This was a trip that evolved in unexpected ways.

It was early Spring and we were looking for some place warm, the Portuguese Algarve still being a bit chilly. Sicily beckoned as a place with lots of sun. We had settled on the eastern coastal towns of Siracusa and Taormina and were in the process of considering other parts of Sicily when we noticed that Tirana, the capital of Albania, was an easy airplane hop across the Ionian Sea.

From Sicily to the Balkans? A dramatic shift in scenery to be sure. But Albania has been generating buzz lately as “the next Croatia” and we had certainly enjoyed Croatia back in 2024. The cherry on the top for us was North Macedonia’s gorgeous Lake Ohrid district, only a half day’s drive away from Tirana. Might be a good combination.

Within a week, we had pulled together a 13-day itinerary, with the logistics a bit complicated: one-way flights from Faro to Rome; Rome to Sicily’s Catania airport; Catania to Tirana; and finally, Tirana to Milan/Bergamo, with another flight to Faro later the same day. We also arranged transportation by bus and trains in Sicily and hired a private driver to get us from Tirana to Ohrid and back.

Somehow, it all came together and by April 24 we were on our way.