Greece and Albania

Greece Albania&

By Norm Bour

The question, “Where do we go now?” has come up countless times as my girlfriend, Kathleen, and I found ourselves "stuck" in Mexico. What was intended to be a two-week break after returning to the Western Hemisphere after a stint in Asia has turned into 15 months, and the third week of March was our one-year anniversary of arriving in Mexico. Now, I know that you may be thinking, "You're complaining about being stuck in an ocean-close fishing village with just 10,000 people, cheap

Photos, from opposite page, left: Krka; Dubrovnik; Krka; Omis

rent, great food, and terrific weather?”

Well, that does make me sound rather spoiled, but since Kathleen and I left the U.S. permanently in February 2019 and intended to travel the world for six weeks at a time, each time staying at different locations, the idea of being in one place for 52 weeks was a huge adjustment. When we left the US, our first stops were Spain and then then Italy which took care of our 90day allotted stay in the European Union. Our next stop was a country I knew little about, but one we loved and lived in twice in 2019. And it’s also the subject of this story and where we will return to later this year: Croatia.

Ah…Croatia!

Croatia was never on our radar, but it holds a unique distinction of being in the European Union, but not part of what is called the Schengen Zone. That means our 90- day stay does not count against a "normal" European stay. And Croatia is amazing! We arrived in Split, a beautiful seaside village in May 2019, and lived in a small town just north. The town was teaming with history, a mix of ancient and more modern. The historical highlight in Split town is the Diocletian's Palace, which dates to the 4th century, and is now filled with tourist kiosks, restaurants, and loads of charm. While we lived in the Split area we rented a motorcycle—twice—which I wrote about for a Croatian web site. We rode it along the southbound coast into the walled city of Dubrovnik, which is well known to Game of Thrones fans, since that is the setting.

Many coastal routes unfortunately do not stay coastal enough, but the 102mile trip hugs the coast for the majority of the time and is beyond spectacular. The waters along the Adriatic Sea called us at every turn of the road. One of the beauties of Croatian travel is that you can stop anywhere on the highway, park your car (or bike) wherever you please, and jump in the water. Of all the 23 countries we visited until we arrived in Mexico, Croatia was the most charming, and the one that is luring us back. But only for 90 days at a time, since that is our limit there.

We had a return overseas flight scheduled back for September 3rd, but unbeknownst to us, it was cancelled by the airline. I found out only when I went to their site looking for any updates and saw the bad news. Now I’m diligently working with getting our money back since most airlines are only offering credit.

So we’ve changed plans and pushed back to October, and from there it's south to Greece for 90 days (which is officially in the EU), and then on to a brand new focus: Albania, where we can stay for one year on a tourist visa.

Kathleen and I have no desire to return to the U.S. to live, and we have no home there any longer. After experiencing tropical climates in Mexico and Southeast Asia, we have decided that we are Mediterranean- climate people, and that is where we plan to stay.