Berati - a tourist experience in Albania

What a pleasing article today in San Francisco Chronicle about an eco-tourism experience in the ancient town of Berat, in south-east Albania. It brought back exceptionally remarkable memories when I also visited this place one Sunday, more than a decade ago.

The hired taxi then, never made it to the top of the old citadel; it broke down just at the approach of the uphill road, where, instead, only a couple of pedestrians and their horses were navigating the tricky street, occasionally sliding down on its very shiny,white cobblestones...but never loosing their balance!

I, instead, at the suggestion of the Albanian friends that were with me, decided to climb to the top, via the hilly and wooded areas with no specific path, by grasping some branches here and there for support. On the way up we came across only one lonely shepherd, perched up on a stone, watching his grazing sheep, but, as we approached the high wall of the old citadel, we heard lively music sounds. When we entered the compound through an ancient, small entry way, we found, to our great surprise, that a wedding celebration was ongoing at the local restaurant. Needless to say that, as per Albanian tradition, we were immediately invited to join the large crowd and partake into the joyful event.

Somehow the taxi driver, meantime, got the help he needed to fix his old car, and was able to pick us up at the end of our exploration, driving us out of, and down from the citadel through the very large arched, stone opening passage, on the way back to Tirana that same night.

This return trip, however, was also marred by another breakdown of the car just a few miles from the capital. While one of my friends stayed with the driver to help him out (and made it back to Tirana at 1:30am the next morning), the rest of us had no problem getting a free ride from someone else, thus bringing to a safe end a really interesting journey. The road was extremely busy with vehicular and animal traffic in both directions in the pitch dark, moonless night, but in those days such happenings were considered normal; only old cars around, with no mechanics or spare parts available along the roads, but with everyone ready to help in whatever they could do! It's amazing how such spirit and eagerness diminish as wealth and prosperity sets in!!

Memorial Day weekend

Three glorious days of spectacular weather!


East River and the Triborough bridge in upper Manhattan


the sunny promenade along the East River


children at play


an occasional barge cargo transport


and a few pleasure boats strolling by....


not alone, but undisturbed, watching the pedestrian and river traffic


some flowery spots in Carl Shultz Park along the East river


sunbathers and dog patches hidden in the nooks and crannies of the park


warning sign for cyclists


all sorts of activities ongoing up here...
(while underneath the vehicular highway traffic never ends!)


the shady part of the promenade


Gracie Mansion: NYC mayoral residence

In the idyllic surroundings of the long Carl Shultz Park along the East river is the above old mansion, maintained by the city as the official residence for its mayors. Our current Mayor Bloomberg, however, prefers to reside in his own townhouse not to far away from here, and uses Gracie Mansion only for official receptions.

Springtime in my neighborhood

and some heavy traffic too.......but not chaotic like in Tirana!



One day will have to take the tramway to Roosevelt Island to take some shots from above.

Home chores

I've been a busy bee since my return home a few days ago since the chores seem to never end!

It took almost 2 days to sort out the accumulated snail mail, shred the labels of the huge, unsolicited junk stuff, and magazines, while taking care of the apartment clean up, the laundry, the food shopping, answering the voice mail, updating my appointment calendar, and.....moderating the jet lag and the osteo-arthritic pains that do plague me when in NY (strangely, I do feel much better physically in Tirana, where, apparently the barometric pressure is kinder to my joints!)

Even my many indoor plants require some attention; they survive beautifully while I'm gone, without anyone's intervention, but they do need a cleanup job and a good shower once I get back.



The weather in NY is still cold, and, unusually, foggy. In fact as I look out of my kitchen windows, I cannot see the building in the next block. In the streets the blooming trees are shedding quickly their flowering buds due to the strong air currents that in NY never stop, but are particularly powerful these days.

I'm grateful that we still have the heating facility turned on in the house, and by next week we'll have to take care of the a/c units' annual maintenance and change of filters, which, unfortunately, requires moving around some furniture.


On the outside of my large windows the trees in our garden have put on their brand new leaves, while on the inside I enjoy some fresh, friendly, welcoming flowers!