Freya & Us

It was raining on the Wednesday, so we decided to put off hiring a car until the next day which turned out to be just as well, as Miss Chips who we last saw in Lefkas a week or two back had decided to follow us to Albania and arrived that afternoon. So we now had a party of six for our planned grand tour of Southern Albania. If only it was to be that easy.

That evening we went to see our agent, Aghim, to help us hire a car. He looked at us in shock and exclaimed, "How could we hire a car, there was a cruise ship coming in tomorrow and we would have to move all three boats out into the bay and anchor off for the day". He had mentioned this as a possibility to us when we arrived, but had said it would probably be OK and we wouldn't have to move. Also he didn't mention the cruise ship to Sea Dreams or Miss Chips at all, so naturally we assumed we wouldn't have to move. Anchoring off and then leaving the boats wasn't going to happen as high winds were forecast, so no hire car.

To say the least we weren't impressed with Aghim's lack of consistency and we all threw our toys out of the pram. I no longer trusted anything Aghim said and so left the "negotiations" to Larry and Robin. A suggestion from Larry on Sea Dreams solved the problem. A mile up the coast was a small fishing port at Kepi II Feruc and Aghim got permission for us to moor there. So the next morning (Thursday) off we motored around the corner. It was a bit rough and ready and a very big step (climb?) up to the quay from the boats, but to be honest the berths were much better protected from the strong southerly winds and swells that were already making our original berths uncomfortable, if not untenable. We would probably have had to move anyway. In the end the weather got so bad that the cruise ship couldn't bring its tenders in and we were relieved that our boats were in a safer and more sheltered spot, but don't tell Aghim that.

By the time we had moved the boats, half the morning had gone so the hire car was rescheduled for the next day. We trundled into town to visit the market and bought some supplies and a few dorado off a fisherman's stall. The plan was to have a barbie on the quay that night. After a few drinks, we got the charcoal out and lit. A few minutes later the security guard appeared - they are everywhere in Albania. He was a bit worried about what we were doing, but moving the barbies a few feet helped, but what really swung it was the can of beer we shared with him. His face lit up and now we were best mates. The plate of food we gave him a bit later sealed the deal.

As there were six of us, we needed a mini-van for our road trip, and the hire company insisted we take a driver. After a bit of negotiation we got a van with Greek speaking driver at a knockdown rate. We got off to a good start. He arrived on time to collect us on the Friday morning, the mini-van was brand new and very plush and the girl's thought the driver was pretty attractive as well.

Off we went with the driver giving a running commentary in Greek and me translating into English for the others. I spoke more Greek in that van than I have over last few years! The drive along the coast and lake Butrint to our first stop, the ancient city of Butrint was beautiful. Butrint is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and apparently the most visited archaeological site in Albania. It was quite quiet when we where there but it certainly is easy to see why its so popular. Its a vast complex with the oldest remains being over 2,500 years old, with a Greco/Roman amphitheatre and huge city walls. It borders a river on one side and a huge lagoon on the other. The Venetian's ruled Butrint for a while and they built a triangular fortress across the river connected to the city by three causeways. These no longer exist, but a dilapidated chain ferry provides access today. As a bonus the wild life included lots of terrapins and snakes!

Next stop was the city of Gjirokastra, but just before we got there our guide pointed out a village on the hillside where the houses seemed to be larger than most. It used to be the centre of a vast Cannabis growing industry. The people got very rich and the wealth spread into the surrounding areas, however it was a "no go" area for the police. After a change in government around the turn of the century it was decided to clean up the area. Hundreds of police and troops stormed in and after pitched gun battles in which a number of people on both sides died, the drug barons were arrested and the crops destroyed. The local economy has yet to recover.

The city of Gjirokastra is topped by a 14th century castle and the city with its narrow winding streets spreads down from there. It offered fantastic views of the lush valley and surrounding mountains, the highest of which had snowy caps. The city was very important during the Ottoman occupation of Albania and its buildings topped with stone tiles are apparently important examples of 19th century Ottoman architecture. We loved wondering around the castle and the town and after a spot of lunch headed off to see the Blue Eye spring.

The spring is located in some beautiful and lush woodland and bubbles out of the ground at the rate, we were told, of around 1,100 litres a second. It comes up in a deep pool making a circular shape, deep blue in the centre and a lighter blue around it, hence the name Blue Eye. A few years ago a Turkish company wanted to set up a bottling plant and sell the water, but just before work started the spring dried up for 2 years and only restarted when the plans were abandoned.

We finished our road trip with a visit to another castle, which has been turned into a good quality restaurant. Our driver didn't take us for the food though, he took for us the fabulous views over Sarande bay.

It was a great day, but we were all ready to move on and head north to see more of Albania.

The link to our map seems to be stopping people leaving comments on the blog, so I've removed it from these posts for now. I will be keeping it up to date so simply go to one of the special map only posts and click the link there to see it