Category: Albania

Last day before we fly home tomorrow. Can’t believe it’s been 2 weeks.

It’s very small and very touristy. But fortunately there are two museums in the castle (right next door to where we’re staying) and they kept us occupied while it rained in the morning.

One dedicated to Skanderbeg – no, me neither, but seems like he might be one of the most famous Albanians ever – repelled the Ottomans 3 times in the 15th Century, although 4th time lucky for them after he died and Albania was part of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years! Anyway, there are statues all over the place, including one in London. Who knew?

Winding down but had a little trip to the Sari Salltik shrine above the town.

Think the last one was the cafe but it seemed to be closed.

Shrine is higher than Snowdon and on a clear day …

But one minute later

Oh, and in the museum they love their “multi media” 😃

It’s a long drive today – about 150 miles to our last stop near Tirana.

And handy for the airport.

On the way we stopped at Byllis Archaeological Park – in the middle of nowhere but with a beautifully made road up the mountain – and two other visitors the whole time we were there.

And on to Krujë for the last two nights. Amazing hotel in the confines of the castle, so had to contact the owner before we arrived so he could meet us, unload the car, go back and park and then lug the suitcase about 300m over rough cobbles. Fun!

View from room.

Away from the coast now and in for a final bit of culture.

Quite a view whilst having breakfast.

Start with the castle – can’t miss it.

Much more recent use than our castles at home. Learned a bit about the complicated history up to the Fascists, then the Communists and up to the current opening up of the country. It did make me think a couple of days ago that seeing Corfu only 2 miles away must have felt a bit like being in prison when Albanians couldn’t travel.

Anyway more castle

American plane captured in 1957.

Then to one of the big houses for which Gjirokaster is famed – Zekate House

That’s the man’s seat, obviously!

And finally around Enver Hoxha’s (Communist Dictator) – he was born here. Interesting ambivalence in the storytelling from leading the revolution to oust the Fascists to it ending up being the poorest and most restrictive country in Europe.

Town is fun

It’s probably the mountains because it made me think of Kathmandu – not that I’ve ever been!

Moving away from the coast to Gjirokaster.

As you can see it’s not very far from Sarandë so we took the scenic route through one of the National Parks to have a look at Blue Eye. Guess how it got its name!

It’s a natural spring in fabulous surroundings.

Then a bit of a wild detour to a new site, Hadrianopolis, that no one visits – party because it’s down a dirt track.

And then to a fabulous little hotel in Gjirokastër – more of that tomorrow.

One of the main reasons for coming this far south. About half an hour from Sarande.

Ancient as in Greek, followed by Roman and then, to a lesser extent, all sorts of others over the centuries.

Mosaic floor is subject to flooding from the lagoon, so it’s kept covered up. But allegedly looks like this

That was our work done for the day, and so back to the flat to enjoy the sunset.

And a quick update from the US – how about a night at the opera at the Metropolitan Opera House, NYC. Talk about living your best life!

Friday had been scheduled to be stormy ever since we got here over a week ago, and boy they were spot on. How do they do that?

A storm of epic proportions arrived at about 4.00 and lasted through the night with torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Unfortunately it confirmed something we had been thinking about – traditional homesteads can be very charming, but a modern 5th floor apartment with everything working (including the lift) is lovely. Especially when you get a grandstand view from the balcony.

Corfu first thing in the morning – now you see it …

… and (later on) now you don’t

Thought we’d survived until the next morning when the whole town had a power cut – which cuts off the water pump so no water either. Luckily we had opened the electric blinds and had a coffee so not a complete disaster!

Good job we left the car in town last night. Would have been tricky getting out.

Also lucky we got a lift – the heavens opened as we were leaving, which would have added a lot to the joys of struggling with a suitcase down an unmade track.

Stopped at Borsh Castle on the way – haven’t read about its history yet, but it does have a new road and a new path up to it, so must be important.

Now in Sarande

Bit grotty but a fantastic apartment (Corfu again)

Weather is turning for the next couple of days, and it poured in the evening. And the picture is extremely flattering to Sarande so we’ll see what we find.

The roadworks that caused power cuts are growing – to the extent that we couldn’t drive back to the house this evening. Had to leave the car in town and walk about 15 minutes up the steep unmade road. Accompanied by plenty of shrugs from the men doing the work! Which is fine but we’re leaving tomorrow. Just in the process of trying to find out if anyone has a car trapped this side of the roadworks to give us a lift (it’s really the suitcase) most of the way.

And that’s about it. Not really stressful as we can sort it ourselves if necessary – just means carrying all our clobber quite a long way on a very rough road, but at least it’s downhill.

Really lazy day today. Photos probably better than reality, but as I’ve said before it’s incredibly photogenic around here.

Next stop Himare, a bit further down the coast.

On a clear day we can see Corfu.

What’s a bit of a surprise is how Greek this part of Albania seems to be. Many of the restaurants seem to be Greek (and the food is better than we’ve had in Greece.

Before the photos (which are stunning again) a few little trials and tribulations.

1. Road up to the house is “challenging ” but just about manageable.
2. Except when they’re digging it up with two massive tractors and even massiver trucks. “Yeah, 5 minutes mate” or something to that effect in Albanian until a local comes along and shouts which miraculously generates a (small) gap to squeeze through.
3. See 1 and 2 above. Water and electricity off when we arrived but restored after about an hour.
4. Day 2 and it’s been off from about 9.30 – 5.00.
5. I got locked in the loo in a restaurant and had to be rescued 😂

But now for stunning photos

From our balcony

The Coast

Palermo Castle

A bit of a mooching around day. The forecast was not brilliant so were expecting to dodge showers. But a fantastic thunderstorm around 2.00am was all we saw. And to demonstrate the trials and tribulations of travelling, the storm caused a power cut which meant the aircon didn’t work which meant we sweltered a bit! It’s tough out there …..

Anyway, another first which was an archaeological site within a naval base, and so in addition to the €3 entry fee we had our passports checked and were then escorted to the car park.

Don’t you just love the skies today – here’s a few more.

Drove up into the mountains (1020 metres, so just short of Snowdon), and it was seriously chilly