Since my last stream of posts (aside from the previous post which I realised I had ready and waiting in the drafts folder for months), I moved from California to Pristina, Kosovo. After being home for majority of the last year and a half, I was suffering from coastal withdrawals so for my second weekend living here my best friend, her colleague, and I went off on a weekend adventure to the Albanian coast for an eco camping experience and adding number 44 to my country count.

Pro Tip: when driving a car to somewhere you’ve never been, look up directions (I assumed my friend had done so and only realised she hadn’t when we had crossed the border into Albania and none of us had internet…fantastic).

Because of this minor oversight, we may have gotten lost. Very lost. I’m talking middle of nowhere down an unlit road (I use this term lightly as it was just an extremely uneven dirt path) which was barely wide enough to fit our small Peugeot. The entire time it felt like one of the tyres might just burst and in that event I would refuse to get out of the car as the air was swarming with massive unidentified flying bugs (UFBs).

With the loss of daylight, we had to abandon our mission to find the eco camp – especially since we weren’t actually sure there were people there operating the camp yet as the summer season hadn’t officially started. We struggled back to the main highway and found a hotel off the road which ended up being quite a delight. Nord Park Hotel, which looked like a mini castle, boasted a massive swimming pool and a staff of dashing young men quite happy to fawn over us.

After making use of their wifi to actually look up directions, we re-embarked on our journey to Atlantid beach and were eventually successful (after a series of other roads I hesitate to call roads). Upon arrival and asking around, we found out the eco camp was, in fact, not fully operational and they only had a few accouterments for sleeping and were in the process of building the showers and loos. We decided to stay anyway and just got creative – using our massive water jug to “shower”, rolling up clothes for a pillow, and wearing all the clothes we had as blankets.

All the exciting adventure aside, we had a such a relaxing time. The water was the perfect temperature (though I longed for some proper waves to dive under) and the umbrellas and lounge chairs available for hire were, though not the greatest looking, perfect for that resort-style-beach-lounging feel. There is a restaurant serving up fresh fish (as in we saw them catch it), salad, and potatoes – I hope you like those things because that’s all we had for three meals. All in all, I highly recommend Atlantid Beach. Write ahead to book a tent and don’t forget to bring: loads of water, snacks, reading material, a rockin’ playlist, sunblock, your own towels, and your sunnies 🙂