Day 4

After breakfast we braved the sun and went for a walk. First we walked up a very narrow and steep street to the houses on the hillside. From below we saw a Byzantine church very high up on the hill and thought that maybe we could get there, but there was no way. Then we decided to check out the abandoned University in the center of the new town. The university building is probably the largest and most opulent building in town. It was built to house a private university, but the government closed the university and the building is now vacant. What a shame! We then started our long drive to Gjirokastra. It is a very unusual city. The historical part is on mountain side and the new part is down on the flat land. We are staying in the historical district. The very steep, narrow, cobblestone streets are indescribable.. The old city dates back to the 13th century. The houses are built of grey stone and have grey slate roofs, and it looks like they are almost on top of each other. Some are bigger, some smaller, some are huge mansions. We walked around a bit to get our bearings and then sat down for a small lunch in the main street of the “bazaar” section. There was a young woman from England sitting at the next table and we started talking. She gave us great information what to see, what to skip, etc. Then she took pictures for us. Gjirokastra produced two very well known Albanians – the infamous communist Hoxha who ruled Albania for many years, and Albania’s most famous writer – Ismael Kadare, who even wrote a novel about his native city called “Chronicle in Stone”. Bo is reading it now.