Albanian Adventures 😬

Monday we rented a car to visit 3 must see sights but only got to one after getting lost in the mountains of Albania! I think we saw areas that most Albanians have never seen! We were on what we later discovered was an "old" road with broken pavement, gravel, no guardrails, and no one except a man and his donkey and later, one pickup and some cows on the mountainsides. Bob could only go about 10 kms./hour due to the potholes and the hairpin turns 😬. I took very few pictures because my white knuckles could not let go of the door and seat! After 90 minutes we finally connected with the main 2 lane hwy which was newly paved but still with hairpin turns and switchbacks, dogs lying in the middle and loping across, and cows and horses wandering along! The ancient Town of Gjirokaster has a castle with a history of misery. It now honours the anti- Communists tortured and killed and has become a place for festivals. The ancient Town has narrow cobblestones lanes with shops and restaurants offering traditional treasures and meals. We drove up to the castle but with no parking available, had to turn around on a narrow cobblestoned lane overlooking the new town below. He couldn't get the gear in reverse and we kept lurching to the precipice! Somehow, he finally got it and we backed up and drove down and back up to the main parking area where Bob tried to figure out how to reverse. A parking attendant took pity and shooed Bob out of the car, reversed, and showed him how to do it! 🤪We parked and wandered up to the castle and later through the ancient Town and had a late lunch of traditional foods. The restaurant had forgotten about us and when Bob asked, many apologies and they gave us each a raki, similar to Grappa. I poured it into my water bottle for later as we had to drive home through the mountains and S-bends! The correct road back was at least paved but it has to be the windiest road in the world! We missed 2 other sights as we were tired from driving and I couldn't take any more near misses! We invited the Australians over and had a lovely evening. Music, call to prayers, birds and bells were the sounds putting us to sleep.Read more