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Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 5:19 am
by Pjetër
Migjeni wrote:
Pjetër wrote:As long as you avoid the main public beach Shengjin is really nice as far as swimming goes. Other than that there isn't much there. I was there last year. My uncle has a house there for when he stays in Albania.

View from his house
Any reason for avoiding the main beach - besides lots of people probably? Also any recommendations on where to go if not the main beach?
The crowds are the biggest reason for me. The sand is also much better in the less crowded parts. Rana e hedhun isn't bad at all in my opinion and besides that there isn't one specific location I would choose. My uncle and I would just drive from the house until we saw some spot that looked nice and then we would walk down to it.
It'll just be a few days chilling in the sun and a bit of swimming - Just looking to relax a bit, no party time for me this time around. Good place to do that or nah?
It's perfect for exactly that.

Are you going to get a hotel when you stay there or you going to stay in someone's guest room? Last year we rented out a room to a Kosovar couple from Peja and they seemed to like it well enough. It seems to be a common thing to do over there.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2016 9:08 pm
by Simboli i Diellit
Rana e hedhun , Kune , Tale and Vain are the best places to stay if you need some privacy , relax without having many people around. When you're comming Migjen? I'll be here untill this friday . Shengjin has a decent nightlife , and usually the main beaches around the resorts are full of albanians from Kosove and Ilirida . Local population likes more Rana e Hedhun and Vain beacuse you can have a tend 100mt away from each other and the sand/water are natural . Shengjin is better than Durres and Kavaje but if you'll be staying in shengjin then just try to go as near as you can to Inheritor or on the other side towards Kune . Try to speak as much as you can as albanian from Lezhe otherwise they'll try to raise prices and ask for the price in Leke. The bus from Lezhe to shengjin costs 30 leke while the van 50 leke and they usually make you pay 100 leke. You should definitively visit Detari in shengjin if you want good genuine seafood (it doesn't cost much for the quality they serve). There are many other restaurants in Ishull-Lezhe in the area of Hoteli i Gjuetise and you could add also the two Plaku suggested as they have quality slow food . Iliria Sky and Plazza are good places to hang out and relax watching all the seaside from top of Shengjin.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 2:19 am
by Migjeni
Plako wrote:Think Simboli can best answer this question. My wife, who grew up in Lezhe, tells me that Kune and Rana e Hedhun are the best spots to go for a swim. Of course she hasn't been there in years so things might have changed.

http://www.shengjini.com/rana-hedhun/

While in Lezhe I'd recommend you visit two of the best restaurants in all of Albania: Rapsodia and Mrizi I Zanave.
Thanks a lot, Plako, I'll probably visit both of those places when going.
Pjetër wrote:The crowds are the biggest reason for me. The sand is also much better in the less crowded parts. Rana e hedhun isn't bad at all in my opinion and besides that there isn't one specific location I would choose. My uncle and I would just drive from the house until we saw some spot that looked nice and then we would walk down to it.
Thanks a lot - we'll be going by car, so that's probably very doable to do like you guys have done.
Are you going to get a hotel when you stay there or you going to stay in someone's guest room? Last year we rented out a room to a Kosovar couple from Peja and they seemed to like it well enough. It seems to be a common thing to do over there.
We're going to stay at some hotel a stone throw away from the beach, cousin knows someone who can hook us up apparently. Hotel Rafaelo or something like that.
Simboli i Diellit wrote:Rana e hedhun , Kune , Tale and Vain are the best places to stay if you need some privacy , relax without having many people around. When you're comming Migjen? I'll be here untill this friday . Shengjin has a decent nightlife , and usually the main beaches around the resorts are full of albanians from Kosove and Ilirida . Local population likes more Rana e Hedhun and Vain beacuse you can have a tend 100mt away from each other and the sand/water are natural . Shengjin is better than Durres and Kavaje but if you'll be staying in shengjin then just try to go as near as you can to Inheritor or on the other side towards Kune . Try to speak as much as you can as albanian from Lezhe otherwise they'll try to raise prices and ask for the price in Leke. The bus from Lezhe to shengjin costs 30 leke while the van 50 leke and they usually make you pay 100 leke. You should definitively visit Detari in shengjin if you want good genuine seafood (it doesn't cost much for the quality they serve). There are many other restaurants in Ishull-Lezhe in the area of Hoteli i Gjuetise and you could add also the two Plaku suggested as they have quality slow food . Iliria Sky and Plazza are good places to hang out and relax watching all the seaside from top of Shengjin.
We've not decided yet, Simboli, but I think during this week, so probably Wednesday or Thursday. Thanks a lot for the thorough guide, Simboli, it's much appreciated.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:36 am
by Simboli i Diellit
Rafaelo is one of the best resorts in Shengjin. They have lots of live shows and good music. To avoid trafic don't move out of Shengjin from 16-20:00 or move in from 9-11:00 because the trafic at that time reaches kms . If you'll need internet just get a Vodafone offer with less than 5€ with unlimited bandwitch (oferta 600lek) . If you move to visit Lezhe , park the car near to the Cathedral and you can walk around freely as the city is small so you could reach Skenderbeu's memorial and the castle if few minutes. There are loads of bars in the new "walkway" on two sides of river Drin or near to the old comunist Hotel Turizmi you can find "Jolly" on the last floor of the tallest building.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:05 pm
by Pjetër
Holy shit I forgot how bad the traffic was.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 9:57 pm
by Migjeni
Came back from Shengjin a few days ago. Mostly a good trip. Shengjini is smaller than I thought and there really isn't much to do besides going to the beach during the day and taking a stroll down the shetitore in the evening/going to one of the discos there. Beach was mostly clean, so was the water. Lots of people on the public beach - Rana e hedhur was better for me. Waiters are shit as usual in Albania.

Had an annoying experience. Last day we were there, my cousins and I decided to quit the beach a little earlier, so we could take a look at the 'city' in daylight. Well, there wasn't much to see, but we saw what looked like a small park - and we saw a cross @ the gate, so we figured it probably was a church, so we went ahead and when we saw a lady around her 60's who was working there, we asked her whether we could go into the 'park'. She didn't answer us but looked at us and said: "A jeni katolik a musliman?" - We were a little baffled by the question, as I've never been asked that by any Albanian in my life. We answered and said, that we were Muslims, and then she said: "Ju kosovaret i urreni katoliket" - I was very, very surprised and annoyed by this, and so were my cousins. Well, we put her in her place and told her that she was the one who was prejudiced and ignorant and left, and we met a man who worked at the church who told us, that 'Kosovaret' are the ones who leave most money in the church when they visit it lol.

Besides that it was a good trip. But know that it's a very small place when you're going, so there isn't much to do - we visited Tiranë and Shkodër while there - the rest of the days we spent in Shengjin. Also, the roads could be better, but they're not near a catastrophe, they're just very dusty. The same can be said about the dumpsters in the streets stinking up entire blocks. If you want to get tourists, be sure the city doesn't stink. Besides that it was decent. Rafaelo Resort was good.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 10:05 pm
by Aurora Bulkualis
I don't know why you even bother answering random people who ask you about religion. I would have just given a troll answer like Hindu or something, and moved on.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 10:09 pm
by Plako
Migjeni wrote:Had an annoying experience. Last day we were there, my cousins and I decided to quit the beach a little earlier, so we could take a look at the 'city' in daylight. Well, there wasn't much to see, but we saw what looked like a small park - and we saw a cross @ the gate, so we figured it probably was a church, so we went ahead and when we saw a lady around her 60's who was working there, we asked her whether we could go into the 'park'. She didn't answer us but looked at us and said: "A jeni katolik a musliman?" - We were a little baffled by the question, as I've never been asked that by any Albanian in my life. We answered and said, that we were Muslims, and then she said: "Ju kosovaret i urreni katoliket" - I was very, very surprised and annoyed by this, and so were my cousins. Well, we put her in her place and told her that she was the one who was prejudiced and ignorant and left, and we met a man who worked at the church who told us, that 'Kosovaret' are the ones who leave most money in the church when they visit it lol .
Yeah that sucks but Lezha is overrun by Mirditore (Catholic stronghold) and they are some of the most intolerant Albanians when it come to religion. Still very surprising that she'd say that to your face.



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Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 11:56 pm
by KF.KORAB
Mirdita is like the Catholic ISIS region :D i'm Catholic myself but that old woman is an idiot if Muslims wanna visit the Church feel free to do it and vice versa.

Muslims have built churches for Albanian Christians.

Re: Albania Vacations/Tourism

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2016 3:37 am
by Simboli i Diellit
Migjen , i'm sorry you had such an incoventient experience but i have to admit as Korabi says that Mirditore are quite extremists/fanatics on religion basis and well that woman must be quite ignorant like you say to reach such generic conclusions. Next to the church in Shengjin next summer i'll open a Battle Arena of Laser Tag . Putting some ISIS mannequins holding AK-47 looking to the church could be a good marketing campaign and that woman would hold her tongue :roll: . If you happen to visit the area during next summer we might set up some scenarios of UCK versus SDB or with Green Berets :roll:


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