Tag Archives: driving

Nothing to Fier but Fier Itself

I’ve had my share of adventures driving on foreign roads, including quite a few recently in Albania. But I had to face the most terrifying thing of all recently in the central Albanian city of Fier: scratching the rental car. From narrow, winding roads to wild, out of control roundabouts, there are plenty of hazardsContinue reading “Nothing to Fier but Fier Itself”

Slippery Slopes at the City of Stone

Built into the hillsides, with a fortress overlooking the bazaar and narrow cobblestone streets that wind through the stone roofed houses below, Gjirokastër is a steep town. The writer Ismail Kadare called it “maybe the steepest in the world.” Within my first five minutes in Gjirokastër, my rental car and I faced maybe the steepestContinue reading “Slippery Slopes at the City of Stone”