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Published: October 3rd 2022
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Saturday, and Alfred had us leaving Gjirokastra at an unfeasibly early time. Oh, a 7.50 am start.
But it was worth it because first stop of the day was at The Blue Eye (specifically Blue Eye - south, because there is another Blue Eye in the northern Albanian alps, walkable from Theth where we were a couple of weeks ago).
By being early we beat all the crowds, because by all accounts, it can get very busy (and there were many people heading to the attraction whilst we were leaving).
The Blue Eye is karst in origin and emits water at an alarming rate. Beautifully clear water, as it should be as it has been filtered through limestone. It has a very distinctive "blue eye" at its heart, with the bottom being 50 metres below the surface, at least. Divers have been unable to reach the base source because of the pressure of the water.
In geological terms it is a Vauclusian spring. That is a spring that originates from a shaft or a cave system, with the water surging upwards under relatively high pressure. Somewhere underground up to 18 springs are feeding this single outlet.
Then on to Butrint National Park, in historical terms one of the most important sites visited on this trip.
In legend it is said that the first noticeable settlement on the island/peninsula was established by seer Helenus, a son of king Priam of Troy, who had moved west after the fall of Troy.
In archaeological terms settlement back to between the 10th and 8th C BC has been identified and it could possibly be that it was settled in 12th C BC.
During excavation, which was started by the Italians in 1928, the ruins of 4 distinct occupation periods have been identified, including Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman. It is almost like a Pompeii discovery because barely the top of the odd taller structure was visible above ground before excavation started. They must have moved 20 to 30 foot of ground cover across the extensive site.
There are Venetian towers from the 15/16th C, Roman theatre (3rd C) and mosaics from 5/6th C (though disappointingly almost all of these are covered for protection), and other Roman ruins spreading from the 4th C BC through to 6th C AD.
So much detail and history. Fortunately we
had a guide escort us around the site, though to be frank she was very heavy on detail and very light on making sure we were in the shade on what was a very hot day.
Unsurprisingly this is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and could so easily have been destroyed as there had been plans to build a naval base there.
After lunch (too long though - need to feedback to Explore that some lunch breaks are too leisurely) we moved to our afternoon and overnight stop of Saranda, a coastal resort.
This southern end of the Albanian coastline is called the Albanian Riviera because of its beaches and coastline. Saranda is one of the places where much development has taken place over the last 20 years or so. It is in danger of going the way of the Spanish Costas with over development.
Once there it was essentially "free time" for the rest of the day. After a brief rest we therefore took ourselves to the, very rough pebble, beach and had a dip. Warmer than our local Blackpool Sands beach, but cooler than we hoped for.
A fairly typical resort setup, with
a traffic free sea-front promenade lined with bars and eateries. So a nice place to spend the evening, until the rains hit at about 8pm! But the hotel was barely 5 minutes walk, and the rain was intermittent.
Sunday started off in beautiful sunshine, and ended in a mountain forest with cloud base below our altitude. Quite a contrast.
Our first stop was Pasha Fortress, a small, triangular castle on a small peninsula on Palermo Bay.
Built in the late 15th C under Venetian rule as a stronghold to exploit fishing, grazing and olives & timber in and around the area down to Butrint further south.
Ali Pasha seized control of it in 1804 and made improvements to control access to the sea.
Unfortunately one of our group caught his foot in a hole in the upper pavement at the castle, had a bad fall and a shoulder injury the severity of which could not be judged at the time.
Suffice it to say an ambulance was called for and, separately, some changes to the plans for the rest of the day were made (to close that story he is now back with us
as of that evening, his shoulder having been "popped" back in).
The rest of us went on to the cute little coastal town of Himara where we could promonade stroll, again, and coffee. We also found a little back-street bakery where we got ourselves a couple of delicious sticky bakes.
The road along the coast passed through several villages. Here and there tourist development is creeping in, though some villages are resisting it better than others. A number of the villages have also received World Bank funding to have "makeovers" - frontages repaired and repainted, roofs replaced and made uniformly tiled etc - to encourage locals to stay and benefit from the tourist industry. Surely this is only going to work, though, if tourists actually stop and spend money in these places. Our group didn't, the itinerary just allowed for a couple of photo-opportunity stops.
Around 80 km north of Burint is regarded as the end of the Albanian Riviera, and our journey climbed up a many hair-pinned road into the forest.... and cloud... above.
In the space of, say, 30 minutes we went from glorious sunshine at sea level to adding extra clothing layers whilst
taking the lunch stop indoors to escape the cloud-fog and winds 1000 metres above the coast.
We are assured the views are wonderful, when not hidden by the cloud.
From there it was a relatively short drive to the Llogara National Park and our hotel for the night amongst the pine trees.
Less than half the group went with Alfred for a 6km hike - 7 from the 18 of us, of which only five did the full out and back. A bit of "full on overload" had hit some of the group.
We missed the walk, but did have a little wander up the path/roadway outside the hotel, and then dinner in the hotel as the location is too remote to offer other alternatives.
Seen lots of, part 3
Bee hives - hundreds of them
Monuments to partisans
Enormous, gaudy, plastic flowers on graves
Giant haystacks - no, not him! - like an English sheaf of wheat on steroids
Elaborate, fancy iron entrance gates to properties
Barely started/shell buildings, and part completed ones being finished from the top floor downwards
Wasps!!
Farmicis (Albanian)
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