Marathons and Sprints

  Never got this entirely nailed, on the one hand its nice to extend your holiday for as long as possible, on the other hand you know its almost over, and one eye always on final travel arrangements, which I feel taints the enjoyment in some way. Any tips on how others have made every second count positively? Comfortable if more western surrounds today as woke up to Tirana; did 20 minutes in the gym before breakfast. We did have a good deal on this hotel which meant we hadn't paid for breakfast included, but we chose to go for the pay to stuff ourselves at the Hilton buffet rather than head out and get sweaty before we needed to. Another final day condundrum, nowhere to really freshen up once you've checked out..... We were quite late getting down for breakfast and with it closing at 10.30 it did involve a supermarket sweep style effort and a couple of napkin stowaways.  A very random assortment of food, that's what happens when you hand over 15 euros per person.  Immedia...

  Pretty much a day in / around the hotel not fodder for a blog so combining a couple of days so as not to ramble on for no reason. Breakfast, sun lounger, reading, swimming , balcony, eating yada yada Our sole activity today was a walk up to the Lekuresi Castle, we'd seen it from the sea on the way into harbour, and it certainly could see us, and pretty much all the surrounds down to Butrint.  No surprises that it became a key lookout point for the Ottoman Empire (someone has been asking about the Turkish influence) and constructed in the 1500s to defend against the Venetians. Our purpose for visiting was strictly peaceful, we like to find viewpoints on our travels, and this was the one. Plus the way our friendly waiting staff advised us against walking simply threw down the gauntlet. This was a mere pimple to some of our previous ascents, and asphalt all the way, no chance of getting lost like ... well just about everywhere ... but Wales, Sardinia, the Lake District  Wi...