First day walking. Golem to restorant-hotel vellezerit ajdini,, near luz i vogel

Up at six and all ready to hit the road at seven. First, a typical (?) Albanian breakfast. Three fried eggs and greek salad in the middle, plus a huge piece of burek and a coffee. Short wait for the local bus into the bus station and then a half hour wait for a bus to Golem.  Wanting to be sure i wsa waiting in the right place i picked the only 20 something, actually 19 it turned out, thinking they would be most likely to speak english, to check. Winner, as she was fluent. Had a good chat while waiting for the bus. I commented on the mosque i had seen and how religious Albanians are. I was surprised that she said most people were muslim, since i had read that they were mostly atheist today. She said she was a muslim, but unlike Egypt, i have seen no woman with a hijab here so far. She said she didn't  agree with hair coverings.She works at a hotel in Golem and studies hospitality and tourism. Second surprise of the day. I had imagined Golem was a little village, turns out it is a nascent Gold coast. High rise hotels for kms along the beach.  Mostly catering to Poles, my new friend informed me.I was last off the bus, handily going up from the main road and depositing me right where the walk is deemed to start. 
I was also surprised that the girl whose name i just cannot remember is widely travelled, since here dad is a postie and her mum a nurse. My idea of poverty stricken Albanians might not be quite right. She has been to turkey, italy, france and ... i forget where else.
It was a glorious day for walking. Clear blue skies and low 20s. Out of Golem and instantly into thd countryside. Lovely and green, hilly. Some nice views and relatively easy walking except for the muddy path after yesterday's storm. I enjoyed hearing a lot of birdsong. Esepcially a cuckoo at one point. And frogs. At every dam i passed, there was a cacophony of frog croaking. I haven't heard frogs like that for many years in Australia. Some very gnarly old olive trees in places and lots of quiet. No cars or people until right near the end of the day.
I am noticing that Albania is mysteriously empty of any old houses, or buildings of any sort, so far, except for the ruins i saw yesterday. It seems everyone lives in a house that is no more than sixty or seventy years old. I thought i was going to see some lovely old stone buildings along the way, but none today. I did get my first sight of a communist era bunker though. Apparently the country is full of them.
I had to make two pretty horrible muddy creek crossings, the second had me sinking half way up my shins in mud. And this led me through a faint aniaml track full of blackberry vine. My legs are covered in scratches. And supposedly this is the way to go. Not impresed with the route finding of the organisers of the via egnatia walk today.  They also had the length down as 18 kms and it ended up being 25! For some reason they stopped measuring quite a long way before the end point at the highway motel. Luckily there was a bar about three kms before the end to get a beer. A half litre can for a 100 leke. 1.30 AUD. In a bar. Better steer clear of bars...
I now started to notice more cars going past, and what i particularly noticed is that most of them are either mercs or bmws. Which reminded me that i had read paul theroux writing about the huge trade in stolen western European ,vehicles in Albania in the 90s. I guess a lot are still on the road.
Once in the first village of the day ,i saw my first big sign of the rubbish problem here. A ditch full of garbage. Not as bad as Egypt, but not a pretty sight. Apparently the place was pristine until the fall of the communist dictatorship in the late 80s or so.
And i think/hope i have learned two words now. Albanian is hard! Apparently it is unrelated to any other European language and is descended from ancient illyrian.  Luckily there are a lot of borrowings from latin as well though. A car is a makina. Anyway, falimandarit is thank you and mirapafshi is goodbye. So, Mirapafshi until tomorrow...

Photos can be found here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8oSXvDFbJfoCU1vS9

Information on route can be found here:
https://www.mapmyhike.com/workout/3512036722