drita's chronicle: Travel southward

Early Saturday morning my trio and I were picked up by one of my associates, who owns a beautiful and powerful BMW, and drove toward the beaches of Durres. There we met the other couple I know, who also has a very comfortable Nissan car, purchased in the U.S. We came from different directions, but met for a coffee stop that is 'the norm here' before embarking on a longer trip.

The sun was shining, the weather perfect, the fresh air blowing in from the Adriatic rinvigorating, and everyone was in a good mood and looking forward to spending the weekend out of the city.

With map in hand that I brought along, my guests could follow our ride southward. Our final destination was Saranda and the Albanian riviera, close to Greece, by following the road that runs along Albania's coastline.

We traveled through the cities of Kavajë, Lushnjë, Fier, and reached the 2nd largest port city of Vlore that offers quite a sight with its large gulf, the Karaburun peninsula on one side, and island of Sazan in front.

Past Orikum, we deviated inland to have a late lunch in the mountainous, national park of Llogara. This was the place to taste the traditional roasted lamb. Everyone was famished and devoured more than one plate of extremely fresh, crunchy salads, to which we added the typical, yummy yogurt dressing. Here we also tasted the local, highly rich, creamy goat yogurt that is served with the lamb dish. It's impossibile to make a comparison of these local yogurts with the commercial ones sold around the world.

On the peaks of these rugged mountains the wind blows fiercely. It was difficult to stand up to take pictures without holding on to each other.

From above the view of the beach of Dhermi, on the Ionian sea, is breathtaking.

I had seen it previously from the park of Llogara, but this time I also enjoyed very much walking on it, with its broken down bunkers, and fine sand covered by loads of small white stones.

From here we drove upward again and had a coffee break in a lovely bar overlooking this long beach area.

Afterwards we reached the town of Himarë, followed by the gulf of Porto Palermo, a fishing area with an old fortification.

Taken a couple of pictures pictures, we proceeded southward toward Saranda, which we reached in late afternoon.

After an hour rest at the Hotel Brilant where my associates had made reservations, we took another car ride in an area of Ksamil, which took us practically to the Greek border. Its was too late to visit the archaeological ruins of Butrint. Here we found the roads unpaved and rough, but under reconstruction. They'll probably be completed before the summer rush of tourists.

By 9pm we were back at the hotel and had dinner at a nearby restaurant, which was quite crowded. Saturday night was the date for the European Soccer Champion match between the Italian and Spanish teams. It was watched by everyone throughout Europe on TV.

This was the place to have excellent fish, and, between outbursts of joy and yells from the soccer fans, we all enjoyed another very good meal and local wines.

After dinner we took a stroll on the promenade along the water, where bars and discos were quite lively and busy. This area during the summer gets jam-packed with tourists that come from Greece, and all the way from up north, especially Kosovars, who now flock into Albania to enjoy the seashores which they lack.

Unfortunately, Saranda is overbuilt and constructions do not follow any rule or urbanistic plan. The result is an overcrowded place that is ruining the beauty of this entire area.