Another lousy highway greeted us outside of Durres, and it began winding along the seaside. To my surprise a large strip of beach hotels and restaurants have been built and are still being built south of Durres, probably for value-seeking Italian tourists who perhaps find it too expensive to take a beach vacation in their own country - as most people do. More of the little one-man bunkers were scattered across the countryside - these were built during communist times to protect the country in the case of an invasion, and they are absolutely everywhere. They come in two sizes, small and large, and they all became completely useless with the collapse of communism. Even when they were built I question their tactical importance - soldiers cannot retreat, they are confined to a small stationery bunker that can easily be demolished through air attacks, and now, after the collapse of the former regime, they just get in the way everywhere - as people try to farm the land around them and build new roads. They're an odd sight, and unique to this country, as far as I know. They make the long bus rides through the country interesting, though, as you begin to see these bunkers placed in even the most improbable of locations.







We passed through one particularly hard-up town, called Lushnja, which had no paved downtown streets, several factories with all of their windows broken, garbage everywhere and of course - more ugly apartment buildings dotted with satellite dishes. As well there were several police with AK-47s guarding the southern exit onto the highway, and we bounced around the roundabout here on the potholed dirt road to get back onto it.






But now, I'm in Fier. It is better off than Lushnja by far, but still a low sprawl with broken streets and shattered sidewalks, like most of the rest of Albania. It seems incredibly quiet, with almost no traffic. After my beer in a cafe, I head over to the taxi stand and begin to negotiate a price for the driver to take me to Appollonia.

The taxi driver was asking 15,000 Albanian Leke for the return trip, or roughly USD120. Too much, I said. I finally stopped punching numbers into my calculator and pulled out some Leke - what he actually wanted was 1500 Leke for the trip, and I thought that was perfectly fine. And also worth it, considering how bad the road is to Appollonia.






It took a good thirty to forty-five minutes to traverse the twelve kilometres of potholed roads that lead up to the hill where ancient Appollonia lays. Bunkers were everywhere, not only the small ones but plenty of larger ones as well. The museum was closed, as if I cared. The most interesting site I found was to the right of the museum's entrance: a dozen new grave sites amongst tall, blowing grass. Serene and meditative, and a great view both across a valley to the east and the sea to the west.








There was no ticket person so I saw the ruins for free - not too impressive, but a step above Durres. something that struck me was how poorly maintained the site is - there is garbage everywhere. Some information signs are beside each ruin, finely carved in Granite and only in Albanian. Across the valley are some bunkers dug into the mountain, in a neat row. There is a trail up to a house that looks like someone lives in, and that is just about it.












It was great to visit Appollonia on a sunny day, and enjoy the cool breeze on the top of the hill. There were several school buses in the parking lot, and I was the only foreigner there. I headed back to Fier, and asked the driver to drop me off on a side of the road where the bus to Gjirokaster would be stopping. He complied, and I met a few more nice Albanians at a cafe while I was waiting, one of which even waited with me after the cafe closed up to make sure I caught the right bus. The fewer the tourists, the nicer the locals are. The Albanians have been good to me so far, as has the trip been very enlightening.

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