During my cousin’s visit to Tirana we enjoyed wonderful
weather and on Saturday, thanks to my local friends, by midday we left the city
and traveled northward for a mini tour of areas we had not yet seen. A traditional first stop for coffee was just outside of the capital.
Then we went through the city of Lezhë, which is
known for the burial place of Albania’s
National hero, Skanderbeg, but we did not stop here.
We chose to go further north and in the middle of the hilly country
side, for our second stop, we found a pretty area with a large restaurant-bar facility and lots of
space for sports and outdoor activities for children, such as a soccer field
and horse back riding.
Since we wanted
to have the main meal of the day upon returning home in an “agrotourism” spot
which I love, here we had a snack consisting of small toasts with local cheese and
a large dish of ‘focaccia’. Every corner
of Albania has its own type of cheese, and it is delicious everywhere, as well
as the freshly baked, thin crusty focaccia drizzled with olive oil and rosemary
leaves.
After reaching the large northern city of Skoder we
continued inland eastward, and began to just ride in the countryside toward the
mountain areas. We stayed on paved roads, which had not much vehicular traffic.
We encountered from time to time shepherds with their herd of sheep and goats and
came across a trio of motorcyclists (touring from the Czech Republic) at a
small rest stop located near a local church and quiet village.
As we continued our travel eastward we climbed to higher elevations
(just up to 1010 meters) and enjoyed the new views that would face us at each turn
as we were going up and up, around the mountain sides.
My ears would pop from time to time, but it was
so pleasant to be in the middle of nowhere, breathing fresh and clean air and
just feasting our eyes on gorgeous nature!
On the way back we made a brief stop
at the junction of the 2 north rivers (the Buna and the Drin) just outside the
city of Skoder. The view here is from a strategically placed restaurant
and bar in a complex huge construction made of stone, in the style of a castle,
built on many different levels by its owner and furnished with antique irons,
anchors, terracotta amphorae, and beautifully landscaped with flowers and
trees.
After riding further southward, we had a leisure time dining at the restaurant
where we had a reservation for 5pm, but we arrived late. This place is located
at about 1 ½ hr outside of Tirana, and it is also in the middle of a valley. It
is a very large restaurant, whose owner is a famous chef, well known even
outside Albania, and reservations are a must.
The main specialties here are the meats: very tasty bits of sheep of a skewer, roasted
pig and lamb that melts in the mouth, which are preceded by an exotic cocktail (this
time was from roses), and interesting mixed types of appetizers that include
small portions of cheeses to be tasted with different sauces and spices.
The
desserts are also varied and impossible to resist. The local wine is one of the best in the
country, and the water served here is not from a bottle, as in town, but comes,
fresh and delicious, directly from the mountain.
We returned home at about 10pm, a bit tired, but totally
relaxed and glad to have had such a gorgeous day with friends and nature.
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