Vllaznia - Rovers 2nd leg game thread - Game to be shown in Connollys
I came across a blog on the net living in Shkoder, anyway the lad that writes it is a Celtic fan and a Scot living out there so he will be tuned into our way of thinking. So i decided to give him an email asking him a few questions and fair play he wrote back. I thought he was fairly helpful and quite informative on a few do's and don't, the bit in bold is for a certain member of the DSC (You know who you are :p).
http://www.shkoder.blogspot.com/
Thomas,
thanks for the e-mail.
I'll try to answer the questions.
I take it you have cheap flights/ferry to Dubrovnik.
Google maps take you through Podgorica. That is roughly 2 hours from Shkoder, taking into account the border crossing. So I would reckon roughly 5 hours would be a fair estimate. The roads aren't that great and can be a bit windy, so that lowers your speed. It is bumpy from the border down into Shkoder.
Good pubs...
Pubs as we know them do not really exist much in Albania. Instead, you have cafes. There are literally hundreds of them. not all of them have draught beer. Most would just have bottles of Becks, heineken, amstel or some really watery stuff from Italy. There are a few that have draught beer ( krikell). The draught beer will be watered down, but it is good. If anyone is scared of local water, ice in drinks etc....then let them stick to bottled beer. No ales or Guiness.....although you might find a dark becks in some places.
In general go to the Post Office, main square with the mosque and find somewhere there. 5 mins from stadium, and plenty of cafes/hotels which should have draught beer.
The stadium is about 5 minutes from the centre of town. In Shkoder from early morning till late night you have lots of people milling about the streets, so i would advise you to find a cafe bar that you like, hopefully it will be sunny and hot, and you can sit outside and drink as much as you want. They probably wont even mind a sing-song. As long as you are buying from the cafe, then you will be safe. In fact you should be safe in Shkoder. there are too many people going about to have any real hassle. As long as you dont go about flashing wads of money or try to be abusive, or hassle the women ( dont try that!!! - the father, big brother, cousin is usually a couple of steps behind them!! - and you dont want confrontation with them!!) other than that then they are really friendly. To be honest the owner will be more than happy to have your custom!!
You should find the locals very friendly. there is no such thing as crowd trouble and most will view you as 'entertainment". they will want their team to win, but they already know that probably the team have placed bets on "more than 3 goals in the game"( or something like that!)....so they are not expecting much!
Again after the game you can find a cafe and drink there. I wouldnt advise going about the streets VERY late at night, but there are usually people about even in the early hours!
Hopefully someone is staying overnight in a "hotel" and you can all pile in there and drink as much as you want.
Hope you have a good time, and have a successful European venture!
Colin
