Heavy-drinking in Montenegro

1/21 - 1/24

First impressions of Montenegro were not so good. From Shkodra to Ulcinj, then to Budva, which I can only describe as an empty off-season party town. The old town was alright, but even that had been rebuilt after an earthquake and was rammed with tourist shops. The only real highlight was the heavy-drinking red-nosed fisherman Adrovic whose home we stayed in.

Albania

1/15 - 1/21

First impressions of Albania were pretty good: Very casual border control, an offer of directions in Gjirokaster and even a 3,000 leke loan from our chosen B&B since the old town money changers were closed. In fact most of the old town was closed, and a fair few of the listed buildings' roofs were caved in, but the stone-roofed building, cobbled streets and huge castle made the hilltop town quite attractive in a cold way.

Skipping the Oracle at Delphi

1/12 - 1/15

I left my laptop - oops, sorry 'netbook', on the bus to Delphi. Resigned to never seeing it again I was very surprised when it came back on the same bus six hours later!

The temple of Athena was cool and free, the Oracle already closed and quite expensive. The beautiful scenery was much more impressive than the ruins anyway.

Encounters in Athens

1/9 - 1/12

Athens was an interesting experience for us. Having tried and failed to Couchsurf in Athens and a few other towns in Greece we were surprised when an Athenian host used a new Couchsurfing feature and contacted us to offer a couch, even though we hadn't sent him a request. In other words he had logged on to Couchsurfing, saw a list of people looking for couches in Athens (a list we had opted into) and decided to invite us to stay.