I remember, since my early teens I always had a fascination to travel to Albania. Having heard loads of harrowing tales about people being mugged by armed gangs and how the landscape was dangerously filled with landmines, I thought if its gonna be another adventure trip for me again,…Albania its going to be! Fred was up to yet another photographic assignment in Libya and I thought I just might wait a day or two before I could catch up with him.

A few enquiries followed and what I could deduce was that, a visa was not necessary for me to enter Albania. Just an entrance fee of 10 euros. As for the travel plans, I was informed that a Mercedes benz had already been booked for us. I was kinda shocked. “Mercedes for rental in a country where the population barely can afford a square meal? “. I knew, there were more surprises in store for me. New projects had been initiated and the existing roads have been revamped making travel a joy. Fred eased away a lot of pain for me by actually taking the initiative and making all the reservations. Shkroda was chosen as our first place of visit. I learned the town had beautiful churches and museums, notably, the Rozafa castle and the friendly and inviting town folk. Fred was excited, he had other plans in mind. He had already made up his mind on visiting Durresi and Saranda which he said was a photographer’s delight. Our plan was to travel to Bari in Italy take a overnight ferry to Durres.