Back at the Tirana International Airport, we took the white shuttle bus by LUNA that traveled the airport to the city center route. Thanks to the videos uploaded by previous travelers to the city, we knew what to do to get to Tirana's downtown as well as to our hotel. We caught the shuttle in the parking lot adjacent to the airport and the bus fare was only 4 euros per person each way. Getting out of the airport area took a long time due to bad traffic. It took an hour from the airport to Skanderbeg Square.

The bus ride felt very cramped. The seats were narrow and some arm rests, like the ones at our seats were broken. We got the impression that the bus was second hand since the signs on board were in German.

From the Skanderbeg Square, our hotel, the Starlight, was a short walk away. No more than 10 minutes. We were very impressed with the room we were given. Ours was room 602. It was spacious and beautiful. We figured we could not have gotten a room of the kind in the west for the price we paid. In fact, our 6 night stay was the equivalent of just a night's stay in Reykjavik. We decided to stay there mainly because of the very good reviews the hotel received from visitors. We can vouch for the reviews. We had a super comfy and wonderful stay.

For our first afternoon in the Albanian capital, we went to Toptani Mall to grab some late lunch (KFC, to be exact) and bought 100 Lek ice cream at a cafe right across the mall.