Day 3

We left Tirana and started our drive. The destination was Berat. The city was founded 4000 years ago and is a UNESCO site. There were no signs showing the way and our driver had to ask twice. We went through agricultural areas and industrial areas including an enormous steel mill built by the Chinese in the 60s, then abandoned and now partially restored by a Turkish company. When we finally emerged out of the wilderness, there was this large picturesque town built on two hillsides separated by a river. Berat is a very popular tourist destination (which nobody has heard of) and there were several tour buses from Germany and Italy. Our hotel (Mangalemi) is on a small stone road. It’s in a lovely old stone house. After we checked in, our driver took us up the narrow stone road to the castle. The stones are white, flat and very slippery. The car lost traction after stopping to allow a downhill car to squeeze past. What they call a castle is actually a fortress or a citadel. It contains 8 churches (out of 42 that were originally there) and 2 mosques, and about 200 inhabitants. One of the churches houses a museum of icons painted by the most famous icon painter in the Balkans –Onufri.. After visiting the church/museum we walked around trying to find the viewpoint marked on the map. The castle covers a very large area, but there are no sign and very few people you can ask for directions. We got lost a few time but finally found the viewing terrace with amazing views of the city. Then we started the trek down the stone road. After a little rest in the hotel, we embarked on a trek to the lower part of the city, near the river. We discovered a wide boulevard full of cafes, then two bridges to the other side of town , called Gorica. Both sides have the same architecture – layers of white houses with large windows, clinging to the mountainside. We had a great dinner in the terrace restaurant of our hotel – best food in Albania so far, and then a round of rakia in the bar with our driver Julian.

Comments

  1. MelSeptember 20, 2017 at 11:25 AM

    I loved seeing the day and night shots of town! Huge windows...mild weather there?

    But that night shot of the boulevard...hmmm, whose that guy with shorts and his hands in his pockets?!! looks like a great place to stroll. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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