing, but it’s equally amazing, as cliché as it is, to share it with someone.

She was interesting and seemed happy enough to chat, and when she was leaving I asked if she wanted company. It’s always slightly uncomfortable putting forward yourself in this manner – what if she says NO, or worse, what if she says YES but deep down hates every moment spent with me? In the end, as always in these kinds of social situations, I figured it’s up to her, and her fault if she accepts to have company when she’d rather be alone.

So down we went. She led the way, and I happily followed. I can follow routes when I’m alone, but the moment someone else takes lead, I completely lose track of where I am and which direction I’ve come from. T chose to not take the main trail but another route, as it would’ve been quite a steep descent if we’d taken the same route back.

We passed some bunkers, the first ones I saw, and T shared with me some of their history. Intriguing.

Bunkers are basically now a symbol of Albania. Crazy paranoid dictator Enver Hoxha had 750,000 of them constructed during his reign from the 2^nd World War to his death in 1985. They are known descriptively as “Enver Hoxha’s mushrooms” as they have sprouted truly everywhere in the country. Most are derelict, but you can find some being used as accommodation, cafes, storehouses or shelters. Official or unofficial.

None of the ones we encountered that day were cafes.

The route down was pleasant and took a while. Here’s a view of our mountain from a different angle.

After some of this while we got to a check-point with an official-looking booth with a red and white barrier across the road, one side secured with a large rock, the other side secured with barbed wire (no way to get round). We briefly wondered whether we should be here, and then T walked up to ask the man at the booth which way the cable car was. He came out to lift the barrier up for us, pointed, and we left. On our way out, we passed three different official signs with pictures of men with guns, DO NOT ENTER twice and MILITARY ZONE once or twice. Owps. Evidently we’d gone some less-encouraged route.

All in all, what an adventure. My second most favourite day of the holiday.

T and I took the cable car back down together, took the bus, and then parted ways. Very nice afternoon company. 🙂

Cable cars, you still never fail to bring me unbounding joy.  

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