Albania - never take advice from the ignorant.

To enter Albania, you fly a Q or Quarantine flag. Basically a yellow flag until you've checked in, then fly the Albanian courtesy flag. No yellow flag?  the Champion T-Shirt did the trick.

Our long suffering Greek courtesy flag finally coming down for the last time, a shredded wreck.

First stop was Sarande'. It is the southernmost port, a port of entry for customs etc and there has only recently been a space built specifically for leisure boats, otherwise it is for ferries, freighters and cruise ships. The check-in procedure is the same for all... The potential admin nightmare we'd been warned about.



The Book advised we use an agent to smooth the process and provided the contact details of two. Nearing Sarande' I called Agim Zholi and was advised he'd meet us at the dock on arrival.

A tidy looking port on the western end of a large open bay necklaced by the sprawling city of soviet era architecture and fronted by an endless promenade. There, as promised stood Agim, smartly dressed, welcoming smile and good English directing us to Med moor against a very high dock designed for cruise ships. We did as asked but stayed as far off as the gang plank would permit to allow for the surge coming into the bay.

Agim required our ships papers and passports. He would take care of the admin,  I could stay or accompany him, my choice. Given what we'd heard, I chose option two not being too comfortable watching our most important documents heading off across the Tarmac.

Agim introduced me to Leaonardo his well spoken, well educated son who took over and off we went. Unlike Turkey and especially unlike Greece, I was ushered into a clean, paper free, hi-tech, air conditioned office. Leonardo keyed in the relevant passport and ships data and another smart young Albanian entered, asked if we'd like our passports stamped and left with them and the relevant paperwork. Not 10 minutes later, just long enough for Leonardo to show me the places we really must see while in Sarande', he was back. €60 for the admin plus €20 per day, power and water included. I hired a car from the place next door, we were moved to yacht birth and our entry to Albania was complete.. Could not have been smoother or quicker.

Three must do's here are Butrint, Gjirokaster and the Blue Eye. It was stifling so we closed up the boat, whacked on the aircon and headed for Butrint having been assured that the boat and its contents were secure.

Declared a UNESCO World Heretage Site in 1992, Butrint dates back to the Illirians around 800BC then the Byzantines, the Greeks, the Romans, the Turks and each conqueror left their footprint making this another fascinating place. 

Although standing in the museum section Sal remarked that it felt as if she had been there before...

William chimed.. "Duh Mum, all these places look the same, they have the same piles of rubble, same broken pots, same jewelry and same statues missing their noses and arms. No wonder you feel like you've been here before!"

Kids on bikes and a walk along the promenade that evening was the plan. After 200 meters of promenade we found a pole to lock the kid’s bikes to. It was hard enough walking through the crowd, cycling was impossible.

After a few tries at waterside restaurants we decided to head inland and find something a little more local. Success. Great meal till the kids became restless. Too many fun things to do on the promenade like shooting galleries and knock over the bottles with cool things to win.

“OK kids, here’s the deal… you have your own money, half an hour of that fun stuff, find your bikes and ride home. You can watch one movie and then bed. Got it?” Such was our level of comfort around their ability and the sense of security for kids here. 

Into the burgeoning carnival they went. Our indoctrinated perceptions of Albania and Albanians fast dissolving.

Given that, it was a relief to find their bikes locked up at the boat and to be shown their booty. Among their winnings a bottle of white wine and 5 Euro note. More money that they had to start! Our meal for five with a liter of wine, AU$33. This place is so cheap, the service is unreal and everybody speaks English or Italian.

GjiroKaster and the Blue Eye on the agenda for day two. 

GjiroKaster is a 60km drive over a range of mountains and into a huge patchwork river valley. GjiroKaster as an ancient castle city with roads and buildings including the roofs all built from local stone. . It traces Albanian history right through to modern times. The castle is in very good condition with a particularly interesting museum containing the usual, as Will would put it, to weapons captured by Albanian partisans from the Italians and Germans during the second world war. Will's face lit up. He loves guns.

In the 1930's King Zog had a prison built in the castle to house resistance to his reign. This was then used by the Italians who 1939 - 1943 then the Germans 1943 - 1944. Cells designed to hold one person were accommodating up to 10 people at their height. Enver Hoxha, a national hero for his leadership on the Partisans who ousted the Germans in 1944 became leader of the Albanian Communist Party from 1944 - 1985 when he died. 

He ruled with Marxist ideals and an iron fist using those same prisons for any dissidence and a torture chamber where prisoners were forced to stand knee deep in freezing water for days. 

Isolating Albania allied only to China and North Korea he used fear of attack as his justification. Albania has slowly emerged from this isolation and now is the time to discover this place before it spoils.

This is the old town of Gjirokaster with its stone buildings with stone roofs and roads...

Late in the day and hot. We were looking forward to the Blue Eye. 

Ice cold (8 degrees) water gushes out of a hole in the river bank which looks like a blue eye. Nobody knows its source nor depth. Italian divers have tired to dive it but only managed 20 meters before being blown out by the force of the current.




No climbing over the fence, no swimming, no diving allowed. Please click here to see what happens next. 8 degree swim challenge

Another UNO challenge. The person staying for the longest time in the water out of Will, Summer and Al gets a foot massage, drinks poured all day and addressed as they choose by the losers. Now imagine taking on a Canadian in such a challenge? You'd think the kids had picked up on the perils of gambling by now! 

This shot is the river downstream from the Eye. I have never seen clarity like this anywhere on this planet.. That weed is at a meter under water.

Two nights and time to move on. Vlore's, the only yacht marina in Albania and with a looming 1:30am Board Meeting by phone, it looked like a suitable place to do it.