Gjirokaster

12-14/10/2023

A town we really liked. Albania is proving very marmite. We’d told our accommodation host that we’d arrive at 4.00. We were 20 mins early and as we approached the property, he leapt out, waved and showed us where to park. A good start.

We set off for an amble up the hill to the old bazaar area. Then I spotted a view point on my phone map. It was up, up and up. But the views were worth it!

*The castle was illuminated just as I reached the viewpoint. 😊*

*Great supper for under €20. Proper hand cut chips! Corrie helped with left overs.*

Great initial vibes. Shame we didn’t sleep well! The bed was rock hard … someone else was obviously hard too … the walls were very thin and we heard everything! Yep, that too!

*Room only, so breakfast coffee out in the bazaar*

*This lady was selling rock art that she carved herself. I didn’t haggle and she tried* *to press* *lots of other* *free* *goods on me*.

We have visited a fair few castles, but this one was impressive. Big walls. Big areas. Big views. And we love it when history joins up. The Ottoman Ali Pasha, who expanded the castle, is the same one whose castle we visited in Ionnina in Greece. We particularly remember him as he was brutal. He had his son’s wife thrown from a cliff.

In 1969, an Amercan plane was forced to land in Tirana. Albania says it was spying and brought down by Albanian MIGs. USA says the pilot ran out of fuel due to fog. Fortunately, he was repatriated after a few weeks.

A light lunch at another small eatery. J went back for his nanny nap and I continued to two museums.

The first, Skenduli House, was impressive. Built in 1823, it was the most expensive house in town with 9 fireplaces, 6 bathrooms, 44 doors, 64 windows and 4 hamam!!! And the ticket lady took time to talk me through it and show me the wedding room. No pix allowed in there, but it was beautiful. Lots of windows and decoration. A screened gallery for the unmarried girls. Women waited in another room. So, only men in here until the bride enters for 10 minutes for the ceremony. As marriages were arranged, this was the first time she met her husband. Sexes were segregated for the feast too.

25 people of the extended family lived here. There were winter and summer rooms. Cooking was done outside due to the fire risk. The family had the house confiscated in the 1980s and only got it back after the fall of communism.

Skenduli house had housed the ethnicolgical museum until they had to hand back the property. It moved down the road to another large wealthy house. The birthplace of Enver Hohxa. Intetesting but nothing like as authentic or beautiful as Skenduli House.