Most tourists only visit Shkodra, in northern Albania, on the way through to Tirana from Montenegro. That’s exactly why I was there. Since the end of communism, the town has been in decline and there is very little to see aside from the Rozafa Fortress.

I got a quick glimpse of the fortress while stuck in traffic in a gypsy camp where local kids knocked on the car windows begging for money. That reminded me of the last time I was in Albania when after entering getting off the ferry at Durres, I was waiting alone in my car when about 10 gypsy kids surrounded the car knocking on the windows. The kids are quite cute but they can be very aggressive!

The only building I saw in Shkodra which wasn’t a concrete apartment block was a mosque recently built as a gift from Saudi Arabia.