DATELINE: Durres, Albania    

Author: Andy      

We've found it extraordinarily difficult, for some reason, to find any establishments in this country that will sell us a postage stamp. The front desk clerk of the International Hotel (where diplomats stay) looked at me like I had three heads when I asked to buy one. She directed us to the post office, which one would think is the obvious choice. In this case, one would be wrong. Natalie and I went into the Post Office today in Tirana. They were open, there were clerks working there behind very modern-looking counters with very nice glass windows. As one might do in any post office, we offered them money in exchange for stamps. Their counter-offer was to take our money, and our mail, with the promise that they would apply a stamp at some point in the near future. We politely declined this offer, and decided to take our chances in Macedonia. Something else we learned today is that Skanderbeg was rumored to be able to cut two men in half with one swing of his scimitar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanderbeg