Summer in Europe is often very lucrative but at the same time higly expensive especially if you want to get soaked in the blue salty water of the Adriatic or the Mediterranean Sea. My wife is a sea person and chose some really inexpensive tickets to Tirana amidst all the exorbitant air tickets to exotic locations like Greece or the Canary Islands.
Albania being just on the other side of Greece, gives the same feeling of the torquise blue water. It was May 2023 so in best of situations the weather is supposed to be pleasant presumably sunny. We booked out flights for an extended weekend.
I was there a couple of days earlier to take an opportunity to visit the mountains and then she joined me as we descended to the sea shore.
The month of May especially the beginning of the month is still the time when summer did not blossom that bright. Resulting beautiful five star resorts at a very affordable price as per European standards.
I rented a car through check24 which costed me 217 Euros for 6 days. I reached the car rental office alrady 1 and a half hours late due to delayed flight and then to get a local sim card from a local provider called One. There are multiple options in the Tirana airport in similar price ranges depending on your requirement. I booked a basic one for 10 Euros, which gave me enough internet and calling options.
It was a bumpy start with the car dealer as it was a local one. Because of lack of facilities he drove me to the city to make sure I am able to sign a contract. This was not very helpful to my plan as I was already running 2 hours behind my planned schedule.
My stay was booked in a homestay in Theth National Park, which was a 3 and a half hours drive from the airport. As I had to drive into and out of the city for the fuss created by the car dealer, the drive felt longer.
I decided to make my first stop in Shkodra lake. There is a beautiful restaurent just at the edge of the lake, which would be an amazing location for sunset and some good food. The name of the restaurent was Bar Restorant "Syri i Sheganit", and I had a feast of good fish, local beer and amazing sunset . The hills on the other side of the lake was Montenegro. I flew my drone for a while and highly satisfied with the bird eye view. Checked out how Albania looked from the air if I fly on the border of Montenegro and Albania that crosses over the Shkodra lake.
By the time I left this beautiful sunset spot and hit the road to drive to my homestay in the Theth National Park, it was already getting dark. Things got darker as the road climbed onto the mountain. I had plans to go to the Kisha e Thethit to see how the area looks under the stars. But by this time the drive time was too much and I already got some messages from the owner of the homestay to check if I was okay.
As the GPS guided me through, a left turn off the main road took me into an unmetalled through the darkness. There was fog and cloud to make things even more difficult. As I reached there an old couple concerned about me were waiting since it was already 9 pm. It was the only house in the middle of the darkness. The cloud was persistent but had some thin layers to peep into the night sky and some stars. Soon the clouds took over and even some mild shower accompanied.
The guesthouse or homestay where I rested for the night was highly inexpensive. It cost me approximately 9 Euros only to book a bed in a family room which had no other guests. So I had the five bedded room just for myself. The hosts were super accommodating and took very good care of me with proper blankets and mosquito coil. I was there only for the night and had plans to go to the Kisha e Thethit early morning expecting good light and some scenic images. The morning was misty but grey. The images I could take were not supported by good light but the morning in the area near the church was quite refreshing. It was not as touristy as I had imagined. I even flew my drone for a while to get a fresh perspective of the surroundings. While returning to the homestay I spent quite some time amidst the freshness of the morning in the valley with free-flowing rivers and the busy play of clouds.
I had a hot shower when I was back at my homestay. I did not book breakfast with them but was carrying some energy bars. After the shower and some quick bites, I left for a walk in the neighbourhood as there was no hurry to check out. It was in the lap of a hill and amidst clouds. The ambience around was beautiful. I also had a short conversation with my hostess about how they started this business and even she showed me a homemade hydroelectric motor made by her husband.
I left the homestay to spend the day for a hike to a blue lake where water falls into it. This is often referred to as the Blue Eye of the Theth. The drive was not too far away. Through the hills and by the side of the Shala river, the journey was very scenic.
When I reached the parking for the Blue Eye, there were a couple of restaurants for good food before the start of the hike. The hike takes around one and a half hours on one side. I took some time to relax and have some good fish and a beer of the name of the capital, Tirana.
The hike started from just behind the restaurant. The owner of the eatery helped by explaining the route in broken English. It started with a stair and then a bridge over a violent waterfall, and after that, you need to keep walking parallel to the river. The weather was pleasant, not too sunny for the hike neither too cold nor windy. After a while, the hike starts when you get apart from the river and move up the hills. There were many visitors on the way so it was not easy to take a different route and get lost. You meet the river again after 40 minutes of climb. The water looked even more clear and blue.
Being in the blue eye and viewing the beautiful blue hole into which water is falling is a sight to behold.
It was hidden in nature and the only way to see it was to venture into the forest and cross a little bridge across a creek that empties into a tiny natural reservoir. The water appears to be turquoise blue due to the underwater vegetation.
The walk back involved some uphill and downhill terrain, making it equally exhausting. In the middle, I went by a neighbourhood stand to have a beer. This was not a very central European thing, hence the feeling was very nostalgic.
Till the time I walked back to my car, it was almost 5 pm so the daylight was not going to be only for the next 2-3 hours. I had not planned anything for the evening.
On the way back I was planning to visit one of the many stone Ottoman bridges in the country. This bridge was made of stone and was on the way to my drive back to Tirana. The plan for the next day was to pick up my wife from the airport and drive south. We had reservations in some amazing beach resorts in Sarande and Vlore.
It was the blue hours, and by the time I reached the Mesi bridge, an Ottoman-style stone bridge in the village called Mes was just 5 kilometres from the city of Shkoder.
I wanted to spend the night camping somewhere in the wild so that I could wake up to a good sunrise. But the locations I had in mind had too much off-road driving and my car being a front wheel small car, I skipped the idea and decided to camp in a designated camping place in the hilly city of Kruje. I saw 2 advantages. Firstly, I liked the fortified city of Kruje when I was driving past it and secondly, I had to drive less in the morning to reach the airport, where I would change my car, pick up my wife and drive more than 3 and a half hours to reach Sarande.
The morning was exciting although I had to struggle a bit to find some good spot to capture the sunrise.
I drove quite deep offroad in search of another Ottoman bridge that Google showed but ended up paying a fine to the car rental company for taking a front-wheel drive off-road. The bridge was not reachable but I ended up reaching a very simple village, which would hardly be visited by any tourists. I spent some time there till the sun got a bit harsh and even encountered a herd of sheep while returning.
After leaving Kurje, I had my breakfast in a hotel near the airport. There I freshened up myself had a nice cappuccino and crossiant, and relaxed for a while before leaving for the airport.
The second half of the journey to the beaches of Albania started from the airport after picking up my partner for the trip, my wife. Our reservation was in a hotel which we thought was not good enough when you have far better 5-star options in better locations. We cancelled the cheaper option and booked the Bougainville Bay Resort & SPA in Sarande for just 90 Euros per night including breakfast. The rate was very reasonable considering the location and facilities of the hotel.
The drive to Sarande was a very pleasant one. We even stopped for a while for the first glimpse of the sea after leaving Tirana. The highway took us for a long time, we even stopped in a roadside restaurant for some food. The road started getting into the mountains. Mountains that seemed dry like the ones I had witnessed in the Middle East. It was just as we crossed the mountains we reached the beautiful city of Sarande.
The city was full of luxury beachside resorts and the main road was running through the walls of the hills.
The resort we stayed in was just too good and possibly the room we got was the best in the resort. The room was on the topmost floor with a huge window overlooking the blue sea and from the balcony, you can realize that it is in the centre of the whole structure. The parking on the property was free till June due to the low season.
Parking the car, checking in and settling down took some time so we decided to spend the evening in the pool and then go to the restaurant for dinner.
I relished my fish and some good local beer. The food in the restaurant was comparatively expensive; it was a waterfront restaurant in a five-star property.
The morning was pretty good from a tourist perspective but the sky was too dull for some good photography experience. We planned to visit the Blue Eye and the historic town of Gjirokaster for the day.
The blue eye in this region was more touristy than the one I visited in the Theth National Park but the vegetation here made the water look more saturated in blue.
From the parking place, the walk was around 1 kilometre but it was just an easy walk not a hike like the previous one. The walk starts with a man-made reservoir and then a clear water stream follows you parallelly till you reach the blue eye which is like a small pond with crystal clear water and typically blue vegetation under it reflected its colour through it.
To reach Gjirokaster, it was a short drive through the mountains to finally reach this UNESCO heritage city. The village is so well placed that its old-style architecture and Roman stone streets make it very attractive for tourists from around the world.
The evening was again a cloudy one spent well in the vibrant nightlife of Sarande with some good dinner and drinks.
The next morning we started with some drizzle. We were not very happy about the weather as we could not plunge into the salty sea water in the sun. But to keep up high spirits, we drove up to the Kalaja e Lëkurësit or the Leruski Castle and boy view from up there was gorgeous. The coastline and blue sea lead your vision to the distant islands of Greece and Italy.
We had already checked out of the hotel. The plan was to visit Ksamila and then drive north towards Vlore, where we had our accommodation booked.
Ksamil was a terrific beach location to chill out. As the weather improved for a while I even took a dip in the cold water. The sunshine was short-lived so we decided to take a boat trip to the islands near Ksamil. The boat trip cost us around 40 euros for 45 minutes but it was worth every penny. The boat took us very close to the Greek waters and Corfu Island was just a few hundred meters away.
Leaving Ksamil was not easy because of its beauty but we had to drive almost 3 hours to reach our next accomodation so we started around 4:30 pm.
For the first hour the drive was mostly pleasat with the sun and the sea in accompanying the road. We stopped at a beautiful location to fly the drone and get some shots before the sun starts setting.
Albania from the map looked like a coastal country but its terrain was highly mountaineous. As soon the mountains started it went on and and on with constant up and down with sharp turns. The view of the sea reduced but would always come back to add beauty to the dry mountains. There were beautiful villages on the way that compelled us to take frequent breaks before the twilight hues vanished.
When we reached the hotel, it was pretty dark. The hotel was very well located with a private beach and amazing rooms. Again a 5 star accomodation just for 70 Euros for the night. We happily spent some money in their restaurent with some good sea food and a wine.
The next morning was the final day. The airport was a 2 and a half hours drive but our flight was in the evening. We had a full day to chill on the beach. Fortunately, the weather was sunny, and we could make up for all the non-beach days by spending this entire day at the beach.
The afternoon was well spent with sea and sand. After freshening up we left for the airport a little bit in advance as we stopped by another beautiful location on the way. On the way, we found some traffic so could not spend a lot of time exploring this beautiful monastery in the middle of the water called the St Mary's Monastery. A storm was already brewing as we were getting late for the airport and had to leave before flying my drone over the water bridge leading to the Monastery.
Albania was an amazing land of untouched landscapes and raw beauty along with the turquoise Adriatic sea. Of course one can spend some more time in the mountains and texplore some more beaches as they had a lot more to offer.