Day Tripping in Albania

Having booked a day trip through a local Gouvia travel agency, I spent the next day shuffling my way around the port town of Saranda in Albania. Considering I crossed international borders, the paperwork of moving between countries was minimal. Passport control in Greece, a 30-ish minute ferry and a wander onto a coach later, and we made our way to our first stop, drinks and ice cream with a view:

Our tour guide, a young Albanian guy, was keen to know what we knew about his country and was even more keen for us to tell our friends about our experiences there. To be honest, I knew very little other than the fact that, growing up, there seemed to be a lot of Albanian exiles in my little part of middle America. 

And that's got a lot to do with the history of the country. From 1949 until 1991, Albania allied itself under the Soviet Union becoming one of the Communist pieces of the Cold War puzzle. The leaders of Communist Albania, Enver Hoxha followed by Ramiz Alia, as in the fashion of many 'People's Democratic Nations', opted for secrecy and seclusion from the rest of the world. At one point, even Mao Zedong's form of Communism was too liberal for Hoxha's home-grown ideas. People didn't go out and people didn't go in. To its Greek neighbours, the Albanian coastline and mountain ranges were just a distant coastline. 

Obviously this seclusion took its toll on the infrastructure and economy of the Albanian nation, some of which we saw during our wander around Saranda. For one, the roads were somewhat potholed and driving was haphazard. For another thing, building projects seemed to have popped up from place to place, some abandoned, some continuing. And I suppose if we had driven from the coast to Tirana, the capital city, this would have been further evident. But that didn't stop Saranda itself from being perfectly charming. 

Butrint 

Our next stop was at a UNESCO World Heritage site, the ancient ruins of Butrint. The Greco-Roman ruins fell under hard times during the Communist era when Hoxha refused entry to archaeologists and large-scale looting saw the site lose some of its important relics. But with UNESCO and new governmental support, the ruins are seeing a bit of a revival (as such): 

Next stop, Lekuresi Castle

After a lunch stop, we wound our way past Saranda's newly built airport and up to Lekuresi Castle high atop a stunning vantage point. Any ancient remains of a castle no longer stand and the whole establishment has been turned into a cafe and restaurant. But that's not really why you come here; the view's the thing:

Saranda town:
Our final stop took us to Saranda and its gorgeous little harbour. Beaches, fish restaurants and shops lined the seafront and seeing that temperatures had climbed steadily into the 30s, the water was filled with locals and tourists alike.

 

I alternated between beach lounging and swimming for the remainder of the afternoon, watching kids launch themselves off of large concrete piers and listening to mums gossip happily on their beach towels. It was a fitting end to a hot day and a delightful introduction to a country trying to make a name for itself in a quickly changing world.