Albert is one of the most adventurous travelers Travels With Sheila has ever met and I have to tell you about his exploits in North Albania. From the moment Florian pointed out the high mountain pass from Dunishe over to Montenegro, you could see the light bulbs go off in his head and it was [...]
“Travel Tips & Advice on Western Balkans”
Adventuring – Crossing Mountains From Albania to Montenegro
July 24th, 2011 
Sheila Simkin 
Posted in Albania, Featured 
Tags: adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, events, food, hotels, log, Montenegro, nature, sightseeing, travel, travel advice 
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Hindsight is 20/20 in North Albania and Suggestions for Touring
July 22nd, 2011 Sheila Simkin When a person signs up for a group tour, any tour, prepare yourself for highs and lows. It’s rare to find one that succeeds in meeting your expectations 100%. Travels With Sheila always prefers to travel with just the ex-Marine (husband, Steve) when feasible but occasionally, creating my own trip is similar to reinventing the [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, hiking, log, sightseeing, Tirana, tourist literature, travel, travel advice, travel information, trekking No Comments »
Using Up The Leks in Tirana, Albania Before Flying to Munich
July 21st, 2011 Sheila Simkin With 1,200 LEKS (a whopping $12 U.S.) left to spend, Steve and I walked the half-block over to Tirana’s small flea market from Hotel Seven. I couldn’t find anything for under $12 other than undies, an Albanian t-shirt, or household goods but Steve scored and bought a belt that just may be leather. Back to [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: accommodation, adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, events, food, Hotel Seven, hotels, log, nature, sightseeing, Tirana, tours, transportation, travel, travel advice No Comments »
A Week in North Albania Ended Back in Tirana
July 20th, 2011 Sheila Simkin The ride to Tirana took another two hours from Shkodra again passing Rosafa Castle up on the hill…View image, wagons loaded with cornstalks on the road…View image, and people selling heaps of Watermelons. I could never understand why we didn’t stop at least once during the two weeks and buy watermelons to share. Another road [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: accommodation, adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, events, food, Hotel Seven, hotels, log, nature, sightseeing, Tirana, tours, transportation, travel, travel advice No Comments »
The Walk and Ride Down To Boga, Albania
July 19th, 2011 Sheila Simkin The Outdoor Albania group shoehorned into Pashka’s mini-van and began the jolting ride up to the pass on what passes for a road…View image for around 50 minutes. The van halted a little before the top and the hikers got out (including ex-Marine) with the exception of myself and prepared to walk down the road. [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: accommodation, adventure, albania, Boga, culture, destination, event, events, food, hiking, log, nature, sightseeing, Theth, Thethi, tours, transportation, travel, travel advice, trekking No Comments »
Leaving The Remote Mountains of Teth/Thethi, North Albania
July 18th, 2011 Sheila Simkin The original itinerary called for a trek on the Path of the Sheep in the direction of Boga, but Florian decided that the group wasn’t up to it and changed the plans. Instead, the same uncomfortable mini-van that drove Steve and I to Theth from Shkodra will drive the group up to the pass where [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, events, food, guesthouse, log, nature, sightseeing, Theth, Thethi, tours, transportation, travel, travel advice, trekking No Comments »
The Stone Houses and Watchtower – Theth/Thethi National Park, Albania
July 17th, 2011 Sheila Simkin Almost all the houses in Theth are built of the local grey stone and roofed with wooden shingles. They were built to be easily defensible in this “blood feud” area. Not everyone could race to the Kulla in time. From what I understand, there are other Kullas throughout the Theth valley, not all in good [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: aaccommodation, adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, events, feuds, food, guesthouse, hotels, log, nature, sightseeing, Theth, Thethi, tours, transportation, travel, travel advice No Comments »
The Kulla “Blood Feud” Tower, Theth/Thethi, Albania
July 16th, 2011 Sheila Simkin It was easy to pick out the Kulla Tower in the distance…View image…, and the group followed the first red blazes of the entire trip up and over the stiles…View image, through cornfields and small terraces. A German man took it upon himself to raise money and paint blazes on the trails in this valley. [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: accommodation, adventure, albania, blood feuds, culture, destination, event, events, food, log, nature, sightseeing, Theth, Thethi, tours, travel, travel advice, vendettas No Comments »
The Mehill Carku Guesthouse, Theth/Thethi, North Albania
July 14th, 2011 Sheila Simkin Today in Theth was scheduled as “relaxing”…always a matter of semantics. “Relaxing” to Florian and Outdoor Albania meant walking downhill into the valley to visit Theth’s attractions. The Church, the Kulla e Ngujimit (a tower house used in the past by men as a shelter against ongoing vendettas), the Thethi Waterfall, Grunasi Canyon and the [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: accommodation, adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, events, food, hotels, log, Mehill Carku Guesthouse, nature, sightseeing, Theth, Thethi, tours, transportation, travel, travel advice No Comments »
Trekking Over The Classic Valbona Pass to Theth/Tethi, North Albania
July 13th, 2011 Sheila Simkin Below is the description of the “Classic Valbona Pass” hike sent to all participants by Outdoor Albania. Since ex-Marine and Travels With Sheila were excluded from this hike, I’ll let you read what is involved. All the great photographs were taken by Albert. “Valbona Valley National Park is considered the gem of Albanian Alps. It [...]
Posted in Albania, Featured Tags: accommodation, adventure, albania, culture, destination, event, events, hiking, log, nature, sightseeing, Theth, Thethi, tours, travel, travel advice, trekking, Valbona pass No Comments »
