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!!