Saranda

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I am up early because my plan for today means getting to the other hostel and dropping my bags by 930 latest. I go for breakfast only to find its not until 830 so I have to wait. I start eating dead on 830 and get myself a selection of cakes, bread, cheese, sausages and a lot of watermelon. I have some very weak coffee and once I am full I put one bag, my laptop one, in storage and the other I take to the hostel. The owner is sat out front as promised and shows me up to where I can leave my bags. There is a group sitting round eating breakfast but nobody really acknowledges me. One local guy who I think works there tells me it is morning, people will be friendlier later. I tell him its fine I am going blue eye then my friend will be here. At about 930 I head out, one French girl says bye as I leave. At the bus stop I have to go the ticket office to buy my ticket and it is 800lek return but my bus back is 215 which will give me plenty of time. I get on the bus and wind up at next to a Dutch guy with an Australian girl stood beside us so we chat most of the way. She is going to Gjirokaster but he is going to Blue Eye with his two friends. We all get off at blue eye together and along with the two French girls I met earlier at the hostel I head off down the path. After about ten minutes we come to the ticket office. There is quite a line but it is 50 lek entry so you wonder why they even bother.

We wander on. It is ridiculously hot and very crowded. I borrow sun cream from the boys and we chat easily as we walk. They are good company as is Natasha, her friend Cami doesn’t speak a lot of English but is perfectly pleasant. We take lots of pictures and walk along the path. It is beautiful blue and green crystal clear waters surrounded by trees but it is so small and we can’t find the area where you’re meant to jump in. We take photos at the highest point and ask people coming back from the trail if its worth going further and they say no so we head back ourselves. At the bottom we head to the restaurant area where people are starting to head into the water. It is absolutely freezing. I only dip my legs but they turn so red with the cold. I am tempted to get in further but the current seems quite strong and I feel like it might be difficult to get out. The boys want a beer so we join them at the restaurant.
We have two beers and some fries then we head back to the road to catch the bus. It comes dead on 215 and is pretty empty so we all get a seat. Back at Saranda I want to make use of the hotel pool so I head there and swap instagrams with Natasha so I can meet them later. At the hotel I collect my bag and have a swim. Then I message Deysha who is getting on the ferry and says it will be in at 4pm my time. Its 315 so I rush to get changed and head to the port. I wait over an hour, people come and go but no Deysha. The port authority guard connects me to his hot spot and I message but no reply. Finally just before 5 she comes out. Her boat was on time so no idea why it took so long. We head to the hostel and are shown to our room and our Lockers. The view is amazing and my bag is already in the locker. We quickly get ready then head to catch the 530 bus to ksamil.

We get off at town and walk down. It is busy, buzzy and loads of restaurants. It is very pretty. Very instagrammable but so crowded. It is a tiny bay but with so many deck chairs crammed on the beach you can barely see land. The islands are blocked off so you can’t swim out to them like we planned. We do swim though, the water is very cold and super salty but we take lots of pictures. It looks lovely on camera but it’s not as nice as I think we both thought it would be. We head to a restaurant the boys recommended and get a seat inside to watch the sunset as its really windy. The sunset is beautiful. Deysha gets mixed shrimp Platter and I get seafood risotto. Both are really nice but it works out a 30 euro meal with no drinks so pricey. After dinner we try to get a taxi but can’t get one. We pop to a hotel and she calls one for us. He wants 30 euro but we say no we’ve been offered 25 which is true, she says he will take us for 25. The taxi pulls up and we get in but the driver is very moody and argues with us all the way that 25 is not enough for the fare. We say he shouldn’t have agreed to it then. When we go to pay in lek he says 3000lek which is more like 28euros than 25 and we point out this but he locks the doors and insists on 3000lek. We have no choice but to pay but I deliberately slam my door on the seat belt so he has to get out and fix it before driving off. Petty but he deserved it. Back at the hostel we are both really tired so head to bed.

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