I went to Cavtat, a few kilometers from Cilipi airport.
The land around Cavtat is a peninsula, and old Cavtat itself is a smaller peninsula with a very narrow neck connecting it to the big one.

The old town is very well preserved but very touristic.

I went up and down the stairs of town's streets (there is only one without stairs) and the perimeter trail where, near the way there are excavations of a roman settlement with a villa.

From there I went to the airport and back home.

Day – 26 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Than I went up to the castle, a nice but not very impressing one, especially after Kotor, and from there to the bus station.
In the time I had to wait I had lunch and rather good local beer.

Than by bus to Risan, a nice but touristic village, on one of the coves of Kotor bay.

From Risan I walked to Perast, an old, well preserved village.
It used to be fishermen village but became a tourist attraction.

In the bay near Perast there are two tiny islands with a church on one of them.

From there I had to walk quite a long way to the close bus stop, where I took the bus back to Kotor.

I spent the evening at the old town.

Day – 25 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In Tivat I took the bus that goes along the coast of Kotor gulf.

This road is so narrow, private cars can pass side by side, but a bus or a truck haven't enough room to pass in many places, so they or the car have to wait in a wider spot, and even so it takes sometimes some maneuvers, so the ride is slow.
But it worth every minute. The gulf of Kotor is called Europe's southernmost fjord and actually it has a few connected fjords.

It was a perfect place to spend two nights till my flight, and on the day of my flight there were 3 buses going to Dubrovnik.

At Kotor's bus station a local guy offered me a cheap room and after some bargaining I agreed to see it.
It was in good location, walking distance from the old town and quite reasonable.

I went straight to the old town, strolled in the streets and alleys, and in the afternoon climbed to the top of it, to the ancient Illyrian castle.

The glacier that created Kotor's fjord let an almost vertical hill.
It's almost unbelievable how they built a city there.

Nowadays only the low part is used for living and commerce, but in the past all the steep hillside was inhabited.

There are walls around the old town, the side walls go almost strait up the mountain, like the Chinese wall or the walls of Ston in Croatia.

The main harbor is still highly active as a commercial port and a marina, but the river harbor and another little one at the other corner of the wall are only tourist attraction and are not in use.

At night the walls and some buildings on the hill are lit with soft green light and make a beautiful view.

Day – 24 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In Ulcini I went strait to the bus station and took the bus to Podgorica. Prices of accommodation there were too high, so I had seen the old quarter, town centre and the river and took the bas to Bar, because bus to Budva was much later.

I got a nice room there, had an interesting conversation with a local lady who's living in Switzerland and in the morning took a bus to Tivat on my way to Kotor.

Day – 23 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Immediately after check in, I went to the Marubi Phototheque.
After that I just went around the city to see some parts I didn't see before.
I had an excellent late lunch at a nice restaurant near town centre.

Day – 22 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I arrived in Tirana pretty late in the afternoon, went straight to the backpackers' hostel, had late meal and got something for breakfast.
I had to finish some village goat cheese I bought near Korça because Crna Gora prohibit dairy and meat from Shqiperia.

Day – 21 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The road along the Drinos river valley and later Vjosa river is another beautiful scenic road, but the dark gray sky and the condensation on the window prevented full appreciation of that wild beauty.

In Korça the weather was a bit better, but still gloomy.

I went immediately to Hani Elbasanit, an old Turkish caravan Han.
Ground flour is not stables area any more. Instead it became a part of the large market around the Han.
The second flour thou, continue to be a guesthouse as in the old days.
The place is amazing, all made of old wood that looks like museum exhibit, cleaned thoroughly all day long and taken care of as well as it should.

There is a little difference between local guests and tourists.
The local guests use authentic Turkish bathroom, but tourists pay 100 leke more (less than 1 euro) and get a key to modern bathroom with hot water (one have to unplug the washing machine and plug the water heater in 30-45 min. before taking a shower).
The total cost of a room was 400 leke a night.

The market outside the Han is an interesting one. Like most old markets, there are whole streets and alleys of similar shops, like shoes street, hardware street and so on.
I intended to go to Pogradec to see lake Ohrit, but the weather was still too bad for that, but good enough to walk around.

On the main square there is a big cathedral and near by nice cafes and fancy fashion shops.

Korça looks different than other Shqiptar cities, much more like a city in central Europe, with wide avenues and a lot of vegetation on the streets and avenues, and especially in the many large parks all around.

There are interesting museums there, but there is a problem visiting them.
One is the museum of education in the building of the first school in Shqiperia. The building lopos nice and well preserved and in the yard there is a statue of the letters A, B and C with an inkstand and a quill pen.

That's nice, but they have a bell to notify them of visitors. I rang the bell and nobody came. I tried again, knocked on the door and nothing happened. I went away and came back after two hours or so, within their opening hours, and nobody replied.

There is a special museum of orthodox icons. I was looking for it, but nobody seemed to know what I was talking about, including travel agents, until I found someone who told me in German how to get there.

The icon museum is behind a church and a monastery and has a unique collection of icons I have never seen such.
Even the earliest icons there, dating 14th-15th century have depth like more modern works of art, and not like most orthodox icons that still follow the Byzantine flat style.
It's a nice collection of art works even if one has no idea or interest of those saints.

My reception in the Han included. Like every other tourist staying there, acquaintance with Ilia, a local retired teacher who lives there. Ilia and I had some conversations, I told him about Israel and he told me about Shqiperia and especially about the operation of the communist regime he opposed in minor deeds because he didnwt want to be expelled from teaching. He's a pessimist about the future of his country, unlike most Shqiptar.

Days -19-20 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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A little later rain started and I didn't have my raincoat with me. I waited till it eased to dripping and started my way down to the new town but half way down there was a series of lightning and very loud thunders and in seconds a flood started. Near me there were two columns of a house with a covered gap between them about 70 cm wide. I got shelter there just as the heavy rain started.
In minutes the steep, stone padded street turned into a river, carrying a lot of mud and litter.

It rained like that more than half an hour. It was early afternoon but dark as sunset. The flow in the street became clear after the heavy wash of dirt. When the rain eased again I started hoping from one shelter to another until I got to a street of the new town where the buildings had covered walk.
From there it was easy and soon I got to my room and waited about two hours till rain stopped.
It was late in the afternoon, I went out to eat, checked my emails and wrote home and on my way back bought some breakfast.
The storm started again in the evening and continued with breaks all night.

Day -18 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The road from Vlora to Saranda is the second best scenic road I traveled in Shqiperia.
It climes up the mountains south, giving at first a full view of the bay, then in a gorge to a mountain pass about 40 km south of Vlora than serpentines down steep mountains with a view far along the Ionian coast and continues on the mountain side to Saranda.

At Saranda's bus station waited a local "hotel" owner who offered a cheap room nearby and close to all places of interest.
This Xhaferi "hotel" is a kind of guesthouse but I got a large 3 single bad room with bathroom ensuite and was content.
Saranda has a large bay, protected from the weather by the island of Corfu. Along beach there is a nice promenade.

Quite many cruise ships come to Saranda mainly for a visit of Butrint.
I also came there to see Butrint, an ancient fortified city on a peninsula between lake Butrint and the sea. There are also Othman and Venetian castles near Butrint, but the ancient city is the centre of interest.

It was first fortified by Illyrians, than the Greeks, Romans Othmans and Venetians.

It takes a few hours to walk around and see the most interesting remains.

There is a cable ferry on the river for cars and people.
On the other side there is a Venetian castle and a trail to remote ruins of an Othman castle.

Waiting to the bus back to Saranda, a taxi driver tried to persuade me to pay ten times more, but hust before the bus came he decided to go anyway and gave me a lift. In town I gave him the coins I had in my pocket, a bit more than bus fare.

In the centre of town there are ruins from early centuries AD, and the most important place there is a 5th century synagogue with mosaics of menorah, ram horn and other decorations, but they are covered to protect them from the weather and you can only see the pictures.

Days -16-17 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Vlora is a costal city, the second largest port of Shqiperia.
It is the closest port to Italy and there are ferries between Vlora and Brindisi.

It is also a beach holidays place. In the summer many groups from Europe come there.
It's on the border of the Adriatic and Ionian seas.

Vlora has a large sandy bay, protected from the weather by the surrounding mountains.

However, the beaches are pretty far from the city so you have to take a bus or rent a car to go there, or stay in one of the beach resorts.

I found the surrounding pretty nice but there is not much to do in the city.

Day - 15 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It's one of Berat's classic houses that gave it the name "the town of thousand windows". The entrance is in a small alley a few steps of steep climb from the main street.

When the sun goes down it lights all "thousand windows" with fire as the all are on the hillside facing west.

Immediately after settling in the room I went up to the castle.
There are families living in the castle and keeping it in good condition, "the keepers of the castle". It's the same in the castles of Elbasani and Kruja. They call them castles but actually they are citadels – fortified towns that control the river and land ways.
Berat's castle controls Osumi river and the road along the left bank.
There are ruins of fortifications that controlled the right bank.

There are remains of churches and of a minaret of the red mosque, and one small church that is still intact. I didn't try to find out if there is a possibility to go inside. Seeing the outside was enough for me.

I went down thinking it was too late to see the ethnographic museum, but the girls I went with met me there and told me they are coming from there and that it's open till 7pm. I went in and found an old house, all covered with carpets (not Turkish Kilims like in many other places) with all the old tools and kitchenware as people lived there more than 100 years ago.
It's different than other museums as it's shows specific way of living in this area only.

When I went out to the yard I met my landlord building with another guy a new place for a new exhibition using old techniques.

The old town centre is small and pretty dull but food and drinks are expansive due to the many tourists. The new town is quite far and looks like communist workers suburb, so there is no point going there.

Day -14 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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At last we got to Tirana in one peace. I had to take a bus to Skanderbeg square to look for a hotel.

Tirana's prices are double than the rest of the country, so, after trying one supposedly cheap hotel that came out pretty expansive I went to the backpackers' hostel.

It's a nice place in an excellent location, central but quiet, with nice people running it. It's a well preserved old house, and this group of young people run it and live there.

It was a good change to be with other travelers and change information and ideas (first time since Pristine).
That afternoon I walked a bit around Skanderbeg square making plans for the next day, found a good cheap place to dine and spent the evening with some people at the guesthouse, some guests and some workers till late.

Next morning, surprise, I started quite early. The national historical museum opens quite late so I found myself in the market. The market is huge. Most shops sell cheap textile, quite many of the rest sell simple gadgets, toys and tourists' memorabilia and one here one there sell other stuff for the local people. Among those are grocery stores, Boryk and bread bakeries, hardware and kitchenware shops and so on.
It's a colourful and lively market and it was very nice to spend time walking there till the museum opened.

The museum is very interesting. The front is a huge mosaic facing the square.
It covers the history of the country since prehistoric era, through the Illyrian rule of most of the Balkan, periods of Greek occupation of parts of it, Roman period, Byzantine, Turkish, independence in Skanderbeg time, Turks again, Venetians, independence war on the turn of the 20th century, Italian and German occupation during world wars, communist regime and last, democracy.
There are some exhibitions of art works, clothes of different eras and of various parts of the country.
It takes a few hours to go through all of it, but it worth the effort as it gives the spectator a wide insight of the people and of the country.

After that I went around town centre, looked at mosques, churches, parks (there are many small ones), and just some streets and buildings and people all around.
I didn't go into any mosque or church because after the museum I was too exhausted to concentrate in art and such things.

It was a full and tiring day. I took a short nap, than had dinner with some other guest, got something for breakfast (its hard to find a place that serves breakfast in most of the country) and than sat again till late with a bunch of travelers.
I asked the local guys about a place with live music, preferably jazz, but they told me there are only places with popular music like hip hop and such, so I proffered the good discs they put on there and the nice company.

Days -12-13 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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When we entered Peshkopia I asked about a hotel mentioned in Bradt, but the driver said it's far from town center, so when we passed hotel Brazil (with a huge flag of Brazil painted on the front and Brazilian football games on video).
It's a nice, simple, cheap hotel, but the restaurant is very good.
They have traditional dishes and grilled meats but I had the best trout I ever had for only 3 euros. The whole meal with a starter, side dish and beer cost me 5 euros.

The owner is a very nice person and we had some talks.
I told him (sorry fellows I felt it was right) he should raise the food price for tourists having different menus in Shqiptar and in foreign languages.
Town center is nice, the rest is pretty poor, but the surrounding scenery is great. I should have gone from there to Korça via lake Ohrit, but decided to go to Tirana on my way to the south.

Day -11 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The cheapest hotel in Bradt guide, Giallica, was upgraded and they charge 20 euros per night plus 5 for breakfast, so I went to look further. In town center I found Tirana hotel for 10 euros.

I took the room and went down to the bar, where I'd met Reshat, his brother two cousins and a friend. I had a beer with them and they refused my offer to pay, even for myself.
Reshat, who lives in Belgium and has a Belgian wife told me he's going later with his father to see his father's village and ancient tunnels dug near by.
I said I would be very glad to come' and so, in the afternoon Reshat, his father, wife and I went there. The tunnels are very deep, upto 500m. Nobody knows who dug them but local people say they are more than 2000 years old.
Today they are used for keeping food for winter, as it's cool and dry inside and things don't freeze when it's snowing outside.
Some entrances to the caves are used for domestic animals, and some were used as bunkers at Hoxha's era.
The village is on the shoulder of a mountain between the rivers White Drin north and Borjes south of the village. In the Borjes river valley by the road to Prizren, Kosova, there is a hill of copper mine debris.
This place should be researched and become a tourist attraction.
It was Saturday and there were many noisy colourful wedding parades since I came and more next morning.

Day -10 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The road to Tropoja and to the border is a fabules mountain road, but than, in Kosova it becomes flat and less interesting.

Gjakova center is old, maybe medieval, and although there are many mosques, it's dominated by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The rest of town is what many Israelis would call Aza(Gaza), partly because of damages through the war and also because of neglect, as many residents went to Albania for safety.

In the old town I'd seen a silversmith's shop with the name Simoni, that seemed Jewish to me, so I went in and asked the owner, and found out he was Serbian named Simon and Simoni means Simon's grandson (like Simonovich in Russian)
Simon was very interested in Israel as I was in Kosova and Gjakova, so we had a long conversation, together with a neighbor on a cup of Turkish coffee and some raki.
I gave Simon samples of Israeli coins and went on to explore town.

Day 7 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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There are many trails in the valley and the surrounding mountains and mountain climbing treks as well.
I took some quite easy trails on the way to Rragami and back. on the way back it was raining a bit but it didn't stop me of going to Rillindja for Turkish coffee.

At the place were Alfred and Alfred, the owner and the local policeman, having coffee, Raki and native pistachio nuts. this pistachio nuts were not roasted and I didn't like their taste.
We talked about the country, the economy an about Israel. Many Shqiptar I talked too like Israel. They are pretty surprised to learn that Israel is even smaller than Shqiperia.

There are several reasons for their attitude towards Israel: Shqiptar are very tolerant to other people beliefs. From days of Christianity, there were Catholics and Orthodoxies there who lived in peace. The Turks made some people convert to Islam, so in the family were both Christians and Moslem (Skanderbeg's wife was Orthodox). The chieftains oath was based on cooperation between people of different religions and the free country had no formal religion (Moslem became majority only after the Turks reconcord the country).

Jews, like all the others enjoyed freedom of belief and were equal citizens. Then in world war II the Shqiptar defended the Jews from discrimination and no Jews in the country were deported of exterminated by the Nazis. Israel acknowledged this by giving the nation title of "Righteous among the Nations". People heard about that and appreciate it.

When I told people there is great similarity between this two ancient people from the 2nd millennium BC that still keep their culture through the ages, they agreed with enthusiasm.

Later I told Alfred, the policeman that the area must be very calm if he can seat most day at the Kafe, talk, lough and have coffee and raki. He misunderstood me at first and was offended, but than he got the point, laughed and started telling police action stories.

Later in the evening I had a very interesting conversation with a tourist guide from Tirana about his language, Semitic languages and his country and mine.

I also met there a lot of family relatives who came to visit from the near town Bajram Curri and a cousin from Tirana who was a highschool student and spoke good English.
This young boy and some other relatives are from Peje in Kosova, and they persuaded me I should go there.

Days 5-6 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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There are many trails in the valley and the surrounding mountains and mountain climbing treks as well.
I took some quite easy trails on the way to Rragami and back. on the way back it was raining a bit but it didn't stop me of going to Rillindja for Turkish coffee.

At the place were Alfred and Alfred, the owner and the local policeman, having coffee, Raki and native pistachio nuts. this pistachio nuts were not roasted and I didn't like their taste.
We talked about the country, the economy an about Israel. Many Shqiptar I talked too like Israel. They are pretty surprised to learn that Israel is even smaller than Shqiperia.

There are several reasons for their attitude towards Israel: Shqiptar are very tolerant to other people beliefs. From days of Christianity, there were Catholics and Orthodoxies there who lived in peace. The Turks made some people convert to Islam, so in the family were both Christians and Moslem (Skanderbeg's wife was Orthodox). The chieftains oath was based on cooperation between people of different religions and the free country had no formal religion (Moslem became majority only after the Turks reconcord the country).

Jews, like all the others enjoyed freedom of belief and were equal citizens. Then in world war II the Shqiptar defended the Jews from discrimination and no Jews in the country were deported of exterminated by the Nazis. Israel acknowledged this by giving the nation title of "Righteous among the Nations". People heard about that and appreciate it.

When I told people there is great similarity between this two ancient people from the 2nd millennium BC that still keep their culture through the ages, they agreed with enthusiasm.

Later I told Alfred, the policeman that the area must be very calm if he can seat most day at the Kafe, talk, lough and have coffee and raki. He misunderstood me at first and was offended, but than he got the point, laughed and started telling police action stories.

Later in the evening I had a very interesting conversation with a tourist guide from Tirana about his language, Semitic languages and his country and mine.

I also met there a lot of family relatives who came to visit from the near town Bajram Curri and a cousin from Tirana who was a highschool student and spoke good English.
This young boy and some other relatives are from Peje in Kosova, and they persuaded me I should go there.

Days 5-6 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I planed to cross that pass, but couldn't get a topographic map and a guide wanted too much (60 Euro) for my budget. (going back to Shkodra, a night there and going by road and ferry cost me less than half).

The pass can be dangerous, an experienced local guy slided to his death lately trying to cross an unstable scree.

Days - 3-4 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In the afternoon, when it was a bit cooler, I went to see Rozafa castle.
It's an impressing castle, about 50 m above town, with four rivers near by, closing the way of intruders from three sides and the steep hill and heavy walls give it a perfect defence.
Rozafa castle has a great importance in the Shqiptar (Albanian) history. It was the place Scanderbeg had the tribes chieftains take the oath that started the war to liberate Shqiperia from the Turks
at the 15th century. Shqiperia was independent for
Right from the beginning, when I entered Shqiperia, I noticed that the people are no doubt the most wonderful people in Europe, so kind, generous and willing to communicate and help, far more than other Balkan people who are very nice too.

Day 2 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Day 1 remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It was a very good time for a trip there.
It is out of peak season so there are less tourists in most places, the weather is cooler than in high summer and prices are lower and subject to bargain mre than in high season.

On the other hand, in high season there were flights to Korfu, Greece and to Ochrid, Mcedonia that make the trip To Albania shorter, easier and maybe cheaper.

Trip started and ended at Cilipi airport(Dubrovnik airport). remains copyright of the author sapan, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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