ALBANIA – Sarandë and surrounds

When you mention that you are planning to sail to Albania, you are likely to receive the same sort of response as if you said you were planning to head to the moon.  For most people, Albania is the scary unknown place that had a despotic dictator for many years, was communist and wasn’t there a war around there some time ago?  After speaking with a number of friends who came through Albania to either delay or stop the Schengen clock, we decided that it would be an interesting place to spend some time and we are so pleased that we did.

Our first impressions of Sarandë were that it is a lovely seaside town – busy with both local and overseas tourists, it has some nice (if pebbly) beaches, great cafes and restaurants, lots of hotels but also traces of culture and history here and there.  Due to the large number of tourists that come across from Corfu, (in fact, people visiting Albania generally fly into Corfu, and then take the ferry across to Sarandë as it’s easier than trying to get into Tirana – the capital city – and a cheaper option) both for the day and to stay longer.  There are no longer restrictions for most visitors and the passport control is very straightforward (judging by our arrival as well as the hordes that disembark from the ferries and are swiftly processed and on to tour buses or into town.  Of course, Sarandë is like most ports of entry – not your typical version of a ‘local’ city, but still, it is Albania.  There are vestiges of the communist era with its rather austere concrete structures, as well as a few more ancient remains which are dotted around the city (mosaics, old city wall, Ottoman Customs House, etc.).  But really to see this part of Albania, you have to get out of the tourist area and into the countryside, which is exactly what we did. Just a quick side note on Sarandë (pronounced Saranda) – the name comes from the Greek words Aya Saranda, which means ‘forty saints’.  These ‘saints’ were forty Christians soldiers who were slaughtered here in AD 320, and a pilgrimage church was built on a hill overlooking the town in the 5^th century AD.  Sadly this monastery is now a pile of rubble due to it’s having been bombed by the British during WWII as it was being used as a base by German troops.  We arrived in time to see our Aussie friends, Graham and Mandy on “Roulette” and had dinner with them that evening before they headed north the next day.

Agim, our agent, is a wonder – not only does he process arrivals for cruisers, he also organises guides, drivers, rental cars and much more.  We asked for a guide to take us to various places that I had researched in my Albanian guidebook (downloaded from Kindle and a real gem: Albania – Bradt Guide by Gillian Gloyer) and were rewarded with a lovely young man in his mid-thirties, Demir, who not only spoke excellent English but was chatty and able to answer all our questions along the way.  In anticipation of our trip to Albania, I also downloaded a book by one of Albania’s best-known authors (and possibly one of the only authors whose works are also published in English), Ismail Kadare, who grew up in Gjirokastrë (more on this amazing town later) and who wrote a plethora of novels.  I am reading “Chronicle in Stone” which is a semi-autobiographical story of a young boy growing up in Gjirokastrë during WWII.  The book has not only given me insight into what the town was like in those days, but also, possibly more interestingly, what the local people were like and the idiosyncracies of life in Albania at that time.  If you are planning a trip to Albania, I would strongly recommend reading this novel as well as any others of Ismail Kadare’s books.

Our first excursion was to Lëkurësi Castle, also overlooking Sarandë harbour – this castle was built by Ali Pasha Tepelena in the 19^th century and is still in use today, albeit as a restaurant and bar!  There are still some faint remains of frescoes that would have formed part of the chapel.  The views from this summit were spectacular and although we had a hot and fairly hazy day, we could see for miles.

One of the towers at the castle

The view over Saranda Bay looking northwest

The next stop was the beautiful, UNESCO Heritage-listed National Park of Butrint, which also houses the ancient remains of the city by the same name. The ruins span two and a half thousand years (early 6^th century BC until Ali Pasha Tepelena in the early 19^th century AD).  The entire area was buried in rubble and has been excavated in succession by Italian archaeologists and then Albanian archaeologists since 1928.  Our guide, Demir, was a wealth of knowledge and made the walk through the park a delight.  Fortunately for us, there are abundant trees and shady places to sit and stand as it was an incredibly hot day!  It’s one of those places at which you really should plan to spend the better part of a day – pack a picnic, plenty of water and any other drink you might wish and wander…  The citadel has spectacular views over the valley, the sea and over to Corfu as well. We were lucky to visit on a Sunday when the local ladies run a food stall outside the gates of the citadel – for a tiny cost (less than AUD $4) both Tad and I bought a couple of items to eat each as well as two bottles of ice cold water!  The local delicacies included a skewer of mussels (grown in the lake nearby), a cheese pie, a spinach pie and a kind of donut.  Not necessarily healthy food but I guess we were helping out the local initiative!

The amphitheatre at Butrint

Looking through the East Gate towards the Lake of Butrint

From Butrint we made our way back towards Sarandë via Ksamil – once a quiet little village with a number of lovely beaches, the place has been overrun with apartment buildings and people!  Here is where our luck ran out – being the first Sunday of the holidays and HOT the place was packed! Demir took us to a ‘quieter’ beach (it wasn’t) to have a swim and a bite to eat for lunch and then we went back to the boat.  Although we hadn’t done much, we were exhausted and headed to the nearby beach for another swim before having some cold watermelon for dinner and going to bed early.

We had organized with Demir for a second day of exploring but unfortunately he was already booked to escort a group from a cruise ship that arrived during the night and provided Louis as an alternative.  Louis is from the area that we were to visit that day and was also a wealth of knowledge although he did spend a fair bit of time on his phone (Tad was forgiving saying that Louis was trying to juggle his ‘regular’ job and us and therefore needed to be in touch with his clients but I think he was just the usual sort of person who likes to text and talk!).  We also had Demir’s brother-in-law as our driver, and thank goodness as the mountain roads to Antigonea and Gjirokastrë were very scary!

Although distances are not great in this area, the roads are narrow and in some places washed out, so the speed limit is relatively slow (you’d never know it the way some people overtake on blind corners and other ridiculous locations), and it takes awhile to get anywhere.  Our first stop was Antigonea in the hills facing Gjirokastrë.  Antigonea was an ancient town, built in the 3^rd century BC by the Molossian King Pyrrhus (of “Pyrrhic Victory” fame) and named for his Egyptian princess wife (Antigone).  It has been quite well excavated, although there is not really much to see – it was a very hot day and it’s a good hike through the hills to the various archaeological finds.  There was no one there but ourselves and Louis was a good and informative guide (although I also had my Kindle with my Albanian guide book handy).  The views were spectacular, the ‘buildings’ interesting and the remains of the paleo-Christian basilica with its mosaic were lovely.

Ruins of a villa at Antigonea

On to Gjirokastrë, just 30 minutes away and it was a huge relief to get back into an air-conditioned car!  We opted to walk up to the citadel from the main square so that we could see the old town and its cobblestoned streets, but probably should have driven up and walked down.  Still VERY hot!  The coolness of the thick stone walls and vaulted ceilings were a welcome relief albeit temporary as the majority of things to see were outside.  We didn’t spend time in the museum as we still had more to visit in the town but the views from the citadel were magnificent.  The stories that Louis told us about part of the castle being used as a prison over the years were rather chilling!

The clock tower on the citadel at Gjirokastre

One of the traditional artisans - a stone carver

The UNESCO listed houses of Gjirokastre

We then visited a wealthy merchant’s home (no longer lived in, the owners have built a small house next door) which has been renovated to its former splendour.  It was very interesting to understand the concept of the ‘tower house’ in Albania – the ground floor was usually the workshop/ stalls for animals/ storefront and cistern (for water obtained from the roof via a downpipe); the next level was for the most junior members of the family – the children, women,  and some of the men; the uppermost level was reserved for guests and the eldest family members (often the latter never left the house).  We saw the daybed of the matriarch of the family on the balcony where she could watch the view and command food and drink as required!  Guests are a very important part of Albanian tradition, and regardless of whether a person is a friend or a foe, they are always made welcome in an Albanian’s home.  The guest room is usually elaborately furnished with painted ceilings and walls, and embroidered carpets and cushions.  Our guide told us that the first question you are asked as a visitor is “When are you leaving?” This is not considered impolite as the question is posed to determine how much food, drink, etc. needs to be obtained to keep the guest happy!

The guest quarters of a merchant's home in Gjirokastre

By this time we were hot, tired and hungry so our guide directed us to a cute restaurant in the old town, in the shade of a maple tree – yes, a real maple tree which seemed rather out of place in this old mountain town in Albania, but there you are.  It was a huge tree so obviously planted several decades ago – it just seemed rather unusual to me.  We had a lovely meal of local specialties and Louis, our guide, ordered far too much food for us to consume.  We ended up taking a ‘doggie bag’ back to the boat and having the leftovers for dinner the next night!

On the way back to Sarandë, we stopped at the “Blue Eye”, a spectacular spring (actually a number of springs are in the area and that feed into a river system) with a beautiful blue centre.  It’s apparently 40m deep at the core and no one has ever been able to go deeper than 20m due to the pressure of the water coming out.  The water is a ‘refreshing’ 10C and neither Tad nor I could stay in longer than a few seconds.  It was lovely to cool off, however, after a hot and dusty day of sightseeing.  Within a half hour we were back at the boat and saying goodbye to our wonderful guide and driver.

                                                                Blue Eye Spring

We decided to spend one final day in Sarandë, just to relax, do a little shopping and finish exploring the city itself.  There really isn’t much other than a small ethnographic museum, which is just a bunch of photos of the city taken before WWII (quite interesting though), some ruins of a synagogue in the centre of town and some mosaics from a paleo-Christian church, but it’s always fun to people-watch and observe the goings-on of a new place.

Finally, it was time to head north – we had heard there was a lovely harbour, formerly occupied by the Albanian military but now possible to tie up at a quay and so that was our destination the next day.