Today is Tuesday, September 5, 2023. We docked at Sarande, Albania. We could not dock right by shore because the city is small and cannot host cruise ships in port. Thus, we used our lifeboats to ride from the ship to shore (tendered).
The weather today is actually humid but not hot because it is cloudy, even drizzly, for a brief period. We had an off-shore excursion called the Best of Albania, and we really did not know what to expect. However, this tour was labeled “strenuous.” How strenuous could it be, right? After all, we had already done the worst of them all in Athens, we thought, and Delphi. Everything else might be challenging but no way could it be as bad or worse. Well….?!?!?
We rode by bus for about an hour through Sarande and up a mountain. There are mountains in this part of Albania, even Albanian Alps in the background. At shore, there are several beaches permitting access to the Ionian Sea (still part of the Mediterranean Sea). Sarande is NOT a Mykonos, or a Dubrovnik, or a Trieste, even a Slovenia, by any stretch of the imagination. It became very clear to me that it is so important to travel outside of one’s own country, particularly in Europe. Immediately, the appearance of the individual country provides clues into its peoples’ history/experience. So many wars, earthquakes, fires, and so on, have happened on European soil, and even today, its people are affected and shaped by their past while keeping an eye on what the future could hold for them if only….Individual countries bear the wounds and scars of their pasts—and/or their glories. Other countries can learn so much about their own just by comprehending the possibilities based on these European countries’ pasts.
Albania is the third poorest country in Europe. Sarande is one of the most visited ports in Albania because of its location on the Ionian Sea, clear, blue under a Mediterranean blue sky, and sheltered by the coast and mountains so as to enjoy a mild/hot-in-the-summer Mediterranean climate. And…there is rubble and debris everywhere as if the city has been bombed or stricken by earthquake….There are buildings that look as if construction was begun, but there is no evidence of ongoing progress toward completion. I asked our tour guide about this and learned that about five years ago, people could build whatever they wished. Then, the government stepped in, demanding that people obtain permission to build more flats, higher up, and for every little thing. This not only takes time, but it also takes money. Albanians do not have a lot of money. So, construction has been “paused”. There is evidence of efforts to plant and landscape some parts of the city and its environs, but much of the landscape does not appear maintained nor manicured. Still, the mountains are lovely and mostly green despite the summer heat, there are green meadows with some sheep, corn fields, some vineyards, and lots of olive trees in one section outside Sarande (they were planted by the Communists before the 1990s).
Still, visiting Sarande, Ksamil, and so on today, brought us back to our schooling long ago when we studied ancient history and civilization. If Phoenicia, Troy, Iliad and the Odyssey, and Mesopotamia ring a bell, this is what we saw today! Our tour took us to Butrint Ecological Park, a UNESCO site, up into the mountain. This is where an entire city dating back to 400 B.C. Was discovered by Ugolini, an Italian archaeologist, in the 1920/1930s, and only a small percentage has been excavated to date. The majority of the ancient city has yet to be unearthed. So we walked in drizzly rain (brief) uphill and downhill, on gravel and stones, dirt pathways, stone steep steps, and rickety railings when present to view the ruins of the parts of this city that one can see. Amazingly, the skill and artistry of these ancient peoples is apparent. The earliest parts of the city were built without any mortar holding the concrete blocks together. The builders just put the blocks together in a way that blocks just fit. As the city grew and the Romans came in, the blocks for new construction were mortared together. As the city continued to expand during Byzantine times, mosaics were created to decorate the structures. There are public baths, a temple with a Baptistry (a place for people to kneel before a podium-like altar or place for the “priest” to stand and perform the service.. Today, two members of our tour group re-enacted a wedding, with the tour guide performing the ceremony), an area where young men were trained as soldiers, naked as in the ancient Olympics, a well, the defending surrounding wall, a gate that was thought to have been featured in the Iliad and the Odyssey and the story of Hellenas and Troy, some important peoples’ tombs, fountain for the nymph of the lake, the Lion Gate, and so on. The name of the Hellenic Gate is the same as for the gate in Troy. (It was not part of the original structure, it was an add-on later to lower the passage way to the Acropolis). The theater is still used once a year by international performers who know that the theater was constructed to have natural sound acoustics if the performer stayed in certain areas. Today, a wooden floor has been erected for this theater because the original is under water. We continued to the top of the Acropolis, climbing a steep ascent to the summit of the ancient city. There, we visited a castle that was not a ruin but a structure from the 1980s and that is now a museum. The original castle has not yet been found. A wedding photo session was taking place while we were there, which was fun to watch. The modern castle was built to look as if it might have been an ancient structure. There were locally created souvenirs available for purchase at this Acropolis. Of particular interest for me were the mosaic pieces created with egg shells and those painted In dot art form using a tooth puck. The mosaic designs attempted to recreate the mosaic decorations found in the Butrint ruins.
We rode from Butrint to Mesopotamia (means between two rivers) to visit the Monastery of St. Nicholas (built in the 11th century A.D.). The road on which our tour bus drove was not yet paved. Rather, it was either gravel, or dirt, or stone…. The tour guide told us that maybe when we return to Albania, the road will be paved for us. The roads are narrow, congested with pedestrian tourists and motorized vehicles, especially for one tour bus at a time, much less multiple buses. Driving requires some local driver skill. The monastery is an old orthodox concrete structure that has survived the communist regime only because the communists destroyed all religious institutions that were regularly used. This one was evidently viewed as something different and non-threatening to the communists in power. It is still in use somehow today. There were lit candles for prayer offerings inside. It appears to be an Orthodox Church, based on the icons therein, in Byzantine style. We met a seemingly stray dog on the grounds of this monastery. It was extremely friendly and appears to be well fed but a bit straggly. It just wanted the attention many were offering it and walked with some people toward the bus as if it wanted to go with them.
Finally, we rode to a beautiful restaurant in Sarande where several tour bus passengers were provided a glass of wine or water, cheese, and a phyllo dough “bread” as an accompaniment. The grounds were colorful and lovely. The area is known for eagles. We saw a nest high up at this restaurant but do not know if it is an eagle or osprey nest. There was a pretty cat wandering about that looked as if she might be pregnant…..
Some of the salient infobytes from today’s tour guide commentary follow:
—Visiting Sarande was restricted during communist rule.
—Albanians love Mercedes, and Mercedes are plentiful in Albania.
—If we see bad drivers, it’s Albania. “But…we are a beautiful country, with beautiful people,”. He said this several times throughout the day when citing some shortcomings and/or chaos….
—70 percent of Albanians are Orthodox. Eight percent are Catholic. However, all religions live harmoniously in Albania. The dictator in communist times destroyed most churches because he claimed people did not need a god. He said he was the god. Communism ended in Albania in 1991, so it is a new country that is quickly growing as a free country. The dictator died in 1985. New construction began in 2006 due to tourism.
—In the mountains, Queens Lake is noted for its mussel farms. The water is half salt and half fresh.
—In communism, people tried to escape by swimming, but such attempts meant almost certain death.
—The dictator was the worst person in history, the tour guide said. But his parents, who survived that era, say that life was better when the dictator was in power. Many grieved when he died because they did not know how they could survive.
—Ksamil is a town we drove through. It means six, for six miles from there to Corfu. There are no houses in Ksamil today. Only hotels have been built. This was a good year for tourism here. About a 33 percent increase this year.
—Butrint means wounded bull. Legend has it that a bull was being sacrificed for the gods, but it escaped, injured. It swam to this place and died where the city was built.
—Fourteen public baths existed in ancient Butrint, but only four have been found.
—The ruins of the church in Butrint have only seven columns. The eighth was not located. However, eight is a sacred number, so…. This church was built in 556 B.C.
—There was a big earthquake in the fourth century B.C. Separation of some concrete blocks in the city is evident.
—Hospitals are free in Albania.
—Average salary in Albania is about 450;Euros per month (about $450.00). Teachers get about 750 Euros per month. Albania is not expensive for tourists but is expensive for locals.
—Corruption among doctors required patients to pay a sort of tip in order for the doctor to take the patient seriously. The salary for doctors has recently been increased in hopes of eliminating the corruption.
—The Albanian alphabet has 36 letters, but several letters combine to make one sound. Albanians have no problem with learning new languages, therefore.
—Mesopotamia means between two rivers in Greek.
Tomorrow, we dock in Katokolon once again. John and I will explore the little town on our own.
Our Travels 