Albania is quite unlike any country I have ever visited. The people are very nice and will holler all the way from across the street to greet you and almost every person from our generation speaks surprisingly good English. What was sad to hear is their struggle with the lack of employment opportunities.
When we crossed the border it felt like time had been rewound several decades. It quite surprised me but it was also very beautiful...and quiet. Men cutting large hay fields with scythes, women hoeing weeds in the vegetable fields, herds of sheep or goats grazing next to the road with an old shepherd keeping them from straying too far. Horse and donkey carts are a very common sight on the roads as well as women leading the family cow to its daily grazing spot.
When we rode into Skoder, a livestock market was in progress next to the road. Goats and sheep were lying around the ground with their feet tied together while potential buyers were doing the rounds. In town we saw an old man taking his two sheep for a walk on a lead, letting them graze on any greenery they found.
I took hardly any pictures of these very interesting, picturesque scenes because I felt like I would be exploiting these people who are working so hard to make a living.
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