By far the most visited Albanian site. We chatted to a couple from Dublin who had come on a day trip from Corfu. Never less than 5 coaches in the car park.
Butrint spans 2.5 millenia. Occupied and expanded by all. What makes it special, in my opinion, is the location.
Surrounded on 3+ sides by water with much of the fortified wall still intact.
A simple leaflet guided us around the site. English info boards. A lot of the buildings had water inside … below the water table. This is not a recent global warming phenomena, but one huge house complex was abandoned during Roman occupation due to regular flooding. They have to keep a significant mosaic covered over due to potential water damage.
View across to Corfu, which Butrint defended. Ali Pasha built (another) castle at the tip
We had our picnic on the edge of the car park overlooking the marshlands.
We caught the chain ferry across the river that separates the Butrint Lagoon from the sea. Had to hold Corrie tight as the steel cable ran in a groove the length of the floating pontoon.
A friend tookhis big motorhome across on this recently … 10 ton weight limit! We watched a smaller van nervously board it. Basic but it works. And note the rubber mats for the height difference.
We walked the sometimes muddy track to see Ali Pasha’s Castle. The guide book warned most of the path is submerged in winter. Lots of evidence of land slide along our causeway.
You’d need a boat to get closer Back at our apartment … muddy trousers have been through the washing machine!
A good good day and a budget day. Butrint was expensive by Albanian standards at £16.50. Return ferry £2.50. Picnic and salad at home. No coffee or ice cream out. We CAN do a budget day!!!
Various stops marked out and a restaurant recommendation for lunch.
Stop 1: The Ruse Mosque, also known as Gjin Aleksi Mosque. Known for the 99 ways of naming Allah written in a circle inside the dome. But it was the mellow stone of the various buildings, restored in 2020, which gave it its charm. I bought a small chocolate bar and a can of juice for £1 from the small shop. Massive smiles and thank yous from the proprietress … they really are suffering financially here.
Stop 2 was aborted. The direct route proved to be a very narrow, bendy, steep, disintegrating concrete track. We can live without seeing the Delvina Islamic Complex.
Modern buildings here generally really do not meet my style standards. This mosque looks like a paper hat.
Stop 3 was a gem. Phoinke was a capital city and controlled the valleys below. Large enough to mint its own coins. Built originally pre C4 BC, it was extended during Roman occupation. Then, during the communist era, it was used as a military base. We must have seen at least 12 bunkers. And gun emplacements. They dug tunnels and installed buildings under and in the ancient buildings! So the ancient sites are OK, but the views were brilliant. And, until the end of our walk around it, we had it to ourselves.
The amphitheatre seated 17,000! Only excavated in 1980. Only the stone from the first 2 rows of seats had not been plundered.
Stop 4 was equally stunning. A Blue Eye! Water from a karst spring bubbles up in a deep pool. Deep blue at the centre and green foliage at the edges, it really does look like the iris of an eye. During the Communist era, the area was reserved for the party elite and mere mortals were banned. An indicator of how lovely a place is.
You park at the bottom and walk along this new road for 1.9km. Lacking landscaping.Albania has no natural fuels, so hydro electricity is prevalent. This is the reservoir as we walked across the dam.No camera filters. The water really was this colourThe Eye from the viewing platform. Stunning.
We had been recommended a taverna here. Whilst we are doing these couple of extra weeks on a budget 😆, it is the 2 year anniversary of James’ heart bypass, so a celebration in order. Setting on a pontoon over the water. Tick. Free tables. Tick. Sun shining. Tick. Have each other. Tick. Bugger …. they are not doing food as its the end of the season. Hungry, we stopped at the first restaurant we came to on the way home. OK, but not special.
Our ferry from Corfu was not until 7.00 p.m. so we mooched around the town. Had our tyres checked but told we don’t need to replace the front ones as they are new (20 months!), but sold us snow socks €40 to keep us legal in Greece from 31st October. Had a very indifferent lunch… another rip off the tourist place. Shame. And I walked along the sea front whilst J nanny napped in the car.
Looking back to the old fortress
At the port, we both had to walk through passport control. I then had the car documents checked. But this car belongs to James Clune. No, look, there is my name too … he laughed when I said 50/50. I had to reverse 150m towards the ferry. Water one side and a fence the other. At least I did that in a straight line! It was a tight turn to get onto the ramp. The German lady ahead of me, well, behind really, had done it before and said it was no problem for her small car. A member of staff offered to reverse my car on. Bugger that … I was going to do it myself … and I did… just had to trust the staff instructions. What was remarkable was the chap who reversed a trailer with a large speedboat. It looked like it would jacknife. Then an inch forward and an inch back. 6 staff helping: 4 on corners and 2 trying to bend the fence to prevent the bumper snagging it. Really impressive driving. But, why oh why, is that fence there? It would be so easy to reverse on … in a straight line!!!
The tight reverse turn onto the ferry due to the stupid fence.
Our apartment was only 10 mins from the port. Quirky… they’ve added extra single beds to the kitchen and bedroom so it will sleep 4. Slightly lacking in crockery, cutlery and charm… but I have those 😆.
On Wednesday we took it easy. A no drive day. We walked into Sarande, as much as we could along the beach. Beaches were disappointing as small and stoney, but still some hardy sun worshippers out in cosies.
Coffee stop. They cranked up the music when it was a good ‘un Typical stone beachPretty harbour development Determined to walk as much of the beach as possible, meant trespassing at a hotelSeriously loads of unfinished buildingsHeard lovely bird song. Looked up … oh dear!
We didn’t stop at either of the 2 museums, it only took 3 seconds to circumnavigate the exterior. Mixed it up with the locals at a super cheap and tasty restaurant … my moussaka was only £3.50! It was bustling with young men, coming, eating, going and coming back. Lots of conversations and fist pumps. Why? And no, I didn’t see any packages exchange hands. Then, it was busy with a huge tour group.
Fortified with a half litre of red (between us), we took a few nano seconds to marvel at the remaining sites.
Another Hoxha bunker Roman remains and lucky to survive as most things of historic interest were destroyed during Communist era building. This is all that remains of the castleTold Maddy I’ve bought my mother of the bride outfit!!!Want one in each colourBought some salad at the market. The vendor stroked my arm, so I guess I overpaid 😆We stopped for one on the way home. Very pleasant. Had a 2nd. Paid. Started rain, so had a third! Total bill £6.65!
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!
J refused to climb the last 87m!The castle was illuminated just as I reached the viewpoint. 😊 Sun setting behind usThe street was initially abandoned 😔 First view of the castleMosqueThe buzzing bazzarClimb up and upTypical local architectureMosque later lit tooGreat 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 bazaarThis 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.
View of typical town housesItalian WW2 tank seen better days, but it’s a Fiat!The clock tower. Armoury belowIn 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.
Original glassThe women’s wedding roomRoof has some holes!One of the hamam
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.
The room where Hoxha was bornJust the list of Catholic clergy murdered during the atheism yearsLove a bit of embroidery, if someone else does it!Made from one piece of leatherLovely meal just above our accommodation… just as we ordered a town wide power cut. We got wine to keep us going.
Enver Hoxha had a plan for 207,000 bunkers to be built. 168,000 were constructed. Just north of Tirana is the large bunker built for Hoxha’s government.
106 rooms over 5 floors. The concept came from a visit to N Korea in 1964. Built from 1972 and ready by ’78. Enver Hoxha participated in two practice runs, but never stayed. Quite who did he think he would rule after a nuclear or chemical attack?
Main entrance. The top floor is over 1m reinforced concrete designed to withstand chemical and nuclear attack.Several doorsDecontamination showersHoxha’s 3 room suite decorated with wall coverings and comfy furnitureA large cinema / assembly room to hold the government ministers. Long corridors, with mostly empty roomsWide stairwaysHoxha was obsessed with military attack by Anglo / American imperialists or Russians, so his most important bunkers could withstand chemical and nuclear attack. The whole population was trained in self defence and in the use of gas masks.
More palaces on the drive south. Ugly pretentious places, housing casino, restaurant and accommodation.
Clune Gap Years 