Lounging on lounges

Months of planning had led to this mornings adventure. When deciding which places to visit a study of the country's road maps had revealed a significant zig zag on the coast road. Temptation enough for this blogger. As we had no real reason to traverse this particular stretch, it was always at the back of mind to see if it could be squeezed into to itinerary some how. The piece of junk we call a car was a major setback, as it's ability to climb hills comfortably, is limited. The gearbox screams loudly going up and the same noise going7 down due to its strange gear selections. The roads out this way are tricky and full of drivers who seem to take delight in yelling abuse at outoftowners who don't mind waiting 15 seconds for a stream of cars to safely pass before moving on. Roadworks, kamikaze Mercedes, cops pulling people over for no apparent reason, extreme heat. It was all transpiring against the notion of adventure. Still the zigzag called, knowing we'd never come this way again - it reached out, never relenting in its pressure to be traversed. A plan hatched itself over the course of the last two days. The answer to all these negatives was to do it early in the morning....Before the traffic and the heat and no pressure to power up the hill, just let the gearbox do what it could with no angst from aggressive locals.

Leaving non-blogger snoozing, blogger and the junkmobile headed out before sunrise to execute a brilliant piece of logistical planning. It was worth it. The only people on the road were those gents waiting for the local bus and a couple of slow vehicles smartly delt with in order to keep the camera vision clear.

The zigzag was hair raising and ear popping. Limited photos for the blog as it was hands on the wheel and no stopping because of the clear road in front. Got all the way to the top, changed camera batteries and went all the way back down again. The mountains and views spectacular.  Clear roads except for a herd of goats lounging on the bitumen and a wandering donkey who actually had good road sense (the goats don't) Back in bed by 7:30. Job done.  The piece of junk has one more day to survive.
The previous days exploratory episode had made us realise our beach with free parking and free lounges and umbrellas is as good as any other so we spent the whole day there doing nothing much. The fact that the family next to us has spent thier entire week on these benches and in the water that must say something about the spot. Somehow they are spending all day in the sun and not getting burnt, whereas we turn red in few minutes without protection.
The wind has gone.

The sun is beating down on everything.
Did I say it's hot?
The water is now much warmer on top and now seemingly chilly down a bit (feet depth). There are no tides here. That is really quite wierd. Must be due to the sea being enclosed. Could look it up but it's to hot. The constant move of the lounges to stay in the shade has been slowed down a bit by hanging the towels off the edge of the umbrella. That's pretty much the only effort one can undertake in this heat.

People drift in and out of the water and the lounges. There is always a the strange languages being spoken, hard to tell the difference between one or the other but it is fun trying. Rarely an English word appears and then it drifts away across the water. There are not many people here (still) so we've taken over 3 lounges. Local kids (one called Mario because his name constantly gets called) play in the water whilst an older brother keeps an eye on them. He is not grumpy about it, could be due to the bevey of beauties from Germany, lounging around one row back from the water. He served breakfast earlier on so its obvious its a big extended family owning, running and living in this idealic locale. As the sun looses it's sting, it's still hot but becoming more bareable. It's now only 37.
Thinking about wandering up the strip to get some cash to pay for all of this from the stand alone ATM. Another modern necessity required to support the whole scenario.
The Greek Islands beckon on the horizon. Tomorrow we go to that one.

After a wash down back at the room, we had pre`s at a funky (very recently built - with not to spec joists or possibly posts or possibly both, however is does have grass which makes it stand out, yet the loos are not yet finished) Beach bar, as a cooling breeze finally washed in off the sea.

Once again the soccer is dominating the aural landscape. This time its the Poms vs. Danes. Very glad not to be in Frankfurt at the moment as we all know the poms visiting fans are the most obnoxious on the planet.
Dinner was a case of one serving ordered too many and subsequently for the first time in a long time the plates were not emptied. Really good fresh food at great prices. The mussels were awesome.

P.S. It's this blogs first birthday. A years worth of posts, including this one.(365). To celebrate its Kiwi chocolate (for some obscure reason bought with us) paired with a North Macedonian red. How very poignant.

Three beaches

By the time dawn was breaking with a soft orange light slowly making the features of the scene below our balcony, the cacophony of humanity in the evening past had given over to the cacophony of swifts communicating furiously to each other and thus owning this slot of the daily schedule. They've always done this in these parts, ever since the mountains rose up and began their crumbling dance, these guys have been adapting to what ever gets thrown at them. No doubt adapted how to build their nests out of secretions against solid brick walls when the Roman's first started replicating cliffs with useful overhangs all those years ago. They adapted and got along whilst all their compatriates fell by the wayside as their natural environments were consumed by humankind's insatiable appetite. And so they own the morning sunrise slot. We know this because we had to have the door open because we could not get the air-conditioning to work. Yes folks. This was epiphany time. Shut the door. The aircon can be turned on. Open the door, it turns off. In the warm glow of the sunrise the sensor switch is quite obvious. Still,  one bonus of all this is the sunrise was there to behold with an accomplimentory musical symphony created by nature (as opposed to boomboxes).
Took a photo, shut the door, turmed the aircon on, went back to bed.

At the proper human time of the morning our cacophony of cars, circular saws and the cries of indignation kids had taken over as we had breakfast in the restaurant we'd had dinner in the night before. It was good, certainly enough to hatch plans to find another beach, just because we can. On the way we drove back into Himare proper. More innertown Albanian chaos. Navigating twisting tight roads, people everywhere, cars parked with reckless abandon, no care they're blocking the through traffic. Managed to find our way to a nice beach, with free shade under an established tree and a parking spot. Not believing our luck we didn't hang around as this was just a reconioter, not a destination. Across the road was however a shop selling stone beach footware of which we fussed a bit and eventually got what we wanted and headed of back through the narrow crowded streets to hit the road in search of Gjipe Beach.
Took a major miss and double back to get there but we did.
The road in is single car/both way. This means if you come up against someone coming the other way. Someone has to relent and reverse back to the last passing bay. There is no forgiveness as the gutters are straight up and high, not possible for your average sedan to mount. Luckily on the way in we were not confronted by an oncoming vehicle. Was nerve racking though considering what could have transpired.
The wierd road ended in carpark with huge signs saying we'd need to pay for the privilege for doing so. 400 Leke (say $8 Au) the service we receive for this expense is the direction to park the car in the next obvious vacant space and to receive change if you don't have the correct amount. See...the locals are cottoning on how to fleece tourists. Put up a sign and people will follow,  Regardless of how unofficial it is. The guy also directed us to the path to the beach. Obviously still high up we asked how far it was. 20 minutes was the response. Yeah right. This is a foot path from hell. Big rocks jutting out amongst smaller ones ankle twisting their positions with no symmetry on stepping rhythms. Half way down tyre tracks were noticed in the sparce soil. As it transpires its a seriously difficult 4WD track that is traversed a few times a day. Need a seriously well built high-off-the- ground vehicle to do so though. Suspect it was originally built during the fascists regime era as there are a few intact bunkers perched on the slopes next to the track.
Did I mention it is hot?
No wind, no breeze it seemed to take a long time to get to the bottom where a magical beach scene opened up.
There was no going back so basically committed for the day. For 2000 Leke (approx $30aud) we got an umbrella and deck chairs.

Had to do it (albeit with dwindling cash supplies) and then spent the next few hours, lolling around on the benches, adjusting positions to stay in the shade with multiple dips into the warm, salty, buoyant, crystal clear waters of the Ionian Sea, all the whilst watching people's from all over the world doing the same thing. People watching is great fun. Especially when they're wearing very little clothing. Have to mention a group of girls bringing a pet kitten with them. Initially it seemed ridiculous, after watching them all day, good on them.This was finally time to relax, been on the go pretty much nonstop the whole trip so far and here were, effectively stuck because of the single vehicle road leading in, paid for the whole day for the furniture (which by the way - last of the front row - timing win yet again) and in no particular hurry to traverse that horrible track again to get back to the car (and thus to home). Relaxing was undertaken. There was a nice cooling breeze. That stopped, comfort levels dropped, breeze came back, comfort levels rose. It was a fabulous and memorable beach experience. By the time we figured there were enough departing to make the inevitable road standoff in our favor the breeze had decided to depart again. The treak back up took 35 minutes and was enough exercise for the week. This place is definitely for fit young peeps, us oldies are probably an ambulance ride away from realizing we shouldn't be there. Nuhh bugger that - we got though -  even non-blogger in slippery wet thongs got through it unscathed.

Hot and bothered, the drive back home was on incredibly quiet roads as the locals were all watching their team take on Croatia in the football. This is a big thing. They actually managed to do pretty well against the odds so we're now also on board. Got back to our own beach for another dip before heading up to the Blue Oyster Bar for dinner. That's not actually it's name but had to use it for the ongoing joke.

Dinner overlooking the sunset across the waters to Greek Islands in the distance was ... oh I don't know... how many blinking appropriate words do I need to come up with here... unforgettable (well if I describe it here well enough then I won't forget it I guess). Literally perched above the water, we're looking out South to islands. Eastwards is the town with the big screen TV on the shore with the mountains as a backdrop with the old castle perched on a smaller outcrop. With lowering sun casting shadows into the steep valleys highlighting their shapes even more. Pretty cool.

Then the moon came up. A bit fuller and thus closer to the terminator. By the time the zorba the Greek started blaring out the speakers  (the footy had finnished) the moon light reflections sparking of the water seemed to be in time with it.
The footy was great by the way. Predicted it would impact the locals and it did. The guy allocated to us totally forgot about us whilst the next game was on. Care factor here - zero. The eventually delivered grub was amazing. The location and the ambiance was unforgettable (hopefully so after all that verbiage).
Cost $130 aud.
Welcome to Albainia.

 

From the mountains to the Sea

Another great sleep, a sort of sleep in, wandered down to the courtyard for another yummy breaky, packed up our lives into the bags yet again, collected the jalopy from down the street a bit and coerced and maneuvered it back up the slippery road to the residence in order to load up. Again successfully threading our way down through the narrow twisting roads leaving the antiquity behind and hit the highway to Himare. Another spectacular valley was traversed. This time the road seemed almost brand new, a real engineering feat slicing it way up the steep slopes, with graceful curves, correct cambers and a pristine surface. The ever present mountains looming overhead with steep faces that would make any rock climber wet themselves in eager desire. Near the top the engineers seemingly gave up on graders and drilled straight through in a long tunnel which interestingly, had light at the end of it, down the otherside we went. Behaving ourselves behind a slow poke only to be almost run off the road by a passing lunatic cop.

Back on the flats of the other side we stopped for a coffee at a Cafe (getting adventurous now) and managed to get a sort of decent attempt by getting lots of milk added. All they need to do here is learn how to use their wizzbang machines properly steam the milk. One day maybe.

The overpaid underdelivered vehicle really does struggle up these hills. It's a bit disconcerning that the auto gearbox seems to have a mind of it's own as to which gear of the five options it chooses to employ. Not sure how long it will last for, we just need it for a few more days, however slightly hesitant to go very far from here in Himare over our next few days. The road up the coast is steep, winding, lots of ups and downs and lots of challenges created by towns, goats, slow trucks, impatient drivers, big busses etc etc. The scenery is of course amazing. The Ionian Sea is calm as it fades into the distance, large islands dotting the horizon with smattering of boats moving around on top of it. The road seemed to go on forever, with no chance of stopping to capture the views as they drive on the wrong side of the road here. They do keep trying to go to the left like it's an inbuilt instinct, this continually scares the begeebees out of outoftowners.
Eventually we found our accommodation along a strip of a beach in the Himare area. Its not the main town and appears to be totally dedicated for the incoming hordes. With our view out the room, through the balcony outside we can keep an eye on the car which has the best position in town.
After lugging the kit up 40 stairs, catching our breath, went for a dip in the sea. The beach is wierd, all stones and pebbles. The water is warm on top and cooler a meter below. After the dip, went for a wander along the entire strip. Checked out a potential dinner joint by whiling away an an hour or so over a cold bevey whilst the entire place stressed themselves serving lunch to a couple of busloads of French nationals. Wasn't even game to ask for some chips as the staff looked ready to explode. As did the tour guides, the restaurant manager and the WCs once the meals were finished. Hope they were well remunerated for their big effort. Once the bus loads had filed their way out past us, we left as well to walk the strip. Up the other end is a very salubrious hotel and a private beach.

There's also private beach lounges with curtains to ostentatiously block the view of the water from anyone on the other side. One assumes these are for those folk who like to go to the beach, soak up some rays without others seeing the flaws in their forms. Guess it could also be to stop the paparazzi taking snaps of toe sucking (Fergie style).
This bay has a strange feel to it. Very safe (like the rest of the country) it just seems to be in the final stages of construction. We have dirt where there should be grass, cranes and piledrivers and concrete pouring at one end of the beach and builders working furiously contructing beachfront cafés almost in front of us. With the beach covered in thousands of lined up umbrellas shading the lounge chairs below with about a 2% occupancy rate it seems to poised to explode.

It is Tuesday and not peak season yet, so its easy to see how the locals are ramping up for the expected inrush.
We are here purely on the very sage advice of Offspring no.2 who suggested we should experience the place before it gets overrun, before the word gets out, before the prices climb as a result of. And indeed we have...just. it's apparent we are on the cusp. It would have been great to see it (say) 10 years ago, but would've been a whole lot harder as the locals would not have been as welcoming as they are... as they really are now fully on board to do the hard yards in order to be a place where we can happily splash our cash.
Dinner in the restaurant below the rooms was great. The cook/owner/mum of the waiter proudly showed us what she had made as specials for the day. So we had them and were impressed and full at the end of it.

All whilst consuming the magnificent views of our vehicles behinds as they looked over the Ionian waters sunset. Lucky cars, hope they appreciate the efforts we go to to give them a good time.
Time check (9:30pm). Looks like they are working through the night on their worksite. With music blaring. With a sub woofer. Normally this would not be too much of an issue as double glazing is the norm here. Our problem is the air-conditioning refuses to turn on. And the concrete room is like a sauna with no windows to open except the sliding door to the worksite. Hopefully it will calm down later.
Did I mention it's hot? Lucky we've hit the coast. Lucky it's not summer proper yet. Our timing for the whole trip so far has been impeccable.

Time check (10:40pm) the workers have packed their saws away, there is still a subwoofer in play somewhere. The almost full moon is reflecting off the sea after loosing it's race against the terminator. Yet again. It keeps trying, but always looses. That's a dance that outlasts even the mountains efforts.....

And then the sound of a circular saw resonates across the scene...they are still at it after all.

A Mountains Perspective

Our tiny twin room is like a sardine can when compared to some of the pads we've bivouacked in so far this trip. It's one way traffic when moving around, however it is on the corner and thus has two windows with amazing views, one is the aforementioned balcony which is a delight to experience as well as having good spots to dry clothes which have been handwashed in the (pokey yet functional) bathroom sink.

Over our yummy breakfast this blogger learnt that he had tipped all winners in the footy comp at home. Plus the winning margin and thus took the jackpot. And now shares the leader board. Never have been in that exhaulted position before so the lesson there is go overseas and don't follow what's going on at home.
Back to the here and now though..

Things to to do in Gjirokaster...
Visit the castle (tick)
Go to the museum (no tick)

(They are focused on showing war relics...they're even selling helmets with bullet holes in them on the street..yeech).
Watch the soccer in Germany. (Can't avoid)

Take photos of everyone else taking photos.(tick)
Eat (tick)
Drink (tick)
Buy fridge magnets.(tick)
As we have 2 nights here we had always planned to visit the thermal baths somewhere over there (picture a pointing figure loosely aimed at the mountains across the valley) and so we did.
The drive there seemed to take hours, the drive back in no time at all. This is a wierd phenomenon, happens all the time. Suspect its to do with way memories are consumed by the brain. Time slows when absorbing new experiences. Time speeds up when reliving them. Thus returning over the same path always appears to be quicker. To those watching externally (e.g. the mountains) it makes no difference at all. They couldn't care less. They're more concerned about the next ice age reshaping their bones. Or the constant scraping of their skins by the insistent weather forces, leaving the resulting flakes lying in flat plains between them, creating a bed for those pesky plants to creep back up their sides and start gnawing away at the next layer of them, then again sometimes that green stuff does provide a nice shirt to protect them from the elements. Then there's those hot lava beds they sit heavily on, and the cracks in their bones that let that annoying etching water trickle down there, get really hot and push its way back up (etching all the time) and then finally expunging itself into more of those pesky rivers.
At least someone has dammed the outflow to stop the erosion somewhat. And built a cool bridge to get to them.
We people call these the Benje' thermal pools.

We drove around one signifant mountain to get there, a few misconceptions on the way because we are relying on modern day tech instead of the old method of printed paper and human intelligence. No stress though, we got there. So had a reasonable amount of other people. Enough to stop us partaking in all the pools of slightly sulfur smelling warm water flowing over the walls with abandon. It was great. The healing powers of the rich mineral springs quickly repaired the torn tendon in Non-Blogger's shoulder and sore legs that this blogger has been surruptiously referring to over the last two weeks have all but disappeared.  Not bad for a 20 minute dip. We figured that the new building's scattering the area will soon be commissioned. Hopefully one or two will be toilets. Being outoftowners and not knowing the protocols, we left stressed due to full bladders and no obvious civilized remediation methodolgy. No-one else seemed stressed at all, and they were spending hours there...how did they do that?

In order to resolve our specific circumstance we headed off home and found a big petrol station that also had a Cafe and thus facilities. Figuring it the right thing to do, purchased a can of coke, a bottle of water, two bottles of wine, and a packet of chips (oregano flavour) just so we could justify using their loos. Would have been cheaper to pee in the woods (or the pools themselves) but overall, a win-win for everyone. The drive back though the strange geographical cleft in the mountain range from one big valley to the next was thoroughly enjoyable. The mountains themselves were too busy otherwise to even notice our passing.
After a timed kip we hit the olde town to soak up some more ambiance, liquids, views, cheap souvenirs (finally succumbing) and just a general hang until dinner. We have learnt two significant tips for future travelers to the locale.

1. Do not do a bus tour. They look painful as you traipse through the heat - up steep inclines that everyone else drives up.
2. Avoid coming here when there is a major soccer event on. This degrades the local ambiance due to the locals desire to broadcast it all on every available screen.
Don't get this blogger wrong here..we know football (e.g. beginning of this post).. however....well ok then.. maybe you should come here when the locals are in something big. It's not historical, but it is current local culture. So no.2 lesson is retracted.
3. Avoid the peak tourist season. Given climate change it`s incomprehensible how anyone could survive here in 40+ degrees surrounded by the milling hordes.
We've hit it perfectly though. The only regret for this blogger is sitting up the top of the hill (yep... did the hard yards up the steep road to get there) in the most recommended traditional restaurant in town still wearing a sleeveless tank top.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi Oi,.....yobbo, yobbo, yobbo comes to mind. Must admit though - it was comfortable as the warm evening breeze passes through. We were the first customers for the evening, and so were shunted under the verander. As the rest drifted up - always out of breath - the tables outside and over the road filled up and we hope eventually overflowed to the other establishments next door that did not have the TripAdvisor ranking (they all looked as good as each other).

Wandering back down the steep cobblestone streets soaking up the warm breezes and the extremely picturesque views of the town in the foreground and the mountains in the distance beyond its hard to ignore what a fabulous orb we have the privilege to reside on.
Here but for a fleeting moment in time, yet not letting that fact diminish the poignancy of it.
The kids in the streets, run around, screaming and yelling as kids do wherever they grow up, paying games in whatever space is available to them. Their parents and grandparents are around them, all negotiating this new dynamic of all these wierd people coming through, device's going snap, snap, throwing money around and believing every embroidery story,
Old uncle Yurst(?) still leads his horse down the cobblestone streets in the morning and comes back up late in the evening  - sidesaddle. While elder cousins look so cool driving around (very slowly of course because the physical nature of the roads dictates that) in cars thumping out beats which everyone knows is not what should be done.
It will be interesting to see how it all transpires in the years to come.
The mountains on otherhand have no interest whatsoever.
P.S.
22:17 ..Monday night. On the Balcony. 24 degrees. Slight breeze. Nice local wine. Aforementioned Oregano Chips. Whilst  Blogging... Local tower starts warbling. Is this a call to prayer this late at night? Should I wake the family, get them up in order for them to pay homage?
Thinking allegiance to the AFL religion is more rewarding on a number of levels.

A tale of two castles

The day started at 5:40 by opening the window and setting up the slow TV capture. As soon as the sun popped it's rounded body over the horizon the speakers on top of the Islamic tower just  down the road (so they're same level as us) started their warbling. The dulcet (not!) tones of the guy behind the mike echoing around the town and into the valley below. And then the singing (not always in any sort of tune) started. And then the sermons, and then more singing, and then more sermons. This went on for about 2 hours. Happy Sunday morning everyone. There are lots of lessons to be learnt here. One is the power of double glazing. Its also interesting that the locals rebelled against the communist regime in the 90's because they did not like being so tightly controlled e.g. how to behave, how to think, pay ultimate homage to someone other than thyself. My how things have changed....

There are a lot of these towers around the country, rising up from the places of worship below. Significant difference from other religious monoliths of similar ilk is all of this variety have loudspeakers pointing out in all directions. Subtle? ...not.
Breakfast was consumed sometime after they had run out of breath (albeit temporarily one assumes) on the terrace on top of our abode with the full view of the historical town perched on a steep slope as a backdrop to the omletes, coffee's, fruits, breads, condiments, juice etc. This is a tough situation, we're struggling with here.

Hoping you all appreciate the effort bring undertaken just so it can be passed on to you.
We felt obliged to visit the Castle of Berat. Everyone talks about it...you know..old stones sitting on top of a hill. Rich people used to lorde over the masses below whilst consuming their hard earned. Engineering marvels based on generations of slave labor. Views which have helped identify invading hordes from afar. All that was wanted was a decent coffee before accending the hill but once in the jalopy blogger took control and said nup, we're going up now. Old cars made in Kosovo do not seem to be made for this type of terrain. The cobblestones are slippery, the road very steep, very narrow thus being harrowing. We made it though. Parked outside the gates and walked up and on in. What a surprise, there's a whole community up here, slinging their wares and catering for the hordes. We could've driven in (glad we didn't though).

After a good look around, taking so many pics the device was running hot, getting vertigo from the heights (yep it's new thing...when you can't quite trust your legs 100% the brain says "whoa buddy - are you really sure you should be going there ?. Like what would happen if that twinge just there decided to say ... fail - just when you stood say - just there,  on the edge of that precipice? After all, they used to cast people to their deaths just there...and they had perfectly functional knees"). Anyway, after negotiating some slippery steps down in order to get to where we wanted ended up sitting in a perfectly placed position in the shade with cooling breeze and the aforementioned coffee being consumed. Beating the crowds on all fronts it worked out really well. Then off we went, threading the beast slowly  back down the tricky street and then hitting the road to Gjirokaster.
It was a long drive, saw some very interesting countryside. The land itself seems to want push up barreness from below while the vegetation on top is desperately trying to make it green from above, caught it this juxposition of conflicting forces is our desire to express what it looks like.
The most prolific thing on the roads are the police. They are everywhere, always talking so someone they have pulled over. We were told by a disgruntled waiter two nights ago is all they want us a cash payment and off you go. He was not happy about the corruption and the fact all his mates had escaped to other countries for work. So the hierarchy needs to fix these two at least ... suspect that's now what  the EU is waiting for before letting them in.
So here we are shooting along the highway, on average 10ks over the limit and we have all these lunatics kareening past , at speed, over double lines, blind corners, whatever it takes to get past (whilst we're being careful to give them space, move over when pressured - basically spending as much time watching the rear view mirror as in front - and just getting along with everyone, whilst being mindful the cops may pick on us). It was reasonably stressful. Too complicated to describe the issue in the petrol station, luckily avoided backing into a brand new Mercedes by about 1cm though. Yeech.
Eventually drove into Gjix=x,xx with TomTom well and truly dead again the Apple Esim maps took us into an industrial wasteland on the side of a hill that magically transformed into yet again old cobblestone alleys with high stone walls that are not designed for cars. Stress? Yes. Success? Yes. Our hotel is smack bang in the middle of another UNESCO protected locale.

Our balcony looks directly out at a stone roof which on one side we can the olde forte on the hill and the other down the valley we just came up. Needless to say across the valley looms another monstrous mountain. Dominating all - apart from the desire to escape the midday heat both externally and internally. Whilst doing both perched in the shade on prickly blankets (locally hand made so no right to complain) adorning the benches opposite the chairs across the tables strewn along both sides of the narrow bar lined street we made our plans.

This resulted in heading up the hill to yet another castle. This was not so salubrious as the earlier one...
1. We had to walk up (and down, and up slippery stairs due to works) to get there.
2. We had to pay to get in.
3. No cafés, people of interest
4. Needed to pay more to see the internal museum (we didn't and it seemed No-one else did either).
5. Had to negotiate the slippery stone steps back down again. (Keep in mind that when these steps first went down they would have had a really good grippy surface, thousands of years and millions of feet have worn them smooth and thus slippery - not sure how UNESCO can solve for that one).
Great photos taken so these can be consumed at a later date (pretty sure that's why we do it)
Two castles in one day is one castle too many (especially in this heat - which by the way is a sufferable 32, next week it will be 40 here - that's a whole other ball game), however we have cleared the slate for the morrows exploits.

We chose the closest joint for dinner, mostly for the views and had a great time being served by a young kid learning the ropes from his dad. And now back on the balcony of the pad listening to the kids playing, the locals yammering, and everytime a car goes past in the narrow street below a huge ruckus of noise explodeds as it is not possible to be quiet when passing over cobblestones. Its a small road but seems to be the major thoroughfare.
Yay for double gazing.

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.

Trekking Tirana.

First thing after breaky in the lobby was to hunt down a Vodafone shop for another Sim for this device. After some redirection managed that one successfully. Took another visit to another shop to get it working though (home number completely disabled whilst we're here due to something somewhere being set somehow to some situation). Data and local calls are now good though and we found someone local to call to. That being the spa in the hotel.

And so we set off for the long trek into the centre of the city. Originally unaware of how far out the hotel is situated it was becoming clearer as the walk along the busy, noisy crowed street seemed to go on forever (well maybe not like crossing the Nulabor, but it did take a while). Eventually we emerged from the commercial chaos of everyday Albanian life into the city Square where it's pretty obvious that this is the focal point of the place. We were here to join thevwalking tour previously booked and were quite surprised with the number of participants milling around on the steps of the Opera house. All good though, they greeted us, segregated us into language groups and then split the English listeners into 3 more as we are so prolific (thus annoying). We got lucky because we got Clint (named after the actor) who is extremely passionate about his city and country and has a vast store of valuable information to pass on to his willing trekkers.

The insights into the history of the place were fascinating and the lessons to be learnt from them of value to any citizen of any country in the world. Especially those that think its a good idea to vote in someone who fundamentally who uses patriotism as their basic platform. The ensuing decades of general societal degradation were appalling, however after 30 years since the downfall of the regime the place has finally got its mojo and firing along. Tourism is now the biggest economic driver and here we are. Second generation visitors (thanks to OS no.2 suggestion) and throwing the cash around in gleeful abandon and hopefully everyone wins. 3 million live here. Last year 16 million visited. This year...20 is the prediction.

They are not immune from the issues associated with all these numbers of course e.g. we were approached by an American lady in our group that happily told as that she was living here for a year... because she's a Jahova Wittnes. And this is a cheap place to "live" in. Suspect Clints intelligent explanation of the success of the separation of the church and state would have been lost on her. We chose not to explore the conversation more with her though as we were too busy consuming all the other info that was being presented as we continued to tread tracks around Tirana.
Clint is verye enthusiastic about his country joining the EU. It would certainly make it easier for the modern invading hordes if they did so (e.g. phones would work seamlessly whilst still keeping the British in the "other counties" queue at passport control... thanks to Brexit).
Past invading hordes followed the same pattern as the rest if their neighbors, Roman's, Ottomans, Venetians, German backed Italians etc etc before the communist dictators of 19th century. Not sure about the Spanish, Portuguese or the Poms if they ever made it this far, suspect they may have been sailing around the other side of the planet as their focus. Never mind were here for a week - plenty of time to find out.
Given their history the locals are very welcoming of all religions (as the communists squashed all with particularly nasty fervor), one example of their acceptance is a particularly famous and pretty street where they celebrate nations from all over world one week at a time.

A favorite recently was Egypt who set up mummies and other Pharoah stuff. Currently it was Israel's turn (could tell by the flags). When queried, our guide could not actually describe what cultural artifacts they had put up, (guess it was a bit cheeky)  - when prompted further (given current situations in Gaza) but he did say that Palestine had been represented recently. Nicely played.
We can only hope they can manage to navigate the fine line of keeping a balance of happiness through appeasing most people. Thinking that given their societal memories are still full of raw angst they may become becons of hope for those of us who have inadvertently forgotten these lessons over generations.

We visited a few churches along the way. No one is barred due to their get along attitude.
The days are warming up as we head south (pack away the jeans for while now) and are about to get a whole lot warmer. And so after leaving the tour we were tired and thirsty, best option let's go sit in the sky bar. It was superb. Slowly being spun around high up above the city the landscape ever so slowly rolled by as we consumed refreshing local beverages at bargain prices.

Sat there for almost an hour (3/4 of a full rotation) before hitting the streets again. Step count going up, legs weakening, day getting hotter. Trekked over to the otherside to get a memory card for the slow TV and then back along the endless confusion of a crazy town (well, we don't know what they're saying) with a multitude of people going everywhere for no apparent reason. Impressed that the major thoroughfares have tree-lined bycle paths running the length of them. Much more ameniable than ugly trams.
Back at the safe house we had a quick kip before a 30 min massage in the previously mentioned spa. It's on our floor directly opposite our room. How could that be resisted?

After another visit to the rooftop we left the view of the sun gently brushing the majestic hills which loom over the locale to wander down the street in search for dinner and ended up with pizza. Given they've been invaded 3 times by the Italians over history they reckon they can do it better. One tends to agree.

To Tirana

Seem to be developing a pattern here. Up well before the sun was even thinking about it (3:45am) we were packed and hit the road at 4:30 precisely. Good thing we'd traversed the winding road out if town two days earlier as it was quite hairy and exhausting for Nick who was in control of the jalopy. Potentially missed some fabulous scenery as the skies slowly brightened on the 90 minute trip back to Porto Airport via the motorways this time. Traffic was certainly not an issue. Interesting to see glimpses of the real Portugal,  extensive well made roads, lots of industry and modern (and some not so) houses.

We've been mostly confined to cobblestone streets, centuries old businesses and old buildings in various states of disrepair, it's now obvious that the country is progressive and thriving.

Nick and Sarah dropped us off at departures, we hope they managed to feed the beast before stabling and winging their way back to the UK, whilst we flipped over to Geneva for a long weight (similar to what we used to send the apprentices to the store for). Almost missed the flight due to classical lollygagging but it worked out ok. The plane wasn't entirely full so we had spare seat.
Geneva AP is right next to the large hadron collider (run by CERN). This where they spin up really small things to really high speeds and bang them together in order to inflate prices of items to astronomical levels. e.g. two small cups of coffee costs $24 AUD. There have been so many scientists and really clever people working on this machine over the last 70 years that it's now working perfectly. An upgrade is due to be completed in 2026 which should ensure the whole country is priced to the point that only really important people will be able to afford to go there e.g. Casino Operators.
A six hour stopover in the airport was enough for us. Not coming back unless they shut that machine down.

Throwing in a pic of all the destinations one could travel to just today - it really does seem to be the centre of Europe.

And so we hung around whiling away the hours playing with Hotspot internet connections because the Swiss have consistently voted to stay out of the EU whilst pandering to their trade rules. At least they have always done it this way otherwise the world would need to deal with Swexit as a common vernacular...not sure we (as a race) are up to that.
Finally we got onto the next bird only to sit on the tarmac for 45 more minutes waiting for a clear slot in the sky before shooting up over the majestic Alps (Swalps?) whilst trying to understand French accents of the crew. Racing away from the sun, the clouds built up and we decended through them to finally land in the twilight gloom to the sound of applause when safely on the tarmac. Can only assume Albanians are nervous flyers.

The airport is small and chaotic yet they all seem to be in very good spirits. Taxi to the hotel in dark revealed nothing of the culture except house music being played by the driver. He gave up after a while and reverted to local talky stuff.
Dinner on the roof bar if the hotel was pretty funky as all the young glamorous set was out to have a good time. Seems like this was their starting point for the nights revelries.

We crashed after 18 hours getting here.

Up and down the Douro

Breakfast was spent with same dance around the our table in the common room with our extra 4 compatriates, luckily for us they are heading east today so that's the last we'll see of them. They can torpedo Toledo to their hearts content.

We drove down to the waterfront, parked the car in shade and strolled up to the train station and asked our way onto the train to Pocinho. The line starts all the way back in Porto and winds it way up the banks of the Douro to where we were headed. Apparently the most spectacular part of the long journey is the one we traveled. And indeed we all concurred that it is indeed a visual delight. Definitely the best this blogger has ever seen.

Hardly any others on board we could move from side to side at will. Then non-blogger realised the windows could open up and so while we're not meant to stick your head out we did anyway. Hopefully the slow TV capture worked. Safety is sort of a concern but not so much with the doors partially opened we could've easily fell out if not careful.

The river has extraordinary character with the vine covered hills slowly getting lower and drier as we wound our way up through the valley. One huge lock changed the fast flowing narrowing stream into the next long lake with a consistent stream of huge passenger ships going in each direction. To be able to squeeze through the locks is an incredible feat of engineering. And so with the sound of the trains bellowing horn reverberating throughout the serene landscape the chugging diesel towed us up to Pocinho in the alloted hour.

We had the choice of catching the same back down in 20mins or hang around the town for 2 hours. A quick glance confirmed previous investigations that there is nothing of note to look at and only one establishment to recharge the personal fuel tanks. So we came straight back, down being careful not use the same seats we had soaked on the way up.
A too much food lunch was consumed in a Cafe at the far end of the Pinhao shopping strip ending up us discovering a restaurant with fab views which we booked for dinner and then strode along the water front back to the cool car whilst the sun beat down on us from above. The sun screen back in rooms would've been useful. So instead this blogger shade hopped whilst the others stuck it out.
Back to the common room to picture share and get ready to leave next morning. Bought own our own music and yet the staff member wanted to play her own over the top of it. Wierd, until we realized she was waiting for new guests to arrive and was under instructions to create an ambiance.
Pre's back down at the water front was strange as there were 3 large cruise ships docked, staff on the land, no sight of the patrons. The cafés perfectly positioned to serve them were eerily quiet. Proof in point as to why locals don't actually see large cruise ships as being good for the local economy. The myriad of large coaches running around the town was the obvious answer, all the wallets and purses were being shunted straight to the wineries.
The last supper (bit of a dramatic title but Nick insisted) was had deciple style as we sat lined up facing the amazing view across the river to the terraced hills beyond as the sun graciously cast it's last efforts up the waterway. All framed by a blaze of colourfull flowers lining the balcony edges.

Great restaurant with the only vino of offer being homemade. No labels, just caraffs containing a heavenly ambrose. We broke bread, sipped wine and thanked the food gods for delivering such fine fare to our table. The cacophony of birds provided the angelic accoutics whilst the occasional dog barking reminding us that we should not go down THAT way.

Another slow stroll back home with two surprises. 1 The quaint run down village has a very modern looking carpark at night and 2. we met a Rocky on the road who seemed a bit dazed, so with a bit of encouragement we manged to herd him safely back up the hill and like us off for a kip before another early start to get the next leg underway.

To the high plains

As Rocky the big old overweight gold coloured dog of an unknown mixture of breeds lolls around outside our suite on the fake grass turning on and off the security light your blogger settles in for another capture of the days events. Everyone else is horizontal in their nightly recuperation. Not just the occupants of this establishment  (being the four main actors in the last weeks reveries, the retired mother of the now two owners of the establishment who looks after us all but also the 4 annoying Aussie tourists who are significantly imposing on our space simply by being them. Not their fault, as no one should be blamed or accused of something degrading as a result of factors out of their control, it's just annoying that we have spent the last 11 days traveling to the other side of the planet, driven into the boondocks of a previously unconsidered culture to be be faced with "g`day - I'm from Brisbane, an ex Catholic school teacher, and so are my colleagues, would you like some black tea? - its very hard to get here...and isn't the poverty around here terrible? And there's nothing to do here but ride on boats and visit wineries").

That was breakfast. We spent the rest of the day dodging them....read on dear blogger..
Today your blogger took control of the vehicle in order to practice for the next upcoming leg. All the drivers here have a significant issue in that they do it on the wrong side of the road. In recognition of this underlying flaw in their societal system they've even gone to the extent of putting the steering wheels in the wrong position in their cars. Astute observations reveal that they didn't modify the motorbikes in the same fashion... so really folks....it's about time you woke up an readjusted your system. Until they do though we had to follow suit as trying to convert them here and now would've stretched the insurance coverage somewhat. A quick trip onto town to get some vittals now the shops are open. The expected uplift in excitement levels in the town now the holiday was over did not eventuate. Wierd. Maybe we're here in the off season and should be thankful for it.
Being at a bit of a loose end for a few hours the consensus was to go for a drive. The focus was a tourist road sign which indicated a landmark akin to Stonehenge. Looked it up, created a target and for it we went. Up and up we drove. The roads were winding around the hillsides in really well engineered fashion. The vista's being revealed were glorious, would've stopped to soak it in but our 4 Aussie comptriots were already there. Powering on past we kept focus on the destination. Futher up and further up we drove. Leaving the vineyards behind and into Cyprus and then into the typical low scrub grass fields that define high plains everywhere. We missed the location but thanks to internet maps we found it.
Off the side of a narrow road with no road signage to indicate the spot is an unremarkable pit defined by big flat stones with an entrance plinth about 1 meter high. Really? It's only 4000 years BC. (Rocky the dog outside barks - must be someone walking up the road. Wakes non-blogger who gets up to have some water...all whilst the blogging continues). Stonehenge is 16000 years BC.. so take that you pathetic European recalcitrants... no wonder we did Brexit...

It was worth it. The ancient burial tomb was beautifully perched on top of one the highest peaks in the area. We could see for a long way in every direction, not unobscurred enough to warrant a panoramic video but obviously there enough to appreciate the trip. It was just us and the wildflowers in the gentle warm breeze under a pleasant midday sun. Along with the spirits of some dudes who were important 6000 years ago. Probably casino operators.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment (I.e. challenge anyone else to do that ! ) we headed back down the roads in the hunt of a decent coffee and without even trying found one in Sabrosa, in a very modern cafe looking out an extremely picturesque window.

We did stop on the way down at a viewpoint which was simply amazing. The centre of the focal extravaganza was a traditional town that will most likely never get to experience the pleasure of our existence.
That was fun, but there was no time to dilly dally as we had a tour of our house owners Vinyard to experience. The highlights just keep on rolling in....
Our guide owns our accommodation (along with his brother) just the two them work 7 days a week buiding their

5th generation family vinyard into a commercialy viable proposition.

We piled into his work twincab and tumbled and crunched our way up above the steep slopes where we've been sleeping. Highlight was the old house ruins which included the grape pressing vats below the primary house, the chapel (with its own confession window) and the simply awesome views of the town below.
He then showed us the extremely salubrious tasting/long term storage rooms he had built. These guys are extremely clever as it seems that they not only have the vision to create just about anything as well as having the capacity to do so. Our rooms are the main suite - luckily enough for us down tricky stairs so Sarah had given it up to us. Thinking it was brand new its actually 6 years old, testimate to the quality if the design and build. Back to the rooms we had a tasting of the wine they produce as well as more insights into the area.

As it turns out this establishment was old ruins which they had negotiated with UNESCO to convert into the modern apartments we're enjoying so much.
The wine was really good, unfortunately can't get any home so it's a case of purchase and enjoy now.
After that it was siesta time before heading back down to the water front for pre's and first time we feel we got ripped off price wise. As it transpires it was our ordering and a mistype on the volumes of fridge magnets. May be able to remediate later..

Dinner in the restaurant above the ancient bridge was superb, so far we have not had one bad food experience and most have been simply awesome. Our prime window table had been snatched by you know who, luckily we managed to get an alternative enough out of polite conversation range to keep them at bay. Then they left and we relaxed. Another wander up the dark quiet highway around the bend to get home and a debrief and night cap before settling down to pen this prose. Now even Rocky has settled down for the night.