Albania's prettiest town - Berat

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From Tirana we headed off to Berat, apparently Albania's prettiest town as it was preserved during the communist era as a museum town. We arrived in the afternoon and after a trek across town and up cobbled streets to the Hostel, we arrived at the most beautiful hostel - The Berat Backpacker's Hostel - owned by a nice English guy called Scott. The highlight of the hostel was the pretty garden complete with grape vines, fig, pomegranite, lemon trees and aubergine and tomato plants.

We went into the main town and walked up another cobbled hill to the citadel, where we climbed the walls for the stunning views, and then walked around the pretty Mediterranean style village, visiting the little orthodox ornate church.

From 7 to 9 pm the people of Berat walk up and down a short pedestrian segment of the main road; men in little groups, women in another. Never looking at each other or interacting, just walking up and down, and then turning around when they get to the end. We decided to view this odd practise from a local coffee shop. The Balkans are filled with coffee shops, which always appear to be filled with groups of men, but never women. So Jhonny with Jen and I were quite an odd sight.

We only got to spend one night in Berat, but had a great time drinking beers in the garden and hanging out with this great group of Dutch guys, one of which ended up traveling with us for the next few days.

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