If you are ever tempted to eat at Pizza Halal in Pogradec, Albania, we wholeheartedly recommend you pass. The good news is that we survived Albania and have made it to the beautiful hill town of Zitsa, Greece. But it’s been a rough couple of days dealing with minor food poisoning. After an uncomfortable night in Lubanishta, we awoke early yesterday morning and despite not feeling well decided to press on. We rode through a national park along Lake Orhid and back into Albania, both feeling awfully wiped out. We made it as far as Korçe, Albania (“the Paris of Albania” they call it for not entirely obvious reasons), where by noon we were both very hot and a little out of it. We needed to find an air conditioned hotel room and let our bodies recover. I looked at the four hotels in the center of town and chose the very best, which isn’t saying a lot. But it did the trick. By 1:00 PM we were both asleep and basically slept for 16 hours. 

By 5:00 AM this morning, we were feeling much better and ready to put the Albania chapter behind us. We got a major assist from this friendly guy, who gave us a lift over the final mountain pass, which had roads in such bad shape it would have taken us days.  
Perhaps ironically, Albania saved its most beautiful and remote scenery for the very end, with pretty gorges, clean rivers and roads with virtually no traffic.   
   
Still, crossing into Greece felt like a major victory. The Greek side of the border is equally beautiful, with steep mountainsides, the impressive Vikos Gorge, and idyllic little towns that modernity seems to have missed.

 
  
  By the time we arrived in the small town of Zitsa, where we are staying with lovely WarmShowers hosts Anna (who runs the town book shop) and Kostas (the town baker), we were hot and tired, but otherwise feeling great.  

Our directions to Anna and Kostas’ place said simply “the bakery, Zitsa” and we actually smelled the amazing aroma of fresh bread before we saw it. It once again feels great to be out exploring the world on our bicycles.