Embrace Yourself, Rain Is Coming[/caption]
Illegal building[/caption]There was a time not many years ago (it continues even today but not in such scale) where everyone could build without permission. The bigger the building, the lesser the possibility of getting caught. However, from time to time, even the building inspectorate has to prove why it exists. Hence the half demolished building left scorching under the sun. The funny thing is that the inspectorate does this always before summer season. Like trying to show to as many people as possible what they are supposed to do. You might think it's logical from their point of view but, what if I told you that this building (and quite a lot others) has been laying just like this since 10 years ago?
10 years ago it looked like a war zone, like we were under a blitzkrieg or smth. Slowly people started cleaning the land but as you can see, it may take many years to do so...
Saranda By Night[/caption]Saranda is located inside a bay, hence the beautiful view of the lights from the promenade. The lights on the far left are from Hotel Butrinti, the first 5* hotel in Albania. Don't count too much on the stars since the classification is made by the Ministry of Tourism of Albania. As you may know, in countries like ours, the stars show how rich is the owner of the hotel, not how good the hotel itself is. Nevertheless it has a quite good reputation regarding quality. I can't say the same regarding price unfortunately, it is one of the most expensive in Albania. We stayed on the far right, opposite Grand Hotel, at a new apartment with a private beach. We paid like 25$ per night for quite a large apartment, with all the necessities and free parking. If you need any phone numbers, let me know :) The best thing was the view from the balcony, it felt like being on an airplane.
Abandoned communism era hotel in Kukes, Albania[/caption]
