Albania: Land of Random Cows

I'm a city girl through and through, most people know this about me.  I dont mind hearing cars whizzing by out the window, or my neighbor's shower turn on, planes overhead, or...almost anything really.  In fact, it kinda lets me know that others are alive and kicking and I'm not really alone in this world.

Last year on our honeymoon in Costa Rica, Dritan and I were driving down a village road when we saw a blockage up ahead.  I instinctively slowed down to a craw, but I eventually had to stop the car and let an entire herd of cows pass by us completely, but not before I pulled out our video camera to get a shot of the craziness (read: city girl getting up close and personal with the cows).  I was so enthralled with the idea of sharing the road with the livestock, I couldnt help but laugh the entire time. 


Costa Rica


 As the title to this post suggests, we encountered many random cows in our travels through out Albania.  Dritan was a little mortified at my fascination witht this phenomenon, especially as he felt it a bit insulting somehow.  I assured him that it was merely a city girl's fascination, and not a commentary on his homeland.

Without further adieu, here are the random cows.

So these dont seem so random, but if you could see an aerial view of where we are - we're actually in the center of Tirana!  The man-made-lake I mentioned in another post has a paved road all the way around it, and the area serves as sort of a "Central Park" for the city.  Dont ask me how the farmer got his cows into that area in the first place, it's surrounded by densely populated neighborhoods, actually much like NYC.  Imagine seeing livestock in Central Park?


Villager herding his cows



Cow Crossing!



This guy was also in the city - just chillin' on the side of the road.  I didnt learn until later on that the shop in the background is actually a butcher shop.  :(



These cows were moseying down the street.  I suppose they dont really count as "random" cows, since they clearly belong to someone.  But it was totally random to encounter them on the street.  Well, for a city girl it is, anyway.  The villagers didnt seem quite so fascinated...

By far, the pictures below are my favorite cow pictures.  This guy was *truly* random.  He had no tags or branding on his backside, indicating he was not domestic.  And as you can clearly see, we were driving in a city.  Not a village, not a town, but an actual, honest-to-goodness city.  We round the corner and here's this cow hanging out of the sidewalk, grabbing a snack.  I dont know how I actually got these pictures, I was laughing so hard.  Of course, by this time, Dritan was so not amused by my cow-pictures that he actually sped up a litte in hopes that I would miss the opportunity. 

Mmmm, Yum!

Stop staring at me!



 These last two pictures I took, even though you cant see the cows very clearly, to demonstrate the difficulty of driving in the south.  At any given moment in time, there could be livestock in the road, and if you're coming around a blind corner with a cliff to one side, in slippery conditions, it's kind of a scary prospect. 

I have a few more, but in deference to my husband, I'll stop now. 

;)