Sunday lunch

My first Sunday in Tirana, during this trip, was spent with some friends, who invited me to have lunch in the countryside.

They wanted me to meet a new member of their family: the American fiancé of their son. He has done his studies in Italy and will deliver his thesis in Jurisprudence at La Sapienza of Rome before this year’s end. She is a beautiful young lady from Pennsylvania, who recently completed her studies at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, and has visited Albania previously. Last year she was also involved in an American archeological project that continues its diggings every summer at the Unesco site of Butrint, in southern Albania. This, however, is not the place where they met originally, which, if I not mistaken, was in Rome.

My friends decided to try a new place, this time, but always in the suburbs of the city, about 15km outside of Tirana, on the road to the city of Elbasan, more specifically in the zone of Petrelë, where there is a famous old castle offering spectacular views of the Erzen valley, olive groves, and the surrounding hills and mountains.

I visited this castle a few times before as per my previous entries into this blog. It dates back to the 5th century AD, and, as its name indicates, it was built on a rock. The legend goes that is was a favorite resting place of Albania’s national hero, Skanderbeg, and here also lived his sister. Now its tower houses a café and restaurant.

This, however, was not our destination, which was, instead, in the valley, and it looked grandiose. It is called ‘Iluminatum – Teatri i Dodonës’, and apparently takes its name, and part of its architectural design, from another archeological site further south near Jannina, Greece, where the old shrine of Dodona in old Epirus was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess. The food was excellent and the time flew in very pleasant conversation. Following are some of the pictures taken, while the one of our waiter was borrowed by me from their website. He is the same guy that served us.

We dined in the cool indoors to avoid the hot sun, but many were eating outside in a large area that surrounds the back of this complex and borders a river. By 6:30pm I was delivered back to my apartment, where I took a snooze due to my still felt jetlag….