Leaving Sotir’s place presented me with another bout of in-between time from check out to check-in. This involved getting all my crap out of the apartment, taking many rests breaks along the way, and trudging across a couple of busy streets to one of my favorite restaurants for a long breakfast.
Did I mention that Tirana in August is hot as hades? So, lots of sweating to be done as I went the
short distance to Bitter. I discovered
this place during my first trip to Tirana last summer and I’ve been back many
times since. The owner of the place
always recognizes me and gives me a warm greeting. I was able to store my luggage at the front
of the restaurant and sit inside to enjoy my meal.
After a couple of hours, I finally heard from the host that
the new place was ready. I easily hopped
a cab and was let out a few minutes later.
The host had provided a video as to how to get in but it still took me a
few minutes to figure it out. So many
building and so many hidden from plain sight entrances, but I did eventually get
there.
The place is gorgeous!
A long apartment with a large kitchen, a decent shower set-up (very
important as I needed to wash my hair and didn’t want to bother in the last place)
and a nice view. The bed is kind of
saggy on one side which made climbing out of it in the morning a daily reminder
of how tall and old I am. I quickly
learned to sleep in the middle of the mattress as it offered more support.
Then there is the flooring.
And here I thought it was just how it looked in the pictures, but the wood
… it really is so shiny.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses though. Do you remember the place in Montenegro that
was a mosquito spawn point? Yeah, well
this place spawns wasps. There were two
dead ones when I first got there and I killed at least three a day during my
two-week stay. I tried looking for a nest
on the balcony but I never found one.
And since this is yet another European apartment with no screens on the windows
or sliding glass door, I paid the price for not wanting the place to get stuffy. As
mentioned, I just got really good at killing wasps.
The apartment is on the 8th floor of a different part of the city so it was nice to get a fuller picture of Tirana’s layout. Once I was able to orient myself again, I realized just how connected everything is. I still don’t know the names of roads or regions as I have always navigated by using landmarks. Figuring out if a place is near the square or the pyramid or the pond helps me when trying to scope out a more permanent home.
After years on the road and seeing more than 40 apartments
in 10 countries, I’ve developed a rather lengthy list of demands for my future
home. Must be a 2-bedroom for my copious
amount of stuff. I need an oven and a
full-sized fridge in a kitchen that is more than just a shelf in the living
area. High ceilings are a must as a tall
woman. I don’t want to risk bumping my knuckles
on a low ceiling or hitting a light fixture while taking off my shirt. The shower MUST BE ENCLOSED – seriously,
Europe, I know you can do it. I’ve seen
several showers that allowed me to make myself showroom fresh while not flooding
the entire bathroom.
Options are location and flooring. As long as I’m near a Conad (major grocery
chain) and a pharmacy, I’m pretty flexible.
As I’ve mentioned before, Tirana is stupidly convenient so as long as I’m
not on the very edges of the city, this shouldn’t be a problem. If it is an option, I would prefer to be near
the mosque so I can hear the call to prayer.
I’d like wood flooring over tile and now, after this place, bonus points
if it’s
I would love to return to my blissful state of being a crazy cat lady, so it would be nice if the building allows pets. Although my current job doesn’t pay me enough for that, I will continue to find new ways of stacking my paper.
Since my first run-in with a real estate website was a bust (still
haven’t heard anything from them) I tried a different one. I expressed interest in one place, telling
the realtor that I wanted a 6-month lease.
The response was that they only do one-year leases. Okay, could I still see the place? And … crickets.
I know I attract bugs, but this is getting kinda ridiculous.
