Tag Archives: ammunition

Berat

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1-2/11/2023

A wander in Berat the night we arrived and our last supper out! We are going dry and healthy eating for November!!!

We climbed as far as we could in the old town … all paths leading to guest houses

Yesterday, we drove up to a typical town for coffee. Full of people.

Advert for BA on a travel agent, probably as so many Albanians go there. All the other adverts were domestic companies

Just beyond, the valley floor was littered with abandoned military buildings … the largest Albanian munitions manufacturing was here. Used to employ over 2000. Now, those, that work, make stone bricks and tiles. Officially, unemployment is reducing and at about 10% for men. Probably as so many have left for the UK. And frankly, I just don’t believe the official stats given how many working age men, particularly, are hanging around cafes, bars and town centres.

A small part of the munitions factory

We were headed to walk to a waterfall and then to view points over a canyon. But the road was a dirt track. I was having an off day (lost my mojo) and didn’t fancy 11km each way of having to concentrate just to the waterfall.


That afternoon, we walked up to the castle … at one time, 42 churches, until most were destroyed during the atheism years. Now only 8. Some were then destroyed during WW2. Proper castle, still with houses inside the castle walls.

The White Mosque. WW2 victim
The cistern
Houses in the castle

Today was wandering Berat proper. Either side of the river. Great views of the Ottoman town of a 1000 windows. Had to Google… apparently, there were no windows on the street side so the women couldn’t be seen from the street. I guess they put as many in as possible the other side for light.

Wouldn’t want to have to curtain all these!
J’s haircut and beard trim … £2.90 with good tip

We’ve been interested in car ownership since I read that in 1991 (end of communism) only 600 cars were registered. I appreciate there were probably a number of illegal ones on the road. So a few googled facts:

  • Albania has the oldest cars in EU and EEA members.
  • In 2020, 540,000 cars were registered. Of which only 4000 were under 2 years old. The majority of 311,000 were 10-20 years old. 180,000 were over 20 years old.
  • Albania has the lowest ownership rate… just 1 in 5.
  • 40% of all vehicles are registered in Tirana … no wonder it was noisy, polluted and chaotic.
  • Mercedes is the most popular vehicle brand, accounting for over 18% . Perhaps we should bring our young (12 year old Merc) over for a refurb!