Himare

Today, we planned to beach-hop our way to Himarë. Unfortunately, almost every beach we'd identified on the map as having potential turned out to be within a naval base. I'm not sure how we managed to overlook that, but there wasn't much we could do about it. So, we just moved on to the next one. Luckily, this was the main beach we wanted to see anyway, so we weren't too fussed. As it turned out, the drive there ended up being the greatest part of the whole experience.

I was driving, so I didn't get the best photos, but the road itself was incredible. We drove down from the top of the mountain along a winding, zigzagging road, with pristine white beaches sitting at the bottom and the ocean stretching out beyond them. It was one of those drives where you really wish you weren't the one behind the wheel so you could properly take it all in.

The beach itself didn't disappoint either. The water was insanely blue and the perfect temperature. It was so nice to finally jump in and cool off. We couldn't stay as long as we'd planned, though, because the wind eventually picked up and started ruining the fun. Since it was a rocky beach, the wind was blowing tiny rocks straight into us, and they were hitting with enough force that it felt like they were embedding themselves in our skin. So, we decided it was probably best to pack up and make our way to Himarë.

When we arrived, we headed to the hotel we'd originally booked, only to discover that they'd rejected our booking for some reason. So, we suddenly found ourselves needing to find accommodation at the very last minute. We already knew that accommodation in Himarë wasn't particularly cheap or easy to find. Two Irish girls we'd met, who happened to be staying in Himarë at the same time, had actually been forced to stay at a campsite because they couldn't find anywhere else. Needless to say, this scared us a little. Eventually, though, we found a really nice hotel. It was fairly expensive but splitting it three ways made it much more manageable. We ended up paying €30 each, which is around what you'd expect to pay for a hostel anyway, except we had our own private place. This worked out really well because eventually we caught up with the Irish girls and made the most of a €5 cocktail happy hour. We then headed back to the hotel to continue drinking.

By this point, we were probably six cocktails and a few beers deep, and the drinking only continued from there. So, it's safe to say it turned into a long night. Unfortunately, Himarë doesn't have much of a nightlife scene, so there wasn't really anywhere else to go. But honestly, we weren't complaining. We had plenty of drinks, good company and a lot of fun, which was more than enough for us.Read more