Besieging Berat

Due to this Bloggers general malaise and "go with the flow" attitude the rest of the week was almost stuffed up. Car pickup back at the airport was due at 10:00 am. We left the city just before then after a bit of a sleep in, leisurely brecky, then pack up and we were pleasantly surprised when the hotel offered their courtesy bus to the airport at a price cheaper than a taxi. This is where it fell apart somewhat as we trusted the driver to deliver us to the correct location. Little did we know the hire car company name was different signage to that in the form and thus confusion reigned. Long story short, we needless trekked in the heat to unessassary locations to go back to where we started to be told they only hold the car for an hour. We were 90 minutes late. Even though we'd paid (fully + full insurance months in advance) they'd given the car to someone else. So we got the 2nd last piece of junk in the lot and off we went. It was made in Kosovo (so we were told by the filler in the petrol station) apparently.  Has done over 170,000kms and the auto gearbox changes are slower than one could do double clutching an old Bedford fire engine. The waft of oil coming in when were lost in the ancient agricultural fields of the Albanian heartlands is a bit disconcerning. As is the warning light that tyre pressure is low somewhere, the fact the fuel guage dropped from a third to empty in 5kms of travel. Then there Is the GPS we paid an extra 60 Euro a day for. It's a 20 year old TomTom (remember them?) With a flat battery and an up to date USB charging cable. Problem there is that this car only has a an old cigarette lighter socket as a power source. The solution to this mismatch according to the helpful guy was to buy an adapter. TomTom GPS systems do not connect to the internet. They have no AI powering them. Therefore maps are not up to date. It does not have our accommodation destination in it. Therefore we spent the ensuing hours comparing our phones capabilities to this piece of crap. As we stopped (successfully mind you - because it was a situation of - we're in an unknown country on the other side of the world where they drive on the wrong side of the road and generally they have no idea what a late' is, let alone take away) for a coffee - where the 60 Euro a day device died of a flat battery. And so we relied on the ESim tech in the Apple. This was also interesting as it guided us through some very interesting routes. At one point we were in a very tight back alley having to slow down for the chickens to move out of the way. Not what you'd expect when traversing between two major towns, however pretty funny and at least the experience was had. TomTom aside (and yes, he's being recharged just for the fun of it over the next week) the major concern is whether this jalopy will survive all that we intend to cover. Stay posted..

The drive to Berat route was changed at the last minute (by both Tom and the phones) as we were expecting to go around Tirana but instead hit the highway to the coast and went the long way. Probably due to congestion around the city, this was not of any concern as we were not in any particular hurry. The roads initially were rough, busy, tricky to negotiate whilst try to understand the nuances of the locals behaviors at high speeds yet we got through unscathed thanks to constant communications and a perchance for survival.
After the coffee stop the roads got smoother, the traffic diminished a bit and when we turned off the highways and hit the country roads all came good with the world. A farmer herding goats along the roadside was the catalyst to really sit back and soak up the experience of being somewhere totally different to the bubble we refer to as home. It got better....
Expecting the town of Barat to be in the mountains, it's not. However it is strategically located at the upriver side of a steep cleft in the hills leading to the valley plains downriver. Therefore it is a gateway to a rich fertile valley between the cleft and a significant mountain range behind it. From an invading armies perspective, this is how they get to the riches beyond. To the existing inhabitants, this is where we stop the pricks from taking our stuff. So there are historical ruins underpinning lots of old architecture with a new town built on top whilst keeping the vibe and many stories to be told. Vital to support the burgeoning tourist industry.
The full extent of our adventure here is not possible to convey in a mere blog (sorry about that), it is an amazing place.

The mountains that provide the backdrop are huge. Clouds that normally define the height of the sky are blocked by them and then they have the audacity to show their peaks above the white fluffy stuff. Long after twilight has settled on the town below, the peaks above still glow picking up the last vestiges of the suns golden rays (suspected plagiarism there, however hopefully you'll get get the notion that these are seriously big hills ...coming from a wide flat brown land where the highest peak has a boardwalk access up to the top.. it is really impressive).
The town is also impressive. Some local dude called Bruno has a free walking tour and on line he describes the tour. So instead of booking him we followed his notes and did the same thing. It was brilliant. We also managed to snag the best table, at the best authentic restaurant for dinner later on whilst doing so. The heat is starting to get oppressive but we're adjusting (not rushing, stopping in the shade of cafés and having cooling bevvies). A series of simply enjoyable experiences throughout our self run (guided by Bruno's post) tour ensued. One highlight was a Sect temple built so many years ago the figures go blahblahblah and the old dude in there looked ready to spin his non comprehensive spiel to Bruno's group and we two popped in unannounced. Sweaty and slightly inebriated Aussies, yet friendly and able to articulate thank you in the local dialect seems to get us a long way. Come to think of it, so far in Albainia - Aussieland seems to be so far away everyone here takes us in a positive light. We'll continue to hold the flame by being us. We even tipped him for showing us his golden temple with such enthusiasm.

Have no real idea what it was all about (apart from a quick Wikipedia lookup of course). The courtyard had a really cool well. Non-Blogger astutely suggested that's where they drowned the witches. The retaining wall had an original Roman drinking fountain whilst the whole area reeks of Ottoman influence.
Thanks to our previous reconiotering we arrived at our restaurant terrace table scattering the staff assembled there as we were early. Best seat in the house. Great grub. Those that know this blogger will be surprised that roasted yogurt (plus Lamb) was chosen... as all preconceived barriers were down and it was the first item on the "authentic" list. It was good (even the shards of bone made it more authentic). Non-Blogger enjoyed the roasted veggies as well. Simply put though the highlight was simply being there.

Watching the fading light play across the town as the windows across the valley glittering reflections of the sunset hitting the hillside above us whilst in the distance those majestic mountains performed their eons long dance through time.
Pretty sure our early arrival at the table and thus comparative early departure will have enabled a second sitting to oversee the town going off with an Islamic call to prayer echoing throughout the valley (interesting on a number of levels), screams of delight from various places when a goal was scored in the soccer hosted in Germany (a very big focus here at the moment...maybe one day they'll understand the best code...not for us to educate in that regard) and later on the boom of fireworks going off. Dunno why.. all that can be done is to look out our window across the town, appreciate the ambiance of it all and thank all (past and present) that have lead us to this point in time. If you're reading this you're part of that. Cheers.