Discovering the coast of Albania
Knotty Girl
Tanya/Roberto
Sat 8 Oct 2022 15:25
41:18.8N 19:27.3E Roberto - my skipper husband is a curious person so he suggested a couple of weeks back that we go and visit the coast of Albania instead of skipping it to go directly to Montenegro, Croatia and Italy. I must admit I was not super excited about this programme but thought - why not ! And after 5 days in Albania I am glad he suggested it to me as it was an interesting experience - yet I was more than Ok to leave this country yesterday :) We did the typical “sailor’s” stops in Albenia. Meaning we: First stopped in Sarande were we had to check in. We used an adorable woman agent who proved super helpful in terms of paper work but also in terms of renting us a car and telling us what to visit. We anchored in the bay in front of the city and as the wind changed during the night we rolled quite a bit. That same afternoon, given that the city itself is really not nice we drove to Butrint -Albania’s biggest historical and archeological site and a Unesco’s World Protected site. The first mention of this city was done by Hekateus at the end of the 6th century BC. Butrint is built in different periods of time. One can see ruins from the bronze age. In sum a very worth visit. The next morning we intended to visit both : a) Girokastra village b) Blue eye spring Given the very bad signage on the road, we lost an hour driving in the wrong direction and therefore decided (as we wanted to sail to another part of Albania in the afternoon) to only see the Blue Eye Spring - a natural spring coming from the mountain that has amazing blue colours ! We motored (sic - a lot of motoring so far…) again to Port Palermo one of the very few harbour along the Albanian coast were we were helped to moor at a old and falling apart type quay by a….sea policeman (well it was a good thing he showed us his “police” t-shirt since we was not wearing it and did not look like a policeman !). He jumped onboard with his dark sole shoes… and I offered him a beer (a big one) which he was very happy about even if it was 3 pm in the afternoon :) he asked for the boat papers and needed to chat since it seems not much is happening during this time there … ! Roberto had a business call but I went to visit the Castle of Port Palermo. It is one of the most beautiful fortresses in the country, known by the locals as Ali Pasha Tepelena. It is said that the Albanian administrator of Ioannina, Ali Pasha Tepelena, built the castle to honor his wife. The castle offers dazzling views over the Ionian sea and surrounding mountains. NO ONE could arrive incognito for sure ! The fort served as former submarine base during the communist regime in Albania. Roberto had read, in the evening catabatic winds can be felt - well we did feel them - 25 knots !! So it was cooooold and dark, yet we nevertheless decided to go the recommended fish restaurant of Port Palermo and whilst it was not busy, the food was excellent ! We tasted their “melted yellow cheese” which was quite good and I took the pasta fruiti di mare and had the impression I was in Italy !!! MIAM Coming back to the boat and overall on the boat was quite tricky and for the first time even I had a bit of fear jumping on the boat as the wind had left quite a deep gap between the quay and the boat (we were glad that we had no other friends onboard !). We left early the next day to motor to our next destination, namely Vlore where we anchored in front of the harbour. We walked through the city which is Ok but nothing special, except the 2 streets of the “old town”. Yet for the Albanian it is special as it is in this city that the country declared its independence from the Ottoman empire early in the 20th century. We saw the Muradie Mosque - a very well preserved ottoman monument and took a taxi (the taxi driver was driving soooo fast that he was stopped by the police - he slowed down for 2 minutes and was racing again…) and arrived alive (miracle !) at the Zvernec monastery on the Narta laguna. It dates back the years 1300 and has a byzantine architecture - very beautiful ! The next day we had an early start and half motored, half sailed (YES !!) to Durres (ou last stop in Albania) were we moored on a quay in the industrial port at sunset and had a very special sunset - see picture. The plan was to rent a car and visit Tirana (after we had read that it was an interesting city). So we did. Well driving in Tirana is a bit like driving in Paris and I was glad Roberto was at the helm! Tirana indeed is an interesting city. Looks like any other European city. Is lively. VERY clean, with big green avenues and a lot of coffee shops and museums. We visited BunkArt 2 museum which reconstructs the history of the Albanian Ministry of Internal Affairs from 1912 to 1991 and reveals the secrets of “Sigurimi”, the political police that was the harsh persecution weapon used by the regime of Enver Hoxha. and were planned on visiting the House of Leaves which is one of the most unusual museums in Albania. This museum is considered to be the equivalent of the Stasi headquarters of the former East Germany. The leaves have a double meaning: things hidden in woods, but also the leave of books and files, on people. Those curious to see what was hidden in the HQ of the notorious National Intelligence Service, also known as the House of Spies, will leave speechless. The original house was built in 1931 with the primary function of a medical clinic. During World War II, under German occupation, it was used by the Gestapo. Immediately after the end of the war it was regained by the Albanian communist regime and utilised as a security office for investigations. Inside the house you will understand the worst side of dictatorial regime in Albania, the story of thousands of prosecuted people who were against the regime. - yet when we arrived there it had just closed (at 4 pm !!). We were disappointed as communism is such a big part of this country’s history unfortunately. We wandered a lot close to the main square (Scanderberg Square) and in the Blloku area. Overall Tirana left us a good impression, even if I would not want to move there !:) We had planned on going out for dinner in Durres in a good fish restaurant, yet we were too tired to go out again ! The next day, at 07:30 am we left and motored again (grrrrr !!) to Bar in Montenegro to check the boat in. All along we found Albanian people very welcoming and nice to us (except for the taxi driver in Flores and a waiter in the main square of Tirana who could have been a French waiter in Paris !). It is still not a very touristic country yet they a developing it to be more touristic I believe). There are very few shelter possibilities along the coast, hence not many boats ! The southern coast line is very mountainous, whilst the northern one much more flat. Not much to see along the coast. One should however not forget that for 45 years, the country was hard communist! It only became a democratic republic in 1991!          |