Travel Stories - Albania

The man at the entrance tells us that, if we want, we can leave our big bags in his little shack here; we must of course pay the 50 Leke entrance fee. We first walk 100 to 200 meters along a dust road next to a big lake. In the middle we notice a number of iron old attributes – no idea what they are. Then the winding road with big rocks goes through a piece of forest and brings us to a parking lot. Here some holiday homes are for rent (30 euros each) and a "pricey" restaurant. It is perhaps 1 to 2 km walking and we are glad that we left our big bags because it is hot today. We walk directly along a beautiful clear blue river where we can discover the green algae and stones very in it well. Another piece through a forest that they are cutting down and then the beautiful almost magical hole which is a source that feeds the river "Bistrica". On the side of the well it seems like electric blue plates are lowered and we see some water bubbles. It is a beautiful place with lots of lily and because the tall trees bring shade a wonderful place to relax. Nobody knows how deep the hole is that we are now looking into from a wooden platform. Fortunately, there are only a few people here besides two bored saleswomen with some drinks and souvenirs. After looking around for a while, we decide to walk back to the road because we have no idea what the rest of the day will bring us. Back at the road we have to wait about half an hour (11:30) until a van (furgon) comes by and picks us up.

Within 20 minutes in the bus we arrive in the beach town "Saranda". We have just crossed the last hill in front of the Adriatic Sea and suddenly we see another world; women in bikini on the street, beach balls for sale at shops, many hotels, restaurants but also many unfinished houses. When we get off, we look forward to a supermarket because we know we have to go there before we go to "Butrint" where there is no town or shop. But we also got a big appetite - it is almost lunchtime and we crash at a "fast food" restaurant and order a doner kebab sandwich with a cola. Back in the bus we drive a long stretch along the coast and see a series of semi-finished houses and buildings – other parts are beautiful and professional hotels followed by a piece of land with waste and scrap. Half an hour later we drive over a hill and see a beautiful bay with a river that goes to the Adriatic coast. Then a deep bend and we see a triangular fort on the other side of the river. A ferry crosses the river and the bus stops in front of the "Butrint" site. Across the road it is completely flat and it turns out that it is a Venetian fortress that in turn is also built on a small island. We walk while a big group of schoolkids go with the ferry to the entrance of the old fort and pay the entrance fee (700 Leke). We get a ticket with all the sites on it and see that it is a kind of peninsula with an elevation in the middle where the "Acropolis" is built. The whole complex is located in a beautiful national park with lots of trees and greenery. It is quiet, perhaps because it is a bit later but still hot. The first building we see is the Venetian tower with some old pillars. We walk past the old theater and read on the information panels that the site was already inhabited long before Greek settlers from Corfu settled here in the 6th century.

Within a century from the beginning of the city, the city had developed itself with an Acropolis and was an important strategic site. We now walk on the same grounds along the old market square (Agora / Forum), the Roman bathhouse and again into the jungle to the next site which is the old gymnasium and/or was also used as a pagan site. We continue through the site where once a Roman palace was located and a baptist. Then we arrive at the coast and now see that there is an entire city wall around the entire island. Originally Butrint was an Illyrian city in the Despotate Epirus and the Basilica from the 6th century is still in a beautiful state. Unfortunately, the bridge that once was here as a road to the mainland is no longer there. We walk around the island and look up at the high city walls that were reinforced with the collapse of the once powerful Roman empire. Through the lion's gate we arrive at the path that takes us to the old Venetian castle - the Acropolis. A beautiful view and a lovely garden with flowers and we meet some other tourists here. It is time to go and we walk back to pick up our bags at the entrance. We get water at the adjacent (expensive) restaurant and talk about what to do - the original plan was to stay in the national park for the night but given the high fences we decide different. We think I should go back to the bay we saw earlier from the bus but we do not want to walk back that whole distance with our big bag along the road.

But we don’t really have a choice and start to walk along the road where there is no really space for us to walk. There is an expensive Mercedes approaching behind us and I reluctantly hold my hand up. The car stops and two very young shirtless boys ask us where we want to go and help us with the large heavy bags in the trunk. We cross the first hill and Pete and I look closely where I saw that bay. It must have been after 1 or 2 kilometers and we make clear we want to stop here. We take our bags out of the trunk, wave goodbye and climb the railing from the road. There is a memorial of someone who assuminly died here due to a road accident and walk a goat path that lies here to the valley, down, to the bay. The terrain is full with many rocks, small prickly bushes and some trees. At the waterside it gets better and we put our bags down and go on research for a good flat spot. We find some reasonable good places fortunately because it is getting late. We decide we should not look further because this is actually a perfect place due to the fact there are no houses or whatever. We find a very romantic peel with some stones in the bay near the water, put our bags against a tree and make tea. We bake sausages on our fire with bread and wait till the sun goes down. We open our bottle of "Moskat" wine but want to set up our tent a little earlier than a few days ago. After we putting it up we walk towards our sitting area when we suddenly see a bright light shining in the water and we dug down. These people in the boat may go ashore exactly at the spot we are now. It turns out to be the fisherman hit the water with their pebbles to let the fish come up. We keep on listening for a while and then to go to our tents anyway. It has now become half past twelve. While getting ready to go to bed we look to the other side of the water where we see small lights of Corfu island, Greece.