Berat & Durrës
It’s our last day in Albania, but we are off on a tour to visit the cities of Berat and Durrës.
The tour was actually supposed to be yesterday, but we agreed to change it as it would allow us to watch the football and relax a bit. Bledar picked us up at 8.30am, although I didn’t get the notification until 8.13am when we were on our way to breakfast. We had the quickest cup of coffee and snack, but made it just in time.
There were two other people on the tour, an Australian woman who lived in Switzerland and a guy from Singapore who seemed to have visited every country under the sun and was wearing bright orange socks with sandals and a headband. The guy from Singapore was really interesting, but the woman, I don’t even know where to start; I have never met anyone more annoyingly loud and rude in all my life! We weren’t going to let that ruin the tour though!
The first stop was Berat, but we did stop at a little cafe overlooking a lake so the guide could have an espresso and a stretch (he was obsessed with stretching as he had a sore neck and back). We took a walk over to the lake, and then I spotted a gaggle of geese; I was once chased by a goose when out jogging with a friend so I wasn’t going any further, geese are evil!
After a few hours of driving, and me feeling slightly travel sick, we made it to Berat, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city is split into three parts; the old upper city, the lower new city and the Communist industrial area. It is also split by the river Osum which runs through the city. The industrial area is pretty much abandoned now, but there are a few working oil pumps which we could see (and smell) as we drove past.
Bledar drove us up to the top of the mountain to the old fortified city first; it is filled with churches with frescoes literally every step of the way. We visited a couple of small churches including the Church of St Mary of Blachernae, dating from the 14th century. This was followed by a visit to the only church with its domes left, albeit in a state of disrepair, and currently going through some sort of restoration. Our final stop of the old city, was the castle which had its own cistern and was home to the Ottoman army who could defend the city from all sides; it even had its own mosque so they didn’t have to leave the fortress.
It was now time for lunch, so we started to walk down the hill towards the restaurant. As we walked, we stopped at a view point on the hill which had an “incredible” view of the lower city. If I hear this word one more time, I think I’m going to scream, everything was incredible according to our new found Aussie friend. Ahhhhhh!
The guide stopped us here so he could tell us about a legend from a long time ago; there were two men who both fell in love with the same woman, they decided to fight each other to see who would win her hand. One of the men had a sword, whereas the other had a mace. Unfortunately, both men died during the fight and God was angry that they had been so stupid; he turned one into Tomore, the large mountain with holes in it (from the mace), and the other into Springle, the mountain with slices in it (from the sword). God was also mad at the woman, and she was turned into the hill that we were now standing on; it was situated between the two mountains so she would have to look at both dead bodies for eternity. Legend also has it that the river is actually the tears from the woman; sounds like it could be true to me!
After visiting the view point of the lower city, we walked to a restaurant for lunch; it was call Antipatrea, as Berat is thought to have been the site of the ancient city Antipatreia. The guide suggested a few things from the menu so we went with it; we had stuffed peppers, rolled beef stuffed with ricotta (number 9 in the picture), spinach pie and a cooked yoghurt dish with baked lamb. The guide also ordered some okra, as well as some Rakija so we could try it. Everything was delicious, particularly the Rakija with the food!
By the end of the meal, we were stuffed, and walking on the cobbled streets seemed much more difficult. Thankfully, it was time to get back in the minibus and drive to the lower city where we were given 30 minutes to explore and take pictures. The view of the hill is what you see when you google images of Berat, it’s nicknamed “the city of 1000 windows” and lives up to its name. It is definitely very different to Tirana and worth a visit.
Our final stop of the tour was the city Durres, a port city and an important city for the Romans as this was a stop on the way to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). It took 1.5 hours to get there, so I had a nap in the van. The guide also put the music up, I’m sure it was so he didn’t have to listen to our Australian friend (though she tried her best).
As I mentioned, Durrës has a lot of Roman influence and part of the Roman Wall from the 5th Century is still standing. There is also an amphitheater, discovered only in 1975, which is still in the process of being uncovered. It seems crazy that something this size could have lain undiscovered for so long, but people actually built houses on top of it; it was only when a few trees started to sink, that they found some ruins and started to uncover the amphitheater piece by piece. To this day, only 30% has been uncovered, maybe if we return in a few years, we will see the whole thing.
This was our last main stop of the day, we did go into the Venetian Tower which was built much later during the period of rule by the Ottoman Empire, but it was just closing. Instead, the guide gave us 10 minutes to walk around the main sea front, before we had to get back in the minibus to Tirana. We took a few pictures including the statue for Albanian Patriots, who in April 939, keep the Italians out of the city for 5 hours with only small arms and three machine guns. The journey was only 45 minutes, and I seemed to have gotten over the travel sickness, just not the fear of Albanian driving especially coming into Tirana.
We arrived back at the hotel and decided we should try some Albanian Wine; there was a place called Shendevere, which we noticed the other day. It was a collaboration with Çobo Winery (pronounced Chobo) so we thought we would try it out. We tried two white wines followed by two red wines; the whites were very dry and “minerally” whereas the reds were quite full bodied with lots of tannins. I definitely preferred the red wine.
By this point, I was in need of some nibbles, so we wandered along to a place called Filari which had mixed platters of cheese and ham. We shared a platter and had a couple of drinks, as well as tiramisu for dessert. The whole area was full of locals enjoying the cooler evening, we lost track of time and only realised at 10.45 that we should probably head back to the hotel to pack as we were flying home the following day.
The tour was actually supposed to be yesterday, but we agreed to change it as it would allow us to watch the football and relax a bit. Bledar picked us up at 8.30am, although I didn’t get the notification until 8.13am when we were on our way to breakfast. We had the quickest cup of coffee and snack, but made it just in time.
There were two other people on the tour, an Australian woman who lived in Switzerland and a guy from Singapore who seemed to have visited every country under the sun and was wearing bright orange socks with sandals and a headband. The guy from Singapore was really interesting, but the woman, I don’t even know where to start; I have never met anyone more annoyingly loud and rude in all my life! We weren’t going to let that ruin the tour though!
The first stop was Berat, but we did stop at a little cafe overlooking a lake so the guide could have an espresso and a stretch (he was obsessed with stretching as he had a sore neck and back). We took a walk over to the lake, and then I spotted a gaggle of geese; I was once chased by a goose when out jogging with a friend so I wasn’t going any further, geese are evil!
After a few hours of driving, and me feeling slightly travel sick, we made it to Berat, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city is split into three parts; the old upper city, the lower new city and the Communist industrial area. It is also split by the river Osum which runs through the city. The industrial area is pretty much abandoned now, but there are a few working oil pumps which we could see (and smell) as we drove past.
After visiting the view point of the lower city, we walked to a restaurant for lunch; it was call Antipatrea, as Berat is thought to have been the site of the ancient city Antipatreia. The guide suggested a few things from the menu so we went with it; we had stuffed peppers, rolled beef stuffed with ricotta (number 9 in the picture), spinach pie and a cooked yoghurt dish with baked lamb. The guide also ordered some okra, as well as some Rakija so we could try it. Everything was delicious, particularly the Rakija with the food!
By the end of the meal, we were stuffed, and walking on the cobbled streets seemed much more difficult. Thankfully, it was time to get back in the minibus and drive to the lower city where we were given 30 minutes to explore and take pictures. The view of the hill is what you see when you google images of Berat, it’s nicknamed “the city of 1000 windows” and lives up to its name. It is definitely very different to Tirana and worth a visit.
As I mentioned, Durrës has a lot of Roman influence and part of the Roman Wall from the 5th Century is still standing. There is also an amphitheater, discovered only in 1975, which is still in the process of being uncovered. It seems crazy that something this size could have lain undiscovered for so long, but people actually built houses on top of it; it was only when a few trees started to sink, that they found some ruins and started to uncover the amphitheater piece by piece. To this day, only 30% has been uncovered, maybe if we return in a few years, we will see the whole thing.
We arrived back at the hotel and decided we should try some Albanian Wine; there was a place called Shendevere, which we noticed the other day. It was a collaboration with Çobo Winery (pronounced Chobo) so we thought we would try it out. We tried two white wines followed by two red wines; the whites were very dry and “minerally” whereas the reds were quite full bodied with lots of tannins. I definitely preferred the red wine.
By this point, I was in need of some nibbles, so we wandered along to a place called Filari which had mixed platters of cheese and ham. We shared a platter and had a couple of drinks, as well as tiramisu for dessert. The whole area was full of locals enjoying the cooler evening, we lost track of time and only realised at 10.45 that we should probably head back to the hotel to pack as we were flying home the following day.
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