Lake Shkodėr

The west side of Lake Shkodėr included Montenegro's Skader Lake National Park	I chose to drive around the east side through Albania instead	Welcome to Albania - ProCredit Bank	Signposts from the Sukobin-Shtuf (Ulcinj) border to tourist attractions of northern Albania
Billboard of the Europa Grand Hotel, where I had a reservation for the night	A NATO member since 2009, Albania proudly flies the NATO flag	Villa along the road south of Lake Shkodėr	Albania is estimated to be 70% Muslim
The wide Buna River, which flows from Lake Shkodėr to the Adriatic	Nicely situated restaurant overlooking the Bunė River a short distance southwest of the bridges	The new bridge over the Bunė River, apparently not yet open to traffic in May 2011	Distant view of Shkodėr across the new bridge
View of the Bunė River and Rozafa Castle from a series of terraces built into the hillside	Rofaza Castle from the new Shkodėr Bridge	The old one lane bridge over the Bunė River, repaired after partial collapse in 2002	I had a local warn me to keep my windows closed and door locked here
Notice the gypsy children running up as a car stops to wait for oncoming traffic	While I was there, the thieving little buggers were trying to open my car doors	One policeman controlling the bridge would have eliminated my only unpleasant experience in Albania	Problem solved once this new bridge is operational
A tented encampment outside Shkodėr	Lake Shkodėr, the largest lake in the Balkans	The Montenegran western shore of Lake Shkodėr in the distance	Xhamia e Plumbit, Rofaza
Late afternoon passing below Rozafa Castle	The church of Grilė on the eastern shore of Lake Shkodėr	One of the famous mushroom shaped bunkers built throughout Albania during the Hoxha-era	There were fewer bunkers along the road than I had expected, this being a border area...
Bar Restorant Brajan, Albania	Many of the houses are very well kept	Staying on the main road, you don't see much of the lake	Small vineyard in front of a house, Lake Shkodėr
Keshtjella Xhafa Bar Restorant	Many of the houses in northern Albania use these Mediterranean pastel colors	North Albanian Alps with fertile plain on the west side of Lake Shkodėr	North Albanian Alps
The quality of the road between Shkodėr and the Montenegro border at Hani i Hotit	Some Albanians are doing very well for themselves....	Lake Shkodėr at Hani i Hotit, the only time the main road passes directly along the lakeshore	Leaving Albania through the Hani i Hotit border post
Welcome back to Montenegro	Please Drive Carefully!	BalkansMay11 3676.jpg	BalkansMay11 3426.jpg