Op/Ed: I survived Albania on a bicycle!

This is not an original article of invest-in-albania.org. The article was first published at YoloNathan. 

 I survived Albania on a bicycle

“I had no choice but to go through Albania in order to get to Greece. My friends, family and locals in the neighbouring countries all warned me of the dangers that I face, that I should secure all my gear, that I am very brave and must cycle through the country as quickly as possible.

Had they visited Albania before, no.

Had they really got to know any Albanian people before, no.

Had they listened to the media and opinions of others, yes.

My time in Albania was an absolute pleasure. I felt extremely welcomed and at no point felt unsafe. The country may be less developed outside the main cities but I saw a lot of large-scale infrastructure works taking place, albeit slowly… I did feel that they should split the works into stages as opposed to trying to do it all in one go. If I return in a few years, I expect this country will be completely different, especially the more semi-rural areas.

My vlog shows you outside the big cities and away from where the tourists go. Why… because I want to show you the real Albania, the true culture and what you are missing by not going there. I ended up getting so much awesome footage that I wasn’t able to combine it into one video so this will be made up of two-parts! The second one to follow has some of the greatest roads I’ve ever seen – Top Gear eat your heart out!”

In another post “Cycling in Albania”, Nathan says: 

“I have discovered that Albania is indeed safe, the people are awesome and it has some of the best roads I’ve ever cycled on since starting my adventure in London. In my video I have an Albanian lunch with a view, cycle into Greece and nearly get attacked by killer swans.

I hope to return again soon for a longer period, relax by the beach and have some beers with the locals. I honestly cannot recommend this place enough and if you visit you will undoubtedly have the best holiday.”