All About Albania
Ever heard of Albania? I think all I knew was that Voldemort found a haven in the forests there when he went into hiding. It seemed frightening and unwelcoming.
We went to Albania from Corfu - it’s only about 15 nautical miles. We cruised to the port city of Sarande on a clear, calm Monday morning. Our clearance into the country went smoothly with the help of an agent and we tied up at the Customs Dock. This, as it turned out, was where we were expected to berth during our stay in Sarande. It was conveniently located right in the heart of the port, though to get from Meraki into the town required walking through the customs building, through security and past the officials before exiting onto the street. We had to go through all of that in reverse to get home. It took a little getting used to.
The first afternoon we walked around the town to get the lay of the land, found a pizza place (tuna and onion - YUM!) on the waterfront for lunch and visited a few small souvenir shops to look at the wares. The next day we rented a car so that we could explore more of the countryside.
Mosaics are everywhere!
Our first stop was the National Park of Butrint just 16 kilometers from Sarande. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is comprised of vast historical monuments in a forested landscape surrounded by a wetlands. It is hugely diverse in flora and fauna; over 800 kinds of plants (many endangered and some considered quite rare), 246 species of birds, 105 species of fish and 39 species of animals. The history of this ancient port city is also varied. It dates back to the 8th century BC and archeological findings indicate Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman cultures.
The Republic of Venice was an economic powerhouse from the 11th to the 18th centuries, dominating Mediterranean trade through naval might. The Venetians purchased Corfu along with Butrint to control shipping and trade along the Adriatic coast. Aside from its strategic importance, the enclave at Butrint provided fish, timber, olives and pasture for the horses of the Venetian regiment on Corfu. From the 15th century, the Venetians were in a state of almost perpetual conflict with the burgeoning Ottoman Empire. Butrint was repeatedly assaulted by the Ottomans, with an eye on Corfu as the main prize. Occupation of the city passed back and forth. As we hiked along the waterways, through the ruins and deep into the woods we pondered how this expansive, low lying settlement would have been defended.
After several hours exploring Butrint we drove to a well-known attraction called the Blue Eye. This is a natural spring with extremely light blue water that is purported to be more than 164 feet (50 meters) deep. We followed a poorly marked path for about 4km down to a creek bed. Further along, we then found a hand painted sign indicating the direction of the pool. It is a beautiful area, the vegetation is a mix of common heather, myrtle, and narrow-leaved mock privet. Apparently wolves, jackals, deer, fox and wild cats live in this forest. Unfortunately, after hunting through overgrown, dense jungle, and not finding any pool similar to what we’d seen in the photographs, we reluctantly turned around. It was now mid-afternoon and we were hungry, hot, sweaty and very sticky.
We picked up a sandwich for the road and raced ahead of an oncoming rain storm through a giant fertile valley. We saw vast fields of tobacco and corn as well as tracts of figs and olives. Further inland we arrived at the Castle of Gjirokastra. This is a huge fortress that sits on the slopes of Gjere mountains. Like a giant stone ship it extends across the 1100-foot-high hillside on which it was built during the 4th century. It is a monument to nearly two thousand years of Albanian history, and is nowadays one of the most visited places in the country. During the First and Second World Wars, the castle was transformed into a shelter for the city’s inhabitants against airstrikes. At the entrance of the castle, you find a large array of cannonballs, as well as an assortment of weapons, collected from antiquity up through 1945, all used as resistance to Western occupation. Over the course of World War II Gjirokastra changed hands several times: in December 1940 the Greek army took the city from the Italians, four months later in April 1941 the Greeks surrendered to the Germans who returned the city to Italian command, then in 1943 it was retaken by the German forces and eventually returned to Albania in 1944.
After touring the castle we were quite worn out and sat down in a shady cafe below the fortress for some iced tea before heading back to Sarande. We had hiked over 9 miles (in the blazing sun!) and according to Tom’s watch had climbed 57 flights of stairs.
The Albanians were victims to major historical events from the very beginning. First were the Romans, who may have coined the present name, Albania, meaning white mountains. Then the Slavic invasions came that flooded the Balkan peninsula from 5th to 6th centuries. Next the Ottomans conquered the Balkans and after the Turks, Communism took over. Between 1944 and 1985, the small nation was ruled by a strange, sociopath and, frankly, a completely mad dictator by the name of Enver Hoxha, who was born in Gjirikastra. During his 41-year rule, his government rebuilt the country which was left in ruins after World War II, built Albania's first railway line, raised the adult literacy rate from 5–15% to more than 90%, wiped out epidemics, electrified the country and lead Albania towards agricultural independence. At the same time however, Hoxha led Albania with absolute brutality. It was a total police state. His government closed the country to all of the outside world, outlawed traveling abroad as well as all private proprietorship.
Leaving Sarande in the morning we cruised north. We had planned on dropping the hook in a small inlet on the north side of a point which would have provided us with protection from any possible swell coming from the south. There was hardly any wind (8-10 knots) so that was of no concern. Boy were we wrong! As we rounded the mountainous point and entered the little cove, we were blasted by high winds suddenly roaring down the mountainsides (known as katabatic winds) and rushing out across the water at 28-30 knots! Whoa - that was unexpected! (Lesson #2051). This was definitely not going to work for an overnight. We continued on and an hour and a half later anchored in the back of a large open bay near a public beach, took a quick swim and settled in.
Layered undulating rock mountains plunging down into a straight shoreline.
There looked to be bad weather on the way so we raced into the port of Durres hoping to beat the rain. There we were greeted by 4 dock hands (that was a first) who helped us (through mime) tie up just as the sky opened up. We were at what is called “a marina” inside the large commercial port. It was another strange place to approach the city from, having to walk through a huge industrial area as well as port security before finding the retail district. We ended up spending longer than we’d anticipated here as the heavy rains and high winds persisted. We did get a lot of boat chores done on those days, though!
While we were there we chatted with an Albanian man who grew up during the communist rule. He remembers as a child when people were not allowed to own cars or property. Though the country was completely locked down, some people were able to secretly tune into Italian broadcasts for news of the outside world. He explained that most Albanians managed to make a meager living - enough to feed their families, but after the Iron Curtain fell there began a mass exodus out of the country. Today of the more than 4.5 million people holding Albanian citizenship, only 2.7 million actually live in Albania. The current Republic is still struggling to emerge from one of the continent’s harshest communist regimes.
Hoxha's legacy also included the construction of over 173,000 one-man concrete bunkers to act as look-outs and gun placements. The bunkers were built strong and mobile, with the intention that they could be easily placed by a crane or a helicopter into a hole. The types of bunkers vary from machine gun pillboxes, beach bunkers, to underground naval facilities and underground bunkers. During our brief explorations I think we counted approximately 50 bunkers (we lost count). They are everywhere - on the street corners, beside shops, and in front of peoples homes.
Hoxha left Albania with a legacy of isolation and fear of the outside world. Despite some economic progress which Albania made during Hoxha's rule, when he died in 1985, Albania was officially the third poorest country in the world. Today the backbone of the Albanian economy is agriculture. While its share in gross domestic product has dropped to just under 20 per cent, it accounts for more than 40 percent of all jobs. Most people in the sector are small-holders who are engaged in subsistence farming.
The change from communism to capitalism (1991) presented many challenges and the country is still recovering. While it is greatly improving, it still struggles with an unstable infrastructure, poverty and homelessness, and some human rights issues. There is a democratically elected government in place and the new administration is making progress towards creating a healthier more welcoming country. The nation became more aligned towards the West since the end of communism and it joined NATO in 2009. Now that it has been opened up to the world and is finally beginning accession talks with the EU, we will likely hear a lot more about this developing country.
We were hailed by the Albania Coast Guard as we were leaving. They were quite friendly - just scoping us out.
We left Albania after just a week. In part because the shoreline is very unforgiving for mariners. The coast is almost completely straight - there are very few bays to duck into for protection. Also because the few “marinas” are located in busy ports with large ships and numerous ferries. Not being ‘city people’ these are not our favorite kinds of places. And, if I’m really being honest, upon leaving we realized that we were both feeling somewhat strung out. We had not been communicating very well and there had been a lot of friction between us while we were there.
In hindsight, I think places have their own energy, perhaps they absorb what the inhabitants are putting out, and that which has been projected over time. You know that intangible feeling you get when you enter a new place? You might feel instantly comfortable, or conversely feel an uneasy sense of something creepy. You aren’t always able to put your finger on what you feel or even why. Albania was like that for me. I think I felt a sense of uncertainty and slight discomfort - which I believe comes from a lack of understanding. I hope someday to return to Albania and to explore via land. I would like to hike through the rocky peaks and deep canyons, visit the waterfalls and clear mountain rivers. There is so much to discover and I have much to learn.
Note:
Photo captions will not appear if viewing on a cell phone.