Driving in Albania Can Really Test Your Patience

But put Kastoria, Greece, on your radar. The cute little town should capture you for a day. Or two.

If you’ve been following along, you know we are on a road trip through parts of Europe. WE HAVE NO RESERVATIONS, driving by the seat of our pants. Follow along if you want to see towns you never knew existed.

Kastoria, Greece, is a lakeside town situated on a peninsula surrounded by Lake Orestiada. We drove slowly through the town on our way to Lake Ohrid on the Albanian side. I wasn't looking forward to another border-crossing experience and wanted a last-minute break before being glared at by border patrol.1

We stopped for coffee here, and life seemed very similar to Türkiye, with a bazaar market and shaded picnic areas around the lake. This town would be a nice place to get away for a few days.

On the road to Albania, massive solar farms like the one below spread across rocky hills where it looked like nothing else would grow.

At the Albanian border, the Greek customs agents were unhappy again, and it showed. The Albanians, by contrast, were friendly. The roads in Albania from the border twisted through tiny stone-walled villages. We assumed this would be the case only in this area, but the entire country appears to be under construction.

Are you going to Albania? Just fly.

Our destination was Lake Ohrid, which is in both Albania and North Macedonia. We decided to stay on the Albanian side, and I found a family-run hotel right on the lake at the very end of Pogradec. When you are vacationing by the seat of your pants, you tend to hold your breath after you arrive at your hotel, desperate to see if the photos are real.

They were! This was our view. And the water was cold and crystal clear.

After two border crossings, we both finally relaxed. The hotel's proprietor was a dream, and we had high hopes for the rest of the trip.

Thoughts of visiting Lake Ohrid? Yes. Go.

1

Why the glares? Because we are driving our U.S. tagged automobile, not a Turkish one. The Turkish government gives special tax exemptions when you are a dual resident and bring your car from the U.S. But given the specific rules, keeping up with the number of days in and out of the country, etc., I’m not sure we’ll do it again.