Albania – Travels with Ali

During our stay in Sarande, one of the places we visited was Butrint.

The bus stop was only a five minute walk from the hotel and it arrived shortly after us. We found seats and then promptly sat there for 20 minutes while the bus filled up and up until the doors could hardly close. Amongst the throng was the bus conductor who was issuing tickets, I’m not sure how he checked who had tickets or not. The journey takes around 30 minutes and for 3 Euros each I thought it wasn’t bad. There is only one restaurant there and we ate lunch here after our walk.

Butrint has been inhabited since prehistoric times and also home to many different nations, including Romans, Byzantines and Venetians. The last person who live here was Ali Pasha, an Albanian Ottoman ruler who controlled Butrint and the area until its final abandonment.

Above is the Venetian Triangular Castle sitting on the banks of the Vivari Canal

Butrint is now home to a vast array of flora and fauna. The excellent preservation of the remaining structures bear witness to the amazing building skills of all the previous inhabitants, especially the Romans.

We enjoyed our two hour walk around the site marvelling in turn and discussing the history as we walked.

Sitting by the Venetian Tower and soaking up the atmosphere.

I didn’t realise how vast Butrint actually is, it covers 9,000 hectares and there are steep hills and tracks around and across it. Looking at the map I’m not sure we covered everything there was to see.

Possibly a Roman civic house from the 5th century and the views across Lake Butrint.

Most of the monuments were discovered by the Italian Archaeological Mission between the years 1928 – 1939. The team who worked here were guided by Luigi Maria Ugolini. Imagine the excitement on finding such historical structures.

6th Century Baptistery with mosaic floor

The mosaic has now been covered over again for preservation and apparently it is cleared every few years for viewing.

This was a fabulous place to spend an afternoon if you are interested in history. Because of the many factions living here it was all the more interesting trying to piece together the timeline. It was such a peaceful afternoon, we were lucky that we had managed to avoid the tour buses.

Linking to Jo’s Monday Walk

This is the first in a series of posts about our wonderful visit to Albania. It’s an 11 day itinerary where we visited coasts, mountains and cities.

We checked out of the Odysseus Hotel in Corfu and took the bus to Corfu Port for our ferry to Sarande. Just €10 for a one way crossing which I thought was good value including luggage. The slow crossing takes around 75 minutes and the fast 30 minutes. We took the slow ferry and were able to go back and forth outside.

Sarande is the gateway to the Albanian Riviera and around 33,000 people live here. In recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of overseas visitors and cruise ships. Several people I mentioned it to didn’t know where it was or if it was safe to travel there.

First glimpses of Sarande from the ferry

I was surprised to see how built up it was, with hotels and apartments jostling for space on the seafront and the streets behind.

Researching this trip took many weeks, with hotels booked, cancelled and rebooked. Changes in destinations, lots of reading other articles and blogs about where to go and not to go, I felt like I knew the place like the back of my hand.

Our hotel was just a five minute walk from the port and even though we were early for check in our room was ready. The Royal Sarande Hotel was right on the sea front, it sounds grand but it was a small family run boutique hotel. We had a tiny verandah attached to our room overlooking the beach. It was in the perfect spot and Jimmy and his wife and staff looked after us admirably.

There is a boulevard along the seafront that stretches for one kilometre that comes alive at night. The locals come out in the evening for a stroll and get together with friends. With so many restaurants that line the promenade it was hard to make a choice.

It’s hard to imagine from these scenes that this country was once locked in from outsiders and overruled by the harsh dictator Enva Hoxha. Some of these locals would have lived their early lives in brutal conditions, as we later came to see and learn. That night there was a fish festival going on and there were many food stalls selling all kinds of seafoods and long tables to sit and eat. There was also a music concert with different bands performing. All in all it was a fun and vibrant atmosphere.

Waking up one morning we saw that a large cruise ship from the Holland America line had docked. We sat and watched each life boat being lowered and taken to shore. The passengers were met by coaches to begin their day of sightseeing. We did meet some of these passengers later when we walked up to Lekursi Castle.

We were both looking forward to seeing more of Sarande over the next couple of days with visits to Butrint and Lekursi Castle planned.