driving through albania 🇦🇱 (from greece-albania border to albania-montenegro border :))

VID 20230721 000808
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania , is a Mediterranean country on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe . It borders Kosovo to the northeast, Montenegro to the northwest, North Macedonia to the east, Greece to the south, the Adriatic Sea to the west, and the Ionian Sea to the southwest. Albania is located less than 72 km from Italy , via the Strait of Otranto , which is the connection between the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea. Albania is a secular state.
Albania is a member of the UN , NATO , OSCE , Council of Europe , WTO , OIF , Organization of Islamic Cooperation , and is one of the founders of the Union for the Mediterranean . EU applications for Albania have been open since January 2003, and the country formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.
The area that today's Albania covers was formerly part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia (southern Illyricum ), Macedonia (and then especially the area of ​​Epirus Nova ), and Moesia . The modern Republic of Albania gained independence after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, followed by the Balkan Wars. Albania was a principality, republic and kingdom, before being invaded in 1939, as part of World War II , by Italy , which was under fascist rule, and again in 1943 by National Socialist Germany . In 1946, the country became a so-calledPeople's Republic , a system of government established and led by Enver Hoxha and the Labor Party . In 1991, the country's communist regime was abolished, and the Republic of Albania was established.
Albania is the poorest country in Europe. More than 20 percent of Albanian families live below the official poverty level.