North to Durres

We sail north to Durres, which is about 8 hours sail. The coast offers no safe shelter in between. The weather was nice and the ocean calm so it made for an enjoyable day out to sea. The port of Durres is the largest port in Albania. It is where all of the importing and exporting of goods change hands. Large cranes surround the harbor and high cement frame the docks. This port is really not set up for visiting yachts, but are glad to accommodate us. The town itself is also pretty industrial. This is not a town for vacationers. Tall residential apartment blocks ascend into the sky creating canyons to the streets below. The architecture is at least an attempt to do something more than square refrigerator type housing, and often are quite successful. But the abundance of tall building still gives the city a no nonsense industrial feel. In the early evening, the harbormaster boarded our boat. He is a happy guy in his late 50’s with gold braiding on his sleeve advertising his rank and authority. As it turns out he just wants to chat with us. So we discuss life with someone who has lived through the communist period and is now still working for the government. He talks of his two children, a boy and a girl going to university and his wife working as a teacher. He is obviously much better off financially than most of his fellow citizens. But it was not always so. He also talks of those dark days of communism when all food and gas was rationed if you could even get it; Of waking up at 3 in the morning to stand in line in hopes of getting some milk and still being turned away when the days allotment was gone. Very few people had any kind of refrigeration. So the neighbors would plead with those few who had such a convenience if they could store their meat, or other perishables. The refrigerator barons would do what they could but often there was never enough room for everyone’s needs. “Come back tomorrow maybe someone will eat their meat tonight and there will be room” was often heard. Now the food is better, and plenty of goods are available. But the wages are still very low. Average wage seems to be around $450 a month. Workers tell us they can’t afford to buy coffee in a café that sells for only a dollar. Families rarely can move out of mom and dads, so generations pull together to make things work.