Albania - Shiroka and Valbona

We left Thethi and returned down that long, windy, narrow road. We had to return to Shkodra, where we rented our car from, so they could fix the windscreen wiper properly. As we drove into Shkodra (also called Shkoder) we passed an area of true slums. We never found out the story behind this area.

It only took 10 minutes to fix the wiper. The guy wasn't in the least bit interested in fixing the water that kept leaking over my feet though!

Seeing we were returning to Shkodra, we decided to stay the night in a village called Shiroka which is only a short distance away on Shkodra Lake. It was a gorgeous day and the views over the lake from our room were lovely.

I love this old door nearby.

The owner of our hotel told us about an abandoned hotel built out on the lake so we thought we'd check it out. It was fenced off and we had to pay to get in! Much to our amusement, the entry fee was only one euro and the guy told us that they were collecting money to try to finish building the hotel. It was hard not to laugh - firstly, the hotel was way beyond being capable of being finished and secondly, the occasional one euro was not going to go far! Regardless, it turned out to be the best one euro we've spent.

The unfinished hotel was built on a tiny island and a concrete bridge led out to it.

We don't know how old the building was but it was clearly designed to be very grand.

A spiral staircase wound over empty space. Note that there was no safety consideration in this little one euro venture whatsoever. We could have tripped over reo sticking up out of the concrete and fallen a couple of floors. We could have lost our balance on the stairs and fallen. It was an OH&S nightmare but it was great fun!

It was just on sunset and we had stunning views over the lake.

Circles and ovals were cut into the roof of one section.

In our room was an aerial photo of the place taken by a drone. What a magical photo!

We wandered back along the foreshore and found a restaurant with tables on the wide footpath. We had a lovely dinner and saw a gorgeous sunset.

As we ate we were entertained by the pieces of steel rod sticking up out of the road in a couple of places near us. There were no warning signs and they caused traffic chaos when people suddenly saw them and stopped. Someone had done the typical Albanian thing and parked outside a shop on the road so he was blocking the traffic one way and the steel rods were blocking it the other way. Someone ran into the back of another car and there was a minor traffic jam.

It started raining overnight so breakfast at our hotel was on a balcony under cover. Breakfast is usually included in hotels and guesthouses in Albania. The food here was amazing although plenty of bees thought it was great too. The two pastries are different sorts of "byrek" (called burek or borek in nearby countries), filo pastry pies that are a staple here. We eat way too many of them as they're often the only lunch we can eat on the run. I desperately miss salad rolls sometimes!

We were so disappointed it was raining as we had a special day planned. Our next destination was back up in the mountains at a place called Valbona. Valbona is only a six or eight hour walk from Thethi, where we had just come from, but you can't drive directly between the two places. It's a six-hour drive to loop waaay around to it. A great alternative though is to catch a ferry up the Komani Lake. This lake was formed when the river was dammed for a hydro plant. It's supposed to be one of the world's greatest boat trips.

We arrived at the ferry waiting spot and had a great time chatting to the guard there. He wore a gun and had full military gear on but he was absolutely wonderful. 

Finally we got on the large ferry and were delighted to find that there were only three cars and about 20 people on it. The bad weather had some advantages!

We went up to the top deck where there were lovely tables and chairs under cover. The ferry slowly started and the movement caused all the rain that was sitting on the roof to pour down. An Albanian flag hung at the front of the boat and the water poured over it. The flapping flag then flicked the water all over the tables, chairs and people nearby. Most of the seats were now too wet to sit on!

There was a lull in the rain and I got one clear shot. And that was the only one for the entire two-hour trip.

Rainy views.

The sides of the gorge got steeper. It was pretty amazing despite the weather!

We had heard about the rubbish in the lake before we got there. The rubbish in the water wasn't too bad but this village threw all their rubbish near the water's edge. Guess where that's all going when the river rises next time?

More misty views.

We sat outside most of the trip and despite rugging up, we got quite cold.

It was such a shame about the weather. On a warm day it would have been wonderful to sit up here and soak up the views.

We arrived at our destination but we had to wait 10 minutes while they leveled out the area where they lower the ramp. The Beast would have got across it no problem but I'm not sure the minibus ahead of us would have.

We wound our way up the Valbona valley in the pouring rain and found our accommodation, a family-run guesthouse perched under towering mountains.. Thunder crashed and echoed around the hills directly next to us. I filmed it but you can't hear the thunder above the rain!

We headed out to a nearby restaurant for dinner. It was so good that we ended up eating a meal at this restaurant every day! This woman was making byrek. She was layering filo pastry into a large round tin then spooning a cheese and yoghourt mix between the layers. It was then cooked in the wood oven behind her. No wonder we can't lose any weight when we travel!

Next to her were tomatoes from the garden. The tomato sauce that I later had on my meatballs was truly wonderful!

Thankfully, the skies cleared the next day and we could walk again. Our first walk took us 600 metres up a hill. I kept noticing these tiny plants and the penny finally dropped what they were. They were wild strawberries! The only time I've tasted wild strawberries was in nearby Georgia a couple of years ago and the tiny pea-sized berries were one of the most amazing things I've ever tasted. Sadly, even though we saw thousands of plants, there were no strawberries to be found anywhere.

We weren't that far from Thethi as the crow flies and the mountains were just as spectacular.

The forests were stunning again.

The viewpoint was worth the climb.

There were some tricky bits coming down.

We soon heard a noise ahead of us and this horse appeared! It was carrying two milk cans. We later learned that they were probably going up to a higher village to collect butter or cheese. It was a long climb up!

A second horse had a pack saddle on so I assume it would also be bringing something large down.

We started to get a few autumn colours. I would love to be here in a few weeks! Strangely, the bracken here turns shades of brown and gold, unlike our bracken at home which stays green.

Horses and mountains in the village of Cerem.

We finished back in the village of Valbona. A large modern hotel sat at the head of the village looking a little out of place near all the guesthouses, although we later found a few more hotels like this further up the valley. As we approached, we could see something. Surely it couldn't be. Yes - it was a tourist train! This seemed such the wrong place for one!

Back in the communist days, when the government thought everyone was a spy and that the country would get invaded at any moment, they built thousands of bunkers around the country. We would often be in the middle of nowhere and there would be a bunker. Strangely, this one sat right beside the flash hotel!

The next day saw us slogging up hills again, only this one wasn't quite so steep.

We kept seeing different sorts of mushrooms and toadstools. Cool!

I nearly stood on this tiny snake! At least I think it was a snake. It was like a cross between a snake and a huge worm.

There is a long walking trail called the Peaks of the Balkans that runs through Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. Some of our walks took us on sections of the trail. We found this hut for hikers to sleep in. It was still warm inside from a fire.

We started to see some real autumn colours.

The last part of the hike was on a dirt road. With views like this, we don't mind what we walk on!

Abandoned houses, rugged fences and amazing mountains.

Next to the main road was this gorgeous old mill.

Our last quick hike took us in the direction of the Valbona Pass but we didn't have time to go far as we were moving on. Again, the views were amazing.

Ruins against the rising sun.

Check out the size of this puffball!

We passed a truck coming down the rough track. It had a crate of chickens on top and cows in the back. It wasn't a stock truck, just a normal truck. At first we were confused about where it came from and why it had all those animals on board but then John realised it would have been a family coming down from the village above us for the cooler months. Families often move up to the "stans," summer pastures, for the warmer months. It's autumn now and it must be time to return to their lower village, cows, chickens and all.

Many houses still had old wooden shingled rooves.

Our guesthouse.

Our guesthouse was really interesting. When we first arrived we were a bit disappointed. There was no heating (we were still cold and wet from the ferry), the drains smelled bad and the all-wooden building carried noise easily. The place was run by a family. Mum and dad were probably our age or a bit younger. The sole son was our main contact. He spoke reasonable English but he was too young to realise that we could see right through him when he tried to impress us. ("I will cook amazing food for you!" when his mother was clearly the cook. "We only buy the very best ingredients for our guests" etc). The ground floor was both the dining area for the guests plus it was the living area for the family. They all spoke at full volume. It was like they were having an argument when they were really just discussing something. Plus, whenever they called someone on the phone, they did it on speaker. Why do people do this? The second floor was where the family lived and the third and tiny fourth floors were for the guests.

However, by the time we left, we felt grateful to have stayed there. The 18-year old middle daughter, Anduela, spoke good English and we learned a lot from her. On our second night we had dinner there and it was like we were eating at our grandma's house. Again, course after course came out. There were only nine courses this time but we had learned by now to only eat what we could manage. Amazingly the last course was two large slices of cake - each! No, we didn't even taste them.

Anduela put on some hiking videos for us showing the Valbona to Thethi hike plus others. Soon most of the family were watching too - dad and Andoela snuggled on the couch, mum was doing something at the table and son and the other daughter flitted in and out. It was like we were part of the family. It was a great experience.

A last photo of Anduela as we were leaving. She was so tiny that John and I had to bob down for the photo!

Thanks for following along!
Heather and John