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.

GREECE - Miscellaneous

As I post this last blog from Greece (temporarily) it's another beautiful morning and we are anchored in a small bay in Corfu.  The weather has been 'toasty' (around 34C every day) and the sea temperature is not much less.  Heaven for me, but for the many British people who visit this area at this time of the year it is "too hot"!

We are off to Albania later this morning, a short 8 nautical miles away, and will spend several days in Sarande visiting some amazing historical sites as well as beautiful villages.  In preparation, I am reading "Chronicle in Stone" by Ismail Kadare: a semi-autobiographical story of a boy growing up in war-time Albania in a town which we will hopefully visit.  Stay tuned...

In the meantime, here are a few words that came to mind as we motored along the other day:

One of the most frequently asked questions we are posed is “What do you do all day?” To those of you who love an adventure-filled, action-packed day, our lives would probably seem very mundane and boring.  We don’t have a routine (other than I like to clean the boat once a week and do laundry at least once a week), and we pretty much go where we like and when we like.  If we arrive in a place which looks worth exploring, then we swim, kayak or dinghy ashore and walk around.  If not, we anchor, go for a swim (we do this pretty regularly every day!) lie on the trampoline and read, write our blog, check emails (when we have internet reception), and sometimes Robin bakes cookies or brownies or some sort of treat.  We have our Isagenix shakes for breakfast except for when we treat ourselves to French toast or pancakes (once a fortnight or so), often skip lunch or eat a late one (salads mostly) and then have a BBQ for dinner.  It’s amazing how the time passes!  Of course, if we are moving from one place to another, time is taken up with the passage – hoisting and lowering sails, charting a course, etc.  We usually run the watermaker almost daily to top up our tanks, especially if Robin does laundry which depletes the supply somewhat.  We are fortunate in being totally self sufficient with our solar energy so that we can run both the watermaker and the washing machine at the same time if need be.  In  the evenings, we play our guitars, sometimes watch a movie or tv show from the huge variety downloaded by our boys onto a hard drive attached to the television.  Occasionally, when in a town, we even get local television and can watch the news or a show in English.  If we meet some people that we want to socialize with in an anchorage, we can often be found chatting over a beer with them on their boat or ours.  It’s so much fund sharing sailing stories and finding out where people have been.  We are often in bed by 10pm to read until we fall asleep…never bored!

GREECE - The Ionian Islands and Excitement

Although most sailors use a Pilot Guide (otherwise known as a Lonely Planet Guide for sailors) to give them information about harbours, marinas and potential anchorages, one of our favourite activities has been finding our own special spots. We are also in constant touch through Facebook and email with fellow yachties and have shared some great anchoring spots in this way as well.

We have been fortunate so far this season, to have discovered anchorages with pristine aqua waters, sandy bottoms (great holding for the anchor as well as good visibility) and few boats.  Inevitably, as we found last year, there are many more boats during the day, but as the afternoon lengthens and evening descends, the vast majority depart for their home ports and few boats remain overnight.

Yachties, unlike some campers, are generally a quiet bunch and we have been lucky to avoid boats with ‘doof doof’ music, and rowdy party animals.  Sometimes day-tripper boats do come into our quiet anchorages but they rarely stay more than a couple of hours.

We have found the Ionian Islands, and particularly the “Inland Sea” as it is sometimes known, to be perfect for hundreds if not thousands of little coves and bays in which to escape.  The “Inland Sea” is so-called due to the geography of mainland Greece and the island of Levkas practically being joined at the north end and then the string of islands including Meganisi, Cephalonia, Ithaca and Zykanthos creating a barrier to the greater Ionian Sea.  This means that the waters are usually flat to only slightly choppy, even in fairly strong winds, and that the winds are slightly moderated from the forces generated out in the middle of the Ionian Sea between Greece and Italy.  It really does make for pleasurable sailing!

The Ionian is generally cooler than the Aegean, and there is not the plethora of sandy beaches, white-washed houses and millions of tiny islands found in the Aegean Sea, however, the Ionian Sea also has its own beauty.  We have found beautiful clear waters, some lovely pebble beaches (in spite of the fact that the sea bottom is sand all the way to the water’s edge!) and the people are friendly and extremely polite.  Almost every village and town has grocery shops, fruit and veggie shops, meat shops (called “meat markets” here which makes us chuckle), fish shops and of course the tavernas and restaurants.  There is no lack of places to eat and/or provision.  Each island has its own unique reasons for visiting – from spectacular views, historical sites, geographical anomalies or even shipwrecks.

Last week we visited the north-western coast of Zykanthos to see ‘Wreck Bay’ where a rusting hulk sits calmly on the white sand at the base of huge cliffs.  No one seems to know if it was deliberately wrecked or if it was an accident, but when you see the size of the bay, and the number of cliffs that surround it, you have to wonder at the ‘luck’ with which it was pushed ashore at the only beach for several miles in either direction!

On the way back to Cephalonia, after having spent a couple of hours walking around the wreck and swimming in the blue waters, I was startled from my blog-writing to hear the spinning of my rod.  Those of you who have been following my blog since the beginning, would understand the significance of that sound – I have been trawling the oceans since departing from La Rochelle last June, and in spite of consulting many fishing shop owners, fellow yachties, and anyone that has ever caught a fish in this area, buying multiple lures and basically trying everything, I have never even had a nibble.  And now here it was, at about 10:30am on a sunny day, with flat seas and motoring across a deep channel between Ionian islands and my reel was spinning like crazy.  Yelling “strike” to Tad at the helm and telling him to stop the boat, I jumped to my feet and began reeling in what I hoped would be a fish!  Meanwhile, our guests at the time, Vivienne and Peter came rushing back to the stern from their relaxing nap on the trampoline to assist. Fortunately, Peter has had some experience with this sort of fishing and he advised me all the way to hauling in a beautiful tuna.  It was with mixed feelings that I pulled the fish aboard as it was really a lovely creature – silvery-smooth with big black eyes.  There was no time to waste as the fish was gaffed, tequila poured down its throat (yes, apparently that’s what you do to ‘stun’ the fish as we had nothing to bash its head with), and the butchering began.  I hadn’t realised there would be so much blood from the tuna and the back deck was awash with fish blood and bits of flesh.  The next realization was that we did not have a decent knife with which to cut the meat!  Tad’s old fish-filleting knife was okay, but it took our serrated bread knife plus a sharpened fish knife to get the job done in the end.  Peter and Vivienne did a remarkable job cutting the tuna into steaks and then several strips of ‘sashimi’ meat for later consumption.  I took the meat and cleaned and wrapped it – some for dinner later and some for the freezer.  Tad took the helm once again (after having videoed and taken photos of the whole exercise) and off we set to Cephalonia!  Such excitement! My first fish caught on Bisou but hopefully not the last! 

Once we reached Argostoli, a couple of days later, one of my first stops was to a fishing store to buy a good-sized fish knife as well as some metal leaders (I caught the tuna on a nylon line and was very lucky it didn’t bite through).  Tad also wanted to buy a baseball bat (for clubbing future fish and potential intruders) but we didn’t see a sporting goods store and I am not sure that Greece is the place to purchase a baseball bat in any case!

Robin with her tuna (Peter is helping her hold it up)

Wreck Bay in Zakynthos

Bisou from her anchorage on Ithaca

Needless to say, the fresh-caught fish grilled on our BBQ that evening, accompanied by some thinly-sliced sashimi was absolutely delicious. There is something quite amazing about eating fish so fresh and also having done the work ourselves.  Very satisfying in every way.

GREECE - Guests

One of the pleasures of owning a sizeable boat (although some would disagree with me) is the fact that we can accommodate guests.  We have heard a number of horror stories from fellow ‘yachties’ involving their various family members, friends, associates and other hangers-on who have descended upon the boat owners in droves leading one friend of mine to bemoan that she spent the summer doing laundry, shopping and cooking for a steady stream of visitors!

We have also read hysterically funny blogs and Facebook posts from fellow sailors about the ridiculous situations that guests have found themselves in and wondered whether the sea air affects some people’s mental capacity!

Tad and I agreed that we would welcome guests …with limitations.  We would consult each other before issuing invitations (so as to minimize welcoming someone that one of us is not too keen on having around) and there would be a time limit for each visitor (this would be a sliding scale according to the visitor).

My youngest brother’s mother-in-law (who is Dutch) has a philosophy that guests should not stay longer than fish remains fresh (in her opinion about 3 days!).

Our first guest last year was Tad’s younger son, Patrick, who was really not a guest at all.  He was put to work on Bisou while we were still moored in La Rochelle, and basically spent his entire three-week vacation working inside the boat!  He was the ultimate good guest – he really worked for his room and board!

Robin's Mum, Barbara, enjoying a beach in Majorca

Our second guest, my mother, who came to visit us in Majorca for a week, was another ‘good’ guest.  As my great-grandfather used to say, “A good guest fits in with the host’s daily routine and makes themselves as invisible as possible”.  Mum was more than a great guest as she not only fit in beautifully with our routine (which admittedly we tried to make as comfortable as possible for her) but also treated us to a couple of lovely meals at local restaurants.  Our only regret was that Mum hurt her back rather badly on her last afternoon with us, which required her to be taken to the plane in a wheelchair!  Not a nice situation but fortunately she only had a short flight home and Dad was there to meet her at the airport.

Our final guest for the season was Tad’s older son, Karl. He spent 10 days with us including crossing from Majorca to Menorca, got fried (sunburned) on his first afternoon and I spent the next couple of weeks vacuuming up pieces of his peeling flesh – YUCK!  He was a great guest, however, as he brought with him some extra Isagenix supplies that we badly needed to complete our season afloat.

Are you seeing a theme here?  Working/ bringing gifts/ dinners out are great ‘bribes’ for being a good guest on a yacht (well in our books, anyway).  Of course, not sleeping until noon, helping with dishes, etc. now and then, and not being seasick are also helpful but not essential. 

When accepting an invitation to join friends on their yacht/boat, please remember that unless you have multi-billionaire friends, their boat is their modest home with few luxuries. Don’t expect cable tv, WiFi, endless supplies of fresh or hot water and being waited on hand and foot.  Our boat has a TV which occasionally will receive a local channel, but we use it more to watch movies from DVDs or a hard drive.  We have WiFi, also occasionally, but it’s usually expensive and we prefer guests NOT trawl Facebook, watch You Tube videos and use huge amounts of data unless they wish to purchase their own local SIM card and their own data plan.  There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, and bars ashore which offer free WiFi in return for the price of a cup of coffee or a beer.  Fresh water is a premium on a boat and although we have a watermaker (desalinator) which produces our daily needs, we don’t like to squander it. Likewise with the hot water – ours is produced when we run the engines which we do not always do when at anchor. This means you may need to be prepared to have a cold shower from time to time.  As for being waited on – forget it!  I am happy to prepare meals, do laundry and most other chores but always welcome a helping hand!

This year we were hoping to see more visitors and the season began with another visit from Patrick, this time with his girlfriend Erika.  They were treated to four days in Tunisia followed by a crossing to Malta and almost two weeks exploring some delightful anchorages around Malta, Comino and Gozo.  We welcomed them not only because they were family, but they came ‘armed’ (literally arms full) with peanut M&Ms – our favourite and impossible to find in Tunisia!

Our latest guests, Vivienne Ellis (Tad’s ex-sister-in-law) and her partner Peter Conroy have also been made welcome.  Bringing with them both peanut and regular M&Ms, fixings for Margaritas AND treating us to a dinner out, they have also been enthusiastic students of boating and sailing.  After watching us anchor, raise and lower sails as well as all the other ‘boating things’ they have learned a great deal and have been wonderful ‘hands’ leaving me to write my blog, work on crosswords and do chores.  Heavenly!  In return, we have taken them to pristine anchorages with aqua waters, sandy bottoms and cute Greek Island towns – a fair swap?  We think so and hope that they do as well!

Robin and Vivienne at an anchorage in Ithaca, Greece

One important consideration for guests is where to join the yacht?  From a boat-owner’s perspective I’d like to point out that a ‘good’ guest ASKS where would be most convenient for the skipper; to this end, we recommend people coming from overseas should simply choose the dates they would like to come (after checking with the skipper of course) and book their flights to a good European hub eg. London, Paris, Frankfurt, etc.  Most of these cities have low-cost flights to a number of Mediterranean locations, including Greek Islands, Malta, etc. and can be booked closer to the departure date.  This means, for example, that if you are coming to Europe from Australia, and want to join a friend on their yacht, find out which part of the Mediterranean they will be in (East or West) and book your flights to the largest city for which you can obtain the best-priced tickets.  This should be a return flight since you will be going back the same way even if the yacht collects and drops you off in different places.  Once you are approximately one month away from your departure date to Europe, you can ask the skipper where approximately he thinks he will be on your arrival date into Europe.  Most ‘yachties’ will have some idea eg. Ionian Islands in Greece, Aegean Islands, Malta, etc.  It’s probably still too early at this stage to buy your short-haul ticket anyway but you can start looking online at possibilities.  Within a couple of weeks of your arrival date in Europe you should have a pretty good idea of where you will meet your friends on their yacht and can book your flight/bus/train/ferry to where you will meet them. Be prepared, however, to spend a night or two at the destination in case there is a delay.  When you’re on a boat, the last thing a skipper wants to do is rush to pick up guests if the weather is against him.  We always do our best to be at a meeting place well in advance of our guests, but it’s not always possible and unforeseen circumstances happen.

Karl in Menorca

Depending on where you are collected, how long you will be a guest and what the skipper’s plans are (remember this is about being a ‘good’ guest and not about what YOU want to do!), you may be departing from another port.  Once you have an idea of where that may be, you can start looking at possible transportation options back to your hub in Europe.  We usually can advise our guests as we have already mapped out a route so as to best accommodate our guests’ return flights, but sometimes we are sailing to destinations with which we are unfamiliar and so have to play it by ear.  Google (when internet is available) is wonderful!

So who will be next?  If you are reading this and plan to visit, now you know the basic requirements, so please submit your request and we will consider your application!

Tad with Patrick and Erika in Malta