Day 6

We left Gjirokastra in the morning. We had to cross mountainous passes and got to Blue Eye which is a water spring and natural phenomenon. The water from the deep spring appears very blue and the surrounding water is green. From there we went to an old monastery ruins. Then on to our hotel destination in the village of Ksamil (hotel Arturi – not recommended) which is right on the beach. We walked to the town center and found a place (Guvat) for lunch with a beautiful view of the coast and a string of little islands between the Albanian mainland and Corfu. The food was great. As we were walking along the beach promenade, we were appalled by the state of this beautiful place – unfinished construction sites(100s of large hotels 50 – 80% complete, garbage dumped by the side, lampposts lying on the walkway because of shoddy construction… Such a shame. Back at our beach we got into lounge chairs to read. The wind was howling, the waves large, and the sun brutal. We found shade but could not escape the wind. We went to the bar and had raki (Al) and wine (Bo). Albanian raki is very good, and wine is not bad, either. Our driver suggested we go to a nice restaurant in the larger town of Sarande, which is about a 20-minute drive away, and so we did. We had a nice fish dinner close to the port, and then walked along the city’s happening place – the seashore promenade. It was very lively, full of people, restaurants, bars, etc. Sarande is 20 minutes by ferry from Corfu and two ferries full of tourists arrive every day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.. We drove through Sarande again this morning on the way to our next destination, and noticed the same problem as in Ksamil – the beautiful natural setting destroyed by over development, lack of planning and care. We saw many, many unfinished buildings as well as finished empty buildings that were supposed to be either hotels or apartment buildings, dirty street, uncollected garbage, etc. Julian explained that this has a lot to do with government corruption and money laundering for the mafia. They have a new government now, which is trying to clean things up, but the process is slow and at this point hardly visible.

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