Life's a Beach (From North to South Albania)

Mandatory beach selfie, Qeparo Beach

Last week, we rented a car, and all seven of us took a long, winding road trip from Tirana all the way down to Himarë - one of the many beach towns in southern Albania. Faye and Derrick chose an Air B&B which described itself as a "secluded paradise" that would fit us all (and had air conditioning), and claimed it was walking distance to two beaches.

We stopped briefly at Tepelenë - long enough to take a group photo, have Hazel pee on the side of the road, and then hightail it back out, because it was SO HOT.

Squinting and trying not to melt

We then took a longer stop in the town of Gjirokaster, with plans for lunch, a nice long stroll through their market area, and a trip to the castle. We managed to accomplish the first two, but just could not bring ourselves to tack on the castle at the end. It looked super cool, but with temperatures in the high 30s, (37 or 38 at that point), neither the very pregnant lady or the 5 year old had it in them to walk to the top of the hill.  I'm not any of us did, honestly.  

Our first view of the market streets

Family shot

All the typical Albanian market wares

Sitting down for a nice lunch - not air conditioned, but at least nicely shaded

Hazel trying very hard not to smile

She'll smile for her aunt Faye, though

Derrick gets in on the shot...

... and then Linden quickly makes sure he's included

Looking over the town proper

The closest we got to the castle.  Everyone was very anxious to get back to the air conditioned vehicles at this point

I have to say, I was sad to leave Gjirokaster so soon - I would have happily spent more time strolling the market (I bought a couple pieces of pottery, and the girls each found earrings), and would really have loved to see the castle.  We even thought about day tripping back there while in Himarë, but decided after the 2 hours of crazy winding roads between Gjirokaster and Himarë, there would be no day tripping.  Ah, well.  Next time.

I tried to take pictures out the window of the car as we zoomed along, but of course only a few turned out, and don't come close to capturing it.  But the views were truly spectacular.

So many hills and mountains

A brand new highway made the twists and turns a *little* less scary

Tunnel through the mountain

We would encounter fields of agave, which was quite something to see in person

Finally, after I started to get concerned about everyone getting car sick, we found our way to Himarë itself.  Secluded was a good way to describe our rented apartment - we were following Derrick in, and were unsure towards the end that our car would make it up the steep dirt (and rock) roads we had to navigate.  But we made it!

We had the top floor to ourselves

Fig tree in the front yard (not quite ripe, alas!)

The view from the balcony - that is the Greek island of Corfu in the distance

Same view, slightly more mystical conditions

Panorama from balcony to balcony

Faye offered to paint Hazel's nails as soon as we got there, because it was all Hazel could think about. She had been allowed to get sparkly pink nail polish right before we left Tirana, and was desperate to get it on her nails.

We soon learned that the beaches within "walking distance" of the Air B&B were not quite as easy as a stroll as they had been made out to be.  If we were going to spend our day at the beach, we would have to chose one, pile into the vehicles, and then commit to it for the day.  So that's what we did! Three full days, three different beaches.  And even though they were all along the same coast line, they were all very different in feel.

The first day, we chose the main beach in Himarë itself.  It was a public beach, so if you found an unclaimed umbrella and lounge chairs, you could claim them.  We got there just early enough to find three loungers and a big umbrella that would fit all of us.  Bonus!

Hazel, ready to take the beach by storm

See? Just big enough for all of us

The colourful umbrellas all along the beach

Faye and Derrick (and the super entitled woman who kicked out some poor guy who got that spot before they did.  She also tried to take one of our lounge chairs, but Faye wasn't having any of it)

Sadly, these were not sandy beaches, so Hazel could not use the sand-castle-building supplies we'd bought before coming

Hazel's daily lollypop. My guess is that the lollypops is what Hazel will remember most about this whole trip

Beach reading

Faye managed to source her one beach request - a big colourful floaty.  It was her very best friend the whole trip.

Sometimes she shared!

Back at the apartment, we made supper and played games:

Hazel wrestles with a seeded watermelon - a novelty!

Shirtless Catan

The next day, we decided to head to the nearby town of Borsh to try out the beach there (which Faye and Derrick had been to previously).  The Himarë beach was very close, but overall rather underwhelming:  there were lots of motor boats that docked right next to where we were, and more than a little garbage floating in the beach water. Borsh was about 30 minutes to get to, and you had to pay for an umbrella with two lounge chairs, but it was, in my opinion, a much nicer beach.  Plus, parking was free, so it ended up being a cheaper day than the Himarë one in the end.

Hazel LOVED having a mask that covered her eyes and her nose

View from the water's edge

Happy swimmers

I ventured out deep with my phone and Faye's tube to try and get shots of what it looked like from the water

My colourful water socks made it into this one by mistake! Though, as a side note, I was very happy to have brought them - the beaches in the south were all rocky rather than sandy, and my feet were much happier than those of the rest of my family

Though it was still ridiculously hot, I have to say that when shaded, and close enough to the breeze coming off the water, it was quite nice

"Hazel, smile!" 

Juniper is better at smiling on command

This was at the end of the day.  We were definitely done at this point, and just trying to stay in the shade.

Back at the apartment, Faye tries to mimic Hazel's smile as they paint rocks that Hazel took home from the beach

The third and final day, we decided to try yet another beach - this one in the small town of Qeparo (a little closer than Borsh).  On the way, we stopped at Port Palermo Castle, that was home to a fellow named  Ali Pasha of Tepelena (yes, the same Tapelena we visited on the way to Himarë).  It was small, but really cool, because it was almost completely intact (having been built in the early19th century). It has an interesting history, which I will spare you the details right now, but if you want to look it up, you'll also learn about Ali Pash himself.  He was... not a very nice person.

I think the orange lighting was meant to give the impression of what it would look like lit by torches

skylight

Ali Pasha

On top of the roof with the turrets

From within the prison cell.  It was super creepy

Getting out of the crazy sun

Looking cool

Peeking out, dying of heat

Another attempt at a family shot.  We were much, much too hot (and it was much, much too sunny in our eyes) to ever have had a hope of that working out

Me and Hazel on guard duty

Castle group shot.  We were shiny with sweat, but happy to be in the relative cool of the castle before heading to the beach

Pomegranate tree!

Beach #3: Qeparo

A panoramic shot from the water (which was shallow for far enough out that I could take this without the help of the floaty)

Juniper and Linden's heads bopping out of the water

Smiling in the shallows

I get in for a selfie.  Do you notice anything on Juniper's swimsuit? 

The moment where I pointed out the huge cicada.  Juniper literally flashed the entire beach in her panic to get it off

Beach time was beer time.  No rules

Handstands

Hazel wanted documented evidence of how well she could put her face in the water 

Check out this jaunty grasshopper!  I've literally never seen a grasshopper this huge

The comfiest loungers of the trip

There was enough sand at this beach that Hazel tried to make a sand castle.  But it was, in the end, not sandy enough sand. 

Someone came around selling fresh berries, and I couldn't resist

Agave fields

More games: Code Names (with pictures!)...

... and an expanded game of Catan (Derrick also played... not sure where he was when this was taken)

The next morning we packed up and said goodbye to our beach days.  We decided to go home a different route, which took us over Llogara Pass, and then by the ruins of Apollonia.  I am unsure how to describe the drive up and down from Llogara Pass. It was... intense. Breathtakingly beautiful, but so steep and narrow and winding and long. And have I mentioned Albanian drivers?  I honestly felt lucky at the end that we did not witness, or were part of, any terrible, terrible accidents.  I tried taking pictures out of the car while we drove, but again - it is very difficult to get a good shot that way.  But here are a few:

Tiny church off the side of the road, with the mountains looming in the background

This, my friends, is the switchback road we were about to get on

So many bee hives!

And so many little stands, selling jars of honey. 

Those mountains!

While on these arrow roads, you must navigate the traffic, and sometimes other things (in this case, horses. Other times, goats or cows or chickens)

Here is a little video, just to get a sense of what it was like driving these passes.  I am so happy it was Derrick and Clark, and not me.  People would pass without being able to see what was coming around the next hairpin turn, and it was often a big truck that would suddenly loom in front.  It think I held my breath the entire time.

Halfway home, we stopped at an ancient Greek and Roman city called Apollonia. There were ruins, a museum, and a church.  It was just the kind of thing a could spend an entire day wandering around, and I think the kids thought it was pretty neat as well.  But it was 39 degrees, and there was very little shade, and we pushed it as far as we possible could without someone literally fainting.   So, once again, a place I wish we could have spend more time at, but I was very glad to have made the effort!

There are so many olive trees everywhere around Albania, but this is the first one I saw with fruit!

Inside the museum - Juniper checking out some of the ceramics (a girl after my own heart!)

"Group shot!" I suggested. We could barely touch each other, we were already so hot and sweaty

Linden posing with the male busts...

... and Juniper with the women

Our unofficial tour guide, who flitted from sculpture to sculpture

A smattering of statues

A really big, intact piece!

Monastary and church of Saint Mary (13th century)

Outside the church

The kids were fascinated by the well, which still had water

Inside the church.  We snuck into an English tour group

Outside the front of the church

So. Very. Hot.

Juniper offered to take this one

Heading out to the city ruins

This one, in particular, was a very intact ruin

A different angle

This was after seeing the first part of the city. All three kids were non-functional.  Clark and Derrick and Faye walked off to see a bit more of the ruins, but Hazel was in tears, and Juniper thought she might faint, and Linden just kept saying "we need to go back to the car".  Luckily, I had lollypops in my purse for just such an emergency.  It got them through.

Linden poking out through a hole in this massive tree trunk

On the drive back home, Faye and Derrick stopped by one of the many, many roadside stands selling fresh melons (among other things)

What it looks like from afar

Whew! That was a bit of an epic post, and I need to shift gears to get us ready for tomorrow morning, where we end our Albania trip, and head to Greece.  Wish us luck!  Greece is in the middle of such an intense, unprecedented heat wave that they've apparently been closing the Acropolis during the heat of the day. I'm not sure how much we'll actually be able to do. One way or the other, I'll try to keep this updated!