Day 5

Gjirokastra. This city is a gem. The historic old part is on the mountain with very narrow steep streets. Two cars cannot pass and one is always backing up to let the other by. Some of the turns from one street to the intersecting one is so sharp they have to make a broken turn. And small buses still get around. Walking is not easy either because the stones are very polished and slippery, and uneven too so you can easily slide and fall. We walked to a historical traditional Gjirokastra house (Skenduli) and got a nice tour from the owner (9th generation) in French. The house is huge with 4 levels, 9 fireplaces, 6 bathrooms and water collection system as well as openings in walls to shoot the invaders. Then we walked in the rain to the house of the famous writer, Kadare, and then to the castle. The castle/fortress is impressive and contains many WWII weaponry (German and Italian artillery and a tank) and an American air force jet forced down in the 70s. We then drove to an archeological site, Antigone. It dates from 2nd century BC. It was a city built by the Greek king Pyrrhus, which he named for his wife Antigone. The drive there was amazing as the site is located very high in the mountains, directly opposite the city of Gjirokastra. The views are breathtaking. The site itself is very disappointing because it’s poorly marked and covered with vegetation so you can hardly make out the city grid, the acropolis and the agora. On the way we also saw two great bunkers (there hundreds of thousands of them all over the country). When we got back to the city we walked to another historical house (Zekate), which is very high above the city with fantastic views of the castle. Then back to our hotel (Kalemi 2), which is a converted traditional house, and we can appreciate its authentic features much more after visiting the museum houses. Right up the street (really a steep up) is a café (Kujtimi) with outdoor seating. We had dinner there the first night and it was good. Tonight we checked trip advisor for good places to eat and that place was rated no. 1 in town. We went back there and had a great meal (appetizer, 2 entrees, beer, wine and dessert for $16).

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