We had to take a detour, as the road from Gjiro to Berat wasn't in the best possible condition. At a crossroads, Arjon suggested we could go to Tirana and other places instead of my original plan Berat, but I stubbornly wanted to see Berat. No one tell Mom! She later on told me she would want to go see Tirana, but in my defense, I didn't know it then. Had she known we were that close to going to Tirana instead, I would've been voted down by the majority 😯
The drive was pretty long, but there was a surprisingly lot to see. During our driving along the countryside, Mom reminded how my brother, when asked, had wished for a donkey as a souvenir from Albania. There were lots of donkeys, and we even entered into negotiations with this feller:
Arjon said that we could actually have him for free, and have the milk it was carrying as a bonus! Eventually we figured the logistics would be a nightmare, and gave up (Sorry Juhi - you can thank me later, Domi!). After thinking about it though, as Arjon was negotiating in Albanian, I had no clue what the terms were. He could've been bartering Mom for the donkey for all I knew!
Donkeys, mules and horses are still used to work the land, and as load carriers. We sometimes saw donkeys carrying meters-high hay bales on their backs, let alone merchandise. It was fascinating to see Albanians in their every day tasks, you can't really see that in tourist centers. Arjon was sure to show us all the possible donkeys, sheep, horses and bunkers there were, to such degree we were starting to think he had a weird fixation about them bunkers. It was only later that I figured out he kept our attention away from all the roadkill we encountered, and I totally fell for it!
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| Bunker in Saranda |
There were lots of bunkers though, it seemed that every 100 meter there was a bunker of some sort though. The former communist leader had become rather paranoid towards the end of his reign and commanded these bunkers to be built in case of an invasion. Little did he know that it would be his own people who'd had enough of his antics that finally disposed of him.
There were also a lot of wedding processions going on. Arjon told us that Albanian weddings usually start on Wednesdays and carry on each day with different formalities, until the final stage of celebrations and customs on Sunday. Phew, that's a lot of work! I wonder how many couples just elope? Hmm.. should've asked Arjon that.
On our way to Berat, we first stopped at the Cobo Winery, which is the biggest and most popular in Albania. The granddaughter of the founder the family-owned winery took us to a tour of the facilities. They were getting ready to start processing this year's harvest, which according to one of the owners was going to be poorer than previous ones, due to the heat and drought experienced in the region.
After the short tour, we were taken to the restaurant for a tasting. For 14 euros, which was the cheapest option, you got to taste 2 of their whites, 2 reds and finally raki made with green walnuts, accompanied with all bread, feta cheese, olives etc. you could eat. One of the owners eventually took over from his niece who had first showed us around, as apparently she was wasting perfectly good wine when she didn't coat the glasses with wine correctly in the first place. I was a little miffed at this; he could've berated her away from prying eyes, but I guess that's not a consideration.
Normally, I don't like dry white wine, let alone Brute sparkling, and I much prefer reds anyway, but their white and the sparkly one were pretty good. However, the reds were a little disappointing to me, and the raki... I really wish I could've learned to like raki, but... I didn't. The glasses of wine we were offered weren't tiny ones, and eventually we noticed the effects. Luckily Arjon was looking out for us, and tempered the process. There might have been a little self preservation involved; carrying us both out of there wasn't an inviting option, I'm sure. On a side note: Arjon didn't have any of the wine because he was our guide and driver; just so you know you can trust him.
The older owner also came to show us a video of their upcoming Harvest Fest, which looked like great fun, and we were sorry we weren't going to be around for that. But if you happen to be around there (2018 the date was September 12th), it looked worth going to.
Our drive to Berat, which wasn't too far away, was rather quiet, as I tried to concentrate on getting my head straight after the wine tasting. Not that us Finns are a talkative bunch anyway... First we took a tour of the castle on top of the hill, with magnificent views over the city.
The castle is actually still used to this day, as housing, and many restaurants, hotels, mosques and churches are also located within its walls.
The castles like this and in Gjirokaster aren't actually just one structure, but consist of many outer buildings and layers, where people in the old times would carry out their lives and trades just as in any other town.
Berat, as many other cities in the region was fought over by many different nations; Greeks, Romans, Byzantians, Slavs, Ottomans, and that is visible throughout the city. However, it's mainly known for its Ottoman architecture, as Gjirokaster. It also shares similar names with Gjirokaster, as the 'White City' the 'City of Thousand Windows'.
After the tour of the city, and late lunch, we were relaxing in the hotel, I started feeling nauseous and got a horrible headache that even a 500 mg ibuprofen didn't conquer. I don't know how I ever survived without google, but according to it, I likely suffered from a sunstroke. It was a very hot day, it should've been around 28 degrees, according to a weather forecast. We actually had a discussion with Arjon about this. He claimed it was at least 33, whereas I stuck to my guns (when don't I?) and claimed it's got to be 28 as forecast. Well, turns out it was 35 that day, and I owe Arjon a drink 😕 I can admit when I'm wrong, and I was surely feeling it.
I couldn't spend all evening cooped up in a hotel, so I dragged myself out of the bed and we headed to the Promenade by the river. It was rather busy, with families and children playing around, teenagers going to meet their friends and people just hanging out. Eventually I started feeling better, although the headache was still my constant companion.
We also stopped by at a local convenience store, and the little boy who was helping his granddad with English customers asked us where we were from. The excitement in his voice when he told his granddad that we were from Finland! I don't suppose many Finnish people travel to Albania... yet.
Before leaving the next day, I had time to take a little stroll through parts of the Old Town where we were staying. I wish I had more time for it, but the sun got the better of me the day before :(
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