Montenegro to Shkodër, Albania 🇦🇱
- adamkoniuszewski
- Apr 8
- 2 min read
Sunday March 30, 2025
With Adrit Kraja and Irma in cycling capital of the Balkans: Shkodër!
Podgorica
The evening in Pogdorica, capital of Montenegro and working town, gave me a little bit of time to relax and walk around. Unlike Kotor and the seaside, Podgorica is not filled with tourist attractions but there are good restaurants and cafés. A great place to take it easy and enjoy local food or an ice cream in the center. The hotel was perfectly located and the room was huge - my bike received royal treatment (grateful to the team at King's Park Hotel where I could see the river from my bedroom). After a fantastic breakfast... Jana gave me all the advice I needed for some last minute sightseeing... including the old bridge and clock tower - one of the few remnants from the Ottoman empire that survived WWII bombings.
Riding to the Albanian border
The 25km ride to the Albanian border was easy and pleasant. Few cars, I was mostly able to ride on the road shoulder, on the right side of the white line. I was not bothered by cars or trucks - the views of the mountains and seaside were amazing but that was just the beginning!
From the border to Shkoder!
Soon after the border I made my first encounter:
Shkodër: cycling capital of the Balkans
One of the most important cities in the ancient Balkans - described as the historical capital and center of diplomacy - Shkodër surprised me by its cycling culture. Locals call it the cycling capital of the Balkans. Biking is part of the local DNA here with people cycling in all directions, on bike paths, sidewalks, in the streets and alleys. Drivers are careful and the police seems both content and tolerant as it observes a strange symbiosis of car and bike traffic. I certainly felt very safe as vehicles and bikes moved slowly albeit sometimes unpredictably. One has to be alert but I got used to this very quickly - perhaps because it all happens in slow motion (unlike Amsterdam and Bern...). Maybe also because I never experienced any aggressivity fromy cyclists or drivers.
Adrit and Irma tell me that until 1991 cars were illegal in Albania under the most extreme communist regime in the world. People walked and biked. Today, despite the presence of cars cycling remains the preferred and most convenient way to move around the city - making it an example of urban mobility for the region and beyond. Given that Albania does not yet have a National Eurovelo Coordination Center... Shkodër would be an obvious choice to host it!
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