Balkans 6. Albania 2, put your assumptions aside.

 

covers 15 - 20 April 2024

cycling into town from our campsite

but not all the way

From here, south is the only way for us to go in Albania. We decided to skip the capital Tirana and head further south.   In very rough terms, Albania has a coastal plain which is very agricultural with mountains inland. So the main N to S roads run through not very interesting looking country (at 50-60mph anyway) but there are always mountains off to our left adding some variety. Usually but not always off the main roads there were lots of those small tractors I mentioned in the last blog especially in the vicinity of a wetland reserve we called in to see briefly.

We all use terms which are not defined and understood in our own countries but we still make assumptions and get caught out. Shopping has been quite awkward at times because we’ve had difficulty finding the variety of produce we want. Supermarkets here are more like large corner shops and a Hypermarket is like a small British supermarket. A Mini-Market is a hole-in-the-wall with a collection of vending machines outside. We’ve been in several supermarkets that have no fruit or vegetables and very little dairy produce. There are however lots of small fruit and veg stalls along the roads where we have shopped and we’ve bought strawberries that really taste of strawberries. Now, that was a treat and a welcome change from the generally tasteless ‘strawberries’ usually on sale at home.

I’ve not mentioned the highly visible number of police in Albania, all with cars and who wave down their victims with a stick with a red and white disk on one end. We make a point of not catching their eye but they seem much more interested in stopping the locals. I mentioned the freestyle driving in an earlier blog and on one of our longer drives a car pulled out from a road on our left close in front of us, then tried to overtake the car in front by swerving across the road and 50 yards or so further on and to our absolute delight had the stick with red and white disk waved at him.

It was mid-afternoon by now so we had to take a decision because campsites are infrequent and are not what many of us would consider campsites. It’s those assumptions again. Some are just car parks, some are a couple of parking spaces on someone’s drive and none of these are of any interest to us. We headed towards Berat, a town which was on our list to visit and which lay about an hour and a half away where we struck campsite gold. Greeted with a glass of home made wine from their own grapes which was so good that when we left we bought some to take away with us along with home produced olive oil. The place was a delight.

early morning view from our campsite but in Gjirokastra not Berat

From here on the following day, we caught a bus into Berat about 20 minutes away for the equivalent of 13p each. Surprise ! There’s a castle. Actually a very large and impressive one approximately 500 yards by 250 yards though still mostly a ruin and again in a very commanding position high above the town. There’s a thriving population living inside the castle walls with houses hotels and cafes and it still has eight medieval churches inside the walls. At one time there were 42 of them. Lots of souvenirs on sale as usual, the ever present fridge magnets of course and more pictures of that famous daughter of Albania, Frida Kahlo. It had been quite a climb up to the castle from the bus station but coming down was worse as it was a steep unrelenting slope for half a mile or more.

one of the streets in the castle, Berat

Holy Trinity Church, Berat Castle

I don't suppose this is an advert for AirBNB

Down in Berat town it was still a surprise to see the Edward Lear Art Gallery even though we’d read about it. Apparently he had visited Albania twice and was an accomplished landscape artist. By the time we were back down into town though, rain had begun and we went off to find lunch where we met a family of Albanians from Kosovo who lived in Zurich and were on holiday in the old country. My guess was finance because these were certainly not from the Albanian have-nots of which there are so many. After lunch it was still raining and appeared to have settled in so while the town had more to offer us, somewhat disappointingly we set off back to the bus station. The bus dropped us right opposite our campsite, a request stop here being where you request the bus to stop rather than at a designated bus stop. We had to ask for the vineyard next door because according to our hostess Donna, Albanians have no idea what a campsite is. Donna welcomed us back with a lace covered tray with tea and biscuits.

two views of the centre of Gjirokastra (not mentioned in the text)

panorama from the castle, Gjorokaster 

The last place we visited in Albania was a mountainous area near Kruja, a little north of Tirana. Nearby was a town called Fushe-Kruja visited in 2007 for some reason by George W Bush and where he allegedly had his watch stolen. There were several George W Bush bakeries, a Bar George W Bush, which may have been a political statement as well as somewhere to get a drink and a statue of Dubya himself. We only saw the statue from a distance as we were leaving and are unable to confirm if it was wearing a wristwatch.

Kruja was merely a place to stop although it had the customary castle and old bazaar, before we drove into some spectacular mountain scenery heading towards the Qafe-Shtama pass. I do run out of superlatives for scenery but this was some of the best we’ve seen. The road, buckled and crumbling at the edges in places left quite a bit to be desired and for the driver to look safely at the view meant we were stopping quite frequently.

an encouragement to keep your eyes on the road

three views in the Qafe-Shtama Nat. Park 

At one point on this drive we saw some people with two cars with a video camera and when we stopped at a small waterfall, they stopped behind us and four men got out. Well, Albania, reputation, out in the wilds, it did have to cross our minds whether we had a problem. Well we didn’t. They were a film crew from Albanian State TV who interviewed me about our visit and what I thought of Albania. Heather made herself scarce. I told them that we had had a wonderful time in their lovely country, the scenery was beautiful, the people had been friendly and helpful and we’d loved our visit. All perfectly true as it happens. I didn’t mention the litter which is on an

almost industrial scale and made me feel quite at home.