10.9.22

We awoke to messages from our dog sitter and a phone call. Honey couldn’t stand up this morning and didn’t make any effort to go for her morning walk.

Maisy wanted to go and was making grumbling noises at Honey as if to say come on I’m waiting.

Just before calling neighbours for a vet trip she stood up but still didn’t want to go out. She’s not been eating either.

So we felt better about our flight being brought forward by 2 days.

All packed and checked out but a fellow guest had parked behind us, as instructed, but had locked the keys in the boot and was waiting for someone to come and sort it but no idea when it would be.

Instead of waiting around we decided to walk 45 minutes into town, see the pyramid and go to the museum. First stop was börek to munch along the way.

We visited the National History Museum in the main Skanderbeg Square.

I’d hoped to understand more about Albania by the end of the visit, I guess I understand more than I did but not easy when an ancient perfume bottle gets a paragraph and important events get a sentence, and not always in English.

Tirana is a large, ugly city. Hate to say this in an otherwise beautiful country but it really is ugly. There’s a lot of building work going on, but no projects that we saw which will enhance the area.

We totally forgot about the pyramid and made our way back towards our car, via coffee and ice cream.

We changed back the remainder of our Lek money into sterling and hope we have enough euros to survive until take off.

The other car had gone and we were able to leave. We were much too early really so stopped at a Mall and killed some time in Jumbo.

Ilir said to park in B1 or C1 in the terminal car park and to leave the key with a guy that works in the, airport. All very trusting. I would strongly recommend this nice rental man.

We weren’t especially hungry, so decided to check in and then go across to an eatery we saw on the way to see if they had coffee and a last local beer for John. They didn’t but Alpet petrol station had a restaurant attached.

A very grubby little kitten was hiding under a car looking very poorly. Very soon John had it eating some food left for it and gave it lots of cuddles. Such a dear friendly little thing.

After posting on some Albanian pages to ask for help for it we decided to eat there. A great choice, 2 large bowls of very good pasta in a cream and ham sauce for just under £2. Using a mix of € and lek we just about used up our loose change.

We were about half an hour late leaving and got the same meal as outbound but with a different flavour of juice.

From landing at Istanbul it took an hour through baggage, passport control and duty free, so we only ended up with around 3 hours to kill in the domestic terminal which went surprisingly quickly while writing all our hotel reviews.

Good old Turkish Airlines, we boarded early, left on the dot and simple to get out from Dalaman and onto the Havas bus.

So nice to arrive at our front door, by now it was 4.30am. The dogs were very happy to see us, although Honey didn’t get up from the sofa. 😭

John carried her upstairs and both of them slept on our bed as we needed cuddles.

A very boring mundane blog today!

11.9.22

I woke at 9am,feeling refreshed. John was a few hours later.

I made a little bit of gravy and Honey ate her food with John coaxing her. She’s walking fine this morning and it’s a massive relief.

We went off to the Sunday market, no matter where we go we never tire of being back here. A lovely welcome and a delicious katmer from our favourite pancake stall and loads of fresh fruit for the impending come down from ice fream, cakes and pizzas. Interestingly the Albanians are a slim nation and my weight’s barely changed.

While away I lost :

• 1 Lenovo earbud
• 1 English to Turkish plug adapter
• 1 3 point adapter extension lead.

We have however gained a cat. She waltzes in like she owns the place and goes upstairs to the food bowl. She’s not scared of the other cats, or the dogs or of being told this is not her home.

The only time Honey runs is to chase away any feline interlopers, so the plot thickens, she may well have slipped on the laminate and sprained her leg/s.

Let’s hope so and nothing more serious.

So, another adventure filled blog ends.

The laundry is all on the line and time now to find out who this cat belongs to. It is not staying.