Days 62 and 63: Durrës to Divjakë, then to Levan

August 05, 2026

Days 62 and 63: Durrës to Divjakë, then to Levan

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 5:10 and got on the road at the time of the sunrise, 5:35 AM.

I was glad to be out of the Backpackers Hostel in Durrës because the place was messy and had no AC. I also didn’t have a good vibe there. It was a complete switch from the Mosaic Home hostel in Tiranë, where it was one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at.

In any case, I rode on a service road next to the main highway most of the way. The route followed the EuroVelo the entire time. I reached Olive Guesthouse (Fori Vodo) in Divjakë around 9 AM after riding 35 miles. The owners are an old couple. They were very nice and offered me coffee and some watermelon slices. I stayed in a private room and it had AC. What a wonderful delight!

I didn’t do much in Divjakë because it’s a small town. Except for going out for lunch and dinner I mainly rested in the room and took a nap.

Google somehow flagged my website as “malicious” so it was down for a day. That was a good excuse for me to not write a blog post yesterday. After I disputed it, this website is up again.

This made me think if I care enough about blogging my travels. I mainly do it to remember my adventures. Maybe I should consider moving my blog to WordPress or something other than Blogger if Google gives me any more issues.

This morning, I continued my bicycle journey by following the EuroVelo. I saw some half finished houses on the sides of the road. There were some goats and geese, too. It felt like I went back in time, seeing old bicycles and old cars on the road.

This is the typical Albania I’ve been witnessing the entire time while traveling in this country. Not to say there aren’t any rich people in the country, I did see a new Bentley in Tiranë and some modern BMWs. But the majority of the people own 20+ years old cars or ride on old bicycles that look like they are about to fall apart. My bike must look like a Cadillac to them.

To me, it’s not the material wealth that matters anyway. The Albanian people I’ve met have been very kind and generous. They are the type of people I would like to live with.

After riding 28 miles to Levan, I arrived at Kappa Guesthouse. The lady just finished cleaning and I was able to check-in right away.

Levan is even smaller than Divjakë with only a few stores and restaurants. The owner of the guesthouse had to work at the restaurant where I had my lunch.

My room doesn’t have AC, only a fan. The temperature in the afternoon is now 35C, or 95F. I plan on going out one more time to get dinner. Tomorrow I’ll ride to Vlorë and stay there for two nights since it’s a bigger town.