Month: September 2023 (Page 1 of 2)

Amadeus was so excited for a day of exploring Ohrid that he really could barely sleep!
It’s extremely touristy here and as it’s a Saturday we were keen to tick off some of the hotspots before the day trippers arrived. It’s significantly cooler by the lake which has been a lovely change. First stop was the Church of St John the Theologian. Most photographed spot in Macedonia. You’ll notice all the churches seem to be much the same design in varying shapes and sizes.

Gio loves checking out the new flags in each country! 🇲🇰

Beautiful swan in the background next to the “Vordici” or “Epiphany “ statue.

Epiphany is celebrated on the 19th and 20th of January by the Orthodox here, to commemorate the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist. From what I gather the Priest throws a cross into the waters of Lake Ohrid (which is approx 5 degrees at that time of year!) and hundreds dive in, hoping to be the first to retrieve it.

Lovely boardwalk to the church of St. John.

Made it! Had the place mostly to ourselves this time of day.

“Macedonia’s most photographed spot – Tick!”

Lovely amble through a pine forest en route to Samuel’s fortress. Sighted more squirrels along the way.

About this stage I realized the Lions V Pies grand final was happening back home. It was already final quarter when started following along on the live app. Amazingly the only other people at the fortress were a family of 3 Aussies who turned out to be from Brisbane. The teenage boy was wearing a Geelong Cats cap and was very excited to hear the score updates as we crossed paths around the fortress walls. Seemed extremely coincidental given how few Australians we have encountered this trip.

Noelle had the right idea. Keep out of those rays!

Jesse and I were definitely ready for a feed by now and wanted to check out the local favourite “meat pizza”. Research led us to a cafe just opposite the Orthodox Church of St Sophia whose feast day it happened to be in their calendar.  Jesse met the priests wife and kids while Gio and Noelle played with heaps of tortoises roaming the church yard.

A wedding had also just taken place there which was fun to sit and observe. Forget cake – check out the giant wedding Pannatone type deal here!

The meat pizza was loaded with braised pork and put an Aussie meat lovers to shame. And the Margy was second only to the one we had in Napoli itself last year!

After naps we headed off in search of an adventurous hike. We found a lovely trail but not exactly adventurous. The kids found what is probably the best cake I’ve ever purchased along the way.

So beautiful! Explains all the tourists for sure.

The kids had a great time catching hundreds of frogs on the shores of Ohrid

St. John’s again.

Officially our last day (or half of one) in Albania!
Had a great start to our drive and made it nearly 3 hours to Pogradec as our first stop, which is on the shores of beautiful Lake Ohrid. Said to be one of the oldest lakes in the world! After the kids shared a pizza for lunch we filled up the car as Jesse wanted to use up some LEK before crossing the border and into Denar territory. This wasn’t hard to do at a petrol station as just a tank of fuel costs $150! Thankfully our little VW Jetta has been really fuel efficient.

No dramas with either the Albanian OR North Macedonian border patrol which was a bit of a relief after reading a few negative google reviews about corrupt officials working these points. First stop was the Eastern Orthodox Monastery of St. Naum. Established roughly around the year 900 I think. We still didn’t have any local currency but I think the staff liked the kids and let us in for a look anyhow. The grounds were so beautiful surrounded by crystal clear waterways running into the lake.

Spotted this cute squirrel eating a nut on our hike through the Monastery surrounds. There was also heaps of peacocks which the kids were very taken with.

Drink break!

Wild blackberry foraging break!

This big boy is lovin all the baby wearing action.

Painted bunker. I need to research if perhaps this was built by Dictator Hohxa and the borders have since changed.

Last stop before checking in at our accommodation was the Bay of Bones. There was once a settlement called “Sojenice” they think between 1200 and 700 BC. Originally it’s thought to have spreadover a total of 8500m2 unfortunately it was just closing as we arrived but we still got a good enough look and given this is only replicated and just a few buildings at that – I didn’t feel I had missed out too much. Seemed to have a bit of a Maldives vibe over that gorgeous lake though!

Just after this a terrifying stray bulldog rounded the kids up which had me ready to make tracks at any rate. Up until now all the strays have been really harmless we just keep our distance and the kids know not to touch them.

Onwards to the township of Ohrid for the next 2 nights. Our host was really lovely and had lots of toys for the kids and a portacot for Amadeus. The location is super central so it should be easy enough to cover all the sites we wanted to see tomorrow on foot before hitting the road again on Sunday.

This morning was a cool change but as it’s climbing to 29 later in the day, we set out early to beat the heat (and day trippers) and visit the Berat Castle which is just a few hundred meters from our bnb (which is pictured below). We have the whole 3rd floor of this pink 4 storey villa!

Surprise pony inside the castle walls. I’m pleased to report that Noelle had a great nights sleep and after a big bowl of Dahl for breakfast she’s been positively delightful.

This laddy is always delightful (albeit it still fairly wakeful overnight).

Holy Trinity Church.

Nice to get some shots of Noelle not in the carrier!

Very happy with all the snails they’ve collected. They were everywhere.

Miniature roses.

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.

Trad sesh just outside the castle walls

Home for more Dahl and a siesta!

Jesse and I got stuck into the “Originale” olive oil. We opted to have it with fresh bread and basil from the garden rather than straight up like the woman who sold it to us though.

Next stop was the post office to pay a parking fine we got yesterday. Still not sure where it said that parking was prohibited but paying early meant it was only $25 which is a pretty good deal for inner city parking really (by Australian standards anyhow!)

Two cute tortoises having a little amble up the mountain side.

I was really curious about the building in the background with the huge dome. Turned out to be nothing more than a really bougey hotel.

Just another structure named after old Ali Pasha.

Gelato break.

Went back to the Taverna from yesterday for a late lunch/early dinner as it really was the best food we have had since arriving in Europe. The Nonna even managed to get a cuddle out of Noelle today. It was the cook’s birthday I think so we all ended up having to eat their birthday cake afterwards!

Jesse didn’t miss the photo op this time.  Local specialty “Vienez” which is veal and cheese crumbed. Like a rolled up schnitzel guess? Meatballs in tomato and onion, stuffed capsicums and salad.

We were all feeling like stuffed capsicums ourselves by this stage so decided another Apple Maps special hiking route was on the cards. In search of a cliff side church this time.
Gio has been handling the challenges like a champ. Jesse’s smart watch tells us we have been averaging 12k a day and generally 50 or so floors climbed. Gio is always leading the way with a smile and has plenty of encouragement (or heckling) for his Olds hauling the free loading siblings up behind him.

Found the Church of St. Michael but the gate was locked. Still enjoyed some ripper views though! And decided to carry on all the way over the top of the mountain to the castle again as the way back down was far less treacherous that side. One of the buskers from lunch was still going strong 7 hours on!
Home now and packed up for an early start  tomorrow which will be our final day in Albania. 4 hours on the road and we will be attempting our first ever border crossing in a vehicle. Hopefully our hire car company did their paperwork right and North Macedonia don’t refuse us entry! 🇲🇰 

Another day another butter churn! This was taken this morning at the coffee shop Jesse braved taking all 3 kids out to. I stayed to pack up the apartment. Host surprised us yet again with crepes which Gio is pretty keen on as a second breakfast now.

Just under 3 hours drive from Gjirokaster to Berat.  The majority of the drive we were following along the Vjosa (Albanian) or Aoos (Greek) River.

Couldn’t get a great shot due to kids napping so will include this one from online so you know why I was so taken by it.

It’s full of trout which people were selling live in tanks along the road at one point. I kept studying google maps trying to figure out the best place to stop and try for a paddle.

Our efforts took us off road to a tiny village called Kashisht. It was all a bit like something out of Fawlty Towers. We pulled up at the general store which was directly infront of where we hoped to access the river bank. I decided this was also a good place to try to get some olive oil as sadly all the oil in supermarkets here is now blended with 75% nasty vegetable oils! Any of the local vendors have been wanting to charge extortionate prices for the pure product. With the help of google translate the shop keeper lady presented us with 2 repurposed 500ml water bottles full. She proudly drank what was left in the jug she had decanted it from while exclaiming “originale!” and only charged us half what other vendors had been asking.

 Her husband then waved his hand to the right of their shop and insisted we go for “cafe”. I honestly think we were the only foreigners ever to have stepped foot in the town. All the school kids stopped and stared as we exited the store and walked next door to the terraced “cafe”. Which ended up being the store keepers own terrace so he popped out the side door and took our order. Or more to the point simply clarified we both wanted “cafe’s” which only ever means espresso here as that’s all the locals drink!

The antics and interactions between both husband, wife and all of the customers who came and went while we were there was highly entertaining. Sadly this section of the river however was quite dirty so we passed on the paddle after all that.

You can see the dirty section of river behind the trees. Noelle was cranky mostly all day. Here she is clutching her bottle of olive oil. Thankfully she had a short nap after this.

Cruising past another of Ali Pasha’s fortresses in Tempelenë

Stopped at Roskovec as the kids couldn’t wait another 45 minutes for lunch. They were convinced they would starve even after 2 brekkies and snacks between. This town didn’t seem to have ever seen many tourists either. Everything was at least 30% cheaper here than any other place we had visited.

Pizza!!! Possibly the only smile we got out of Noelle today!

Nearly all Albanian buildings have reo sticking up all over the roof like this. Can’t figure out what the deal is. Even on really nice houses and hotels.

Jesse dubbed these style of homes the “Albanian Queenslander”.

Checked into our bnb in Berat. It has stunning views. Hopefully I’ll remember to get a picture before we leave. The roads around it are super steep, narrow and extremely run down so Jesse’s glad we are going everywhere by foot tomorrow!

Late lunch was the best meal we have had so far! This family who ran the Taverna were also very warm and friendly despite our kids being pretty feral (hence Jesse didn’t manage to get a picture of our feed which is unlike him!)

Headed to a playground to try to improve the kids yucky attitudes.  Crossing the Vjosa on the Gorica Bridge.

Crazy slide design.

In the afternoons and evenings in Berat all the locals come out to either wander along the river or converse in the parks as can be seen here.

Street corn!

Cute chimney

They call Berat the “Town of a Thousand Windows”.

Up in the hill is the Holy Trinity Church. Hope to get closer tomorrow.

I was keen on another crack at a ripper sunset from a hill looking down on the Castle and Town. This lead us on quite the adventure. Once again Apple Maps sent us on a bit of a goose chase, the climb was super steep and neither of us really wanted to go back down the way we had come up while baby wearing and potentially limited light.

Here’s Gio waiting on his “Old Man and Old Lady” to catch up!

We found an alternate path but it looked like it would take a lot longer and the light was fading fairly quickly.  Thankfully we managed to navigate back on to a better hiking trail half way down the mountain. Noelle was still in the wars.

It’s hardly fair because she didn’t want to be picked up but also didn’t want to walk. So then her face went like this.

Found a safe descent that was going to get us home before nightfall!  Spirits were high here! (Well maybe not Noelle’s)

Celebrated with another street corn!

Home to put the kids down (most importantly Noelle) and make a batch of Dahl to feed our fussy girl on for the next few days!

Scroll on for more smiling faces and panoramic views!

Below is just a huge photo dump of info for anyone curious about Albanian history. I commend any high school students having to keep abreast of even the last 100 years!

These photos are of the prisons used during the communist oppression. All located within the Gjirokaster prison. Devastating memoirs.

We woke to a slightly drizzly day. Just as we were headed out for a big day of sightseeing, our airbnb host knocked on the door and surprised us with banana and Nutella crepes for brekky!

Still managed to beat the tourists!

Butter churn planter.

We walked our way up through  Old Town to the castle as our first stop.

Below is a sobering plaque on the front of the castle entrance. The Gjirokaster museum was located inside of the castle. It is very comprehensive and I found it all very fascinating so I’m going to do a separate post with just info from there for any history buffs. This post is huge enough as it is!

This stage at the top of the castle is used for the National Folk Festival every few years.

Castle bake house.

These guys don’t mess about when it comes to lawn maintenance.

A local stone artist that Gio stopped in for a chat with both up and down the way from the castle. Sadly these tiles wouldn’t fit in our carry on luggage allowance.

Found this excellent Taverna on our way to Ali Pasha’s Bridge/Aqueduct. Gio was convinced it was the right place as soon as he spotted this butter churn at the bar. The dining area was all on the rooftop. The view was exquisite and so peaceful. Our host spoke very little English but joined us for a Raki or 2 on the house! As well as spoiling the kids with yummy fruit and honey.

When we went to leave I spotted a tortoise in the corner. I was looking around for the little wooden mallet all the ones from Thailand come with to show the kids how to use it as a percussion instrument. I nearly died of shock when it started moving! Turns out the owner has about 5 that just roam about the restaurant.

Next we carried on up the mountain in search of Ali Pasha’s Bridge. I’m more of a google maps girl but my husband was determined to trust apple maps against even the advice of local tourist signs. This resulted in a treacherous scramble down a super gravely cliff face. Difficult to be sure of one’s footing with a baby on one’s chest – obscuring visibility and offsetting balance at the best of times! Needless to say I was less than impressed but all the same relieved when we finally made it to the bridge. The German couple Jesse had earlier chortled about how he was “going to beat” to the bridge looked cool calm and collected as they smugly inquired how the “adventurous route” was.

After a well deserved gelato we went back to our bnb for a nap for Amadeus and some bolognese for Noelle. I needed to let the gang recoup before dragging them out again in the evening as we had missed an amazing sunset the night before and I wasn’t prepared to let another opportunity slip by.  Decided on this lovely rooftop bar as our vantage point. The amazing thing about Albania is places like this are still super reasonably priced. $9 for an Aperol Spritz while our kids run amok? Don’t mind if we do!

Gio discovered this adorable baby turtle who probably wished he never stepped foot on the rooftop  bar by the time our kids were done loving him.

Giovanni and Noelle were exceptionally well behaved all day so I left Jesse to enjoy his aperetif while I braved the bustling Old Town with 3 kids, on a mission for a second scoop of Gelato. Everywhere we go people simply exclaim “një, dy, tre?!” (1, 2, 3) and then occasionally they applaud. I find it very humorous given we are still considered to be such a small family amongst our community back home.

Sunset itself wasn’t that remarkable due to the cloud cover, but it didn’t really matter when the 360 degree views of the castle, old town, new town and mountains were so breathtaking!

A day late with this post as I had a few technical issues on the site. Thankfully I’m a pretty big time blogger and therefore never risk traveling without on-site IT support, so they had it sorted for me pretty quickly.

Early start in the morning for our last swim at the beach before we head off inland for a month. Ksamil has become a bit of a resort town so all the beaches are privatized. Most want at least $30 just to enter which really gets up my nose. However, the boys manning the beaches love a sleep-in as much as the next European so we were packing up our spot on the most luxury beach just as the lads showed up to start demanding 1000’s of LEK. Silver lining of early bird children!

This was the only beach we came across with soft sand. The water was surprisingly warm given it was only 19 c out when I jumped in!

I don’t speak much Albanian but thought this was a pretty good street name!

Next we set out to the Butrint National Archeological Park. Said to have been inhabited since pre-historic times. Occupied by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and more recently the prolific Ali Pasha!

If she didn’t risk sudden death did she even have fun?

Noelle went back to look for popcorn.

Kids were just as thrilled with the turtles as the Roman amphitheater.

This marked the end of our tour of the Alabanian Riviera. We went and packed up at our bnb and set off for the “Blue Eye” which was  an hours drive inland. There’s actually two of them in Albania, the other is north of Tirana. They’re natural springs, the depth of this one is unknown. Divers have gotten as deep as 50m. The water is about 11 c so fairly invigorating! I would have loved to brave swimming but not sure Amadeus would have appreciated the 2k walk back to the car strapped against a freezing wet mother. Even getting ankle deep really took your breath away and our legs were all tingling for about 30 minutes afterwards!

Crystal clear water, even on a rainy day like this the colors were intensely vivid.

The drive from The Blue Eye to Gjirokaster was absolutely stunning. The stormy weather was very atmospheric but difficult to capture on an iPhone camera sadly. I did manage to snap one lightning fork though if you look closely.

Everyone was pretty famished after a big day sightseeing so we settled into a Taverna in Gjirokaster old town for a late lunch. We ordered Tave Kosi again which is an Albanian casserole of lamb cooked in yogurt and rice which we are loving and the Moussaka was very different from the Greek rendition. Gio loved his chicken soup.

Hard earned Gelato

First bath since Australia. It took 3 tanks of water to fill but overall a much more effective bathing experience than the shower situation over here.

Today was about as good as overseas travel gets! We took off early to make it to 9.30am Mass in Sarandë. Checking out was a little tricky as there was an electrical storm in the early hours of the morning, which we assume was the cause of our water supply being cut off at the bnb, as a result,  the dishwashing was questionable at best! Our 1.5hr drive was breathtaking at every twist and hairpin turn. The rain in the earlier hours created such a moody atmosphere.

Quick play before Mass began.

Mass was outdoors as the church is little more than an ultra modern/tiny  chapel. It seems there is very few local Catholics as the priest said the homily in Albanian, English and Spanish. It was also printed on a leaflet in both Polish and Italian so we got the impression he predominantly caters to visitors. After this we did a big grocery shop and set out to explore Sarandë. It had a really cool vibe, very grungy, I felt like I had stepped into an American film set during the 80’s. The apartment blocks are all very run down now but were once painted quite colorfully. We easily could have spent longer here.

Found a few dodgy rides on the Sarandë promenade.

Old communist workhouse.

From here we headed on to our bnb for the night in Ksamil. It’s very spacious and comfortable which will be a nice break for a night after our last “Cosy” living arrangement. Cooked up another bulk  spag bol as Noelle is surviving on that 3 meals a day.

Tiny Albanian granny chattering away to our children . We didn’t understand a word, but she seemed delightful!

Rare splurge on delicious grilled seafood for dinner. Even Noelle gave it a good go!

The staff were a bit smitten with the Big Fella

Another happy gelato face.

Can never resist a pic with some bogan!

Noelle was thrilled she found a ball!

Today is our last day in Himarë and still so many beaches left to explore. First stop this morning was Borsh Beach. Not quite as developed yet which was nice. To access the beach you drive through a whole grove of old olive trees which I’m still pretty mesmerized by. Also neither Jesse nor I can get enough of the stunning mountains surrounding the coastline. We decided it means we are getting old because as kids our parents would always take note of “boring things” like trees and mountains and as a child you never really get what the fuss is about!

Found ourselves an abandoned cabana. Jesse and I are always too tight to pay for shade!  The tourist season is nearly done here now so many businesses have closed for the winter. Seems premature as the days are still hitting a top of 30c.

On the short drive back to the bnb for naps (something I’m relying on pretty heavily as Amadeus is still waking every 90 minutes over night!) We stopped in at Porto Palermo Castle. Built by Ali Pasha Tepelena during the early 19th century. This cheered up Gio thankfully who was fairly out of sorts up until this point.

While we napped Jesse couldn’t pass up the opportunity to cook some cevapi for lunch on the BBQ.

After lunch we set off to explore Llamani beach just 10 or so minutes drive down the road. However we hadn’t realized it’s completely privatized and costs $25 just to enter.  Hard pass from these cheapskate travelers. We weren’t even tempted given all the other great beaches within 30 minutes drive. At least we spotted these cute goats on the way there.

Noelle was thrilled to find our favourite gelato spot had chocolate back in stock today! She settled for caramel yesterday but our “regular” girl doesn’t appreciate any of the fangled European flavours as much as the rest of us.

Back to Potami beach, which is our local one. Just 5 minutes walk down some very steep steps. Kids were keen for a play in some sand for a change. Gio spotted this couples “awesome rock castle setup” and got chatting to them. They were a lovely couple from Brazil and Ukraine settled in Portugal. Turns out they’re heading the same way as us tomorrow so we may end up catching up somewhere over the next couple of days.

Started the day off at Livadhi beach which is a short drive from where we are staying. There’s a beach only 3 minutes walk away but it’s fairly small and quite packed which, given the current bikini style equates to far more bum cheek:beach ratio than I care for.

Gio is loving collecting rocks and sea glass. I’m always impressed by how quickly his pile of pieces deemed to be precious or interesting grows at a much quicker rate than my own.

Home for a much needed nap as I’m still averaging about 2 hours sleep a night and the kids woke at 5am.

Amadeus is loving his little floor nest!

Just need ergobaby to release a carrier small enough for Gio to wear so I can take it easy on our walks.

Rare picture of Jesse and I in the same shot, thanks Gio! Here we are waiting at a lovely Greek Taverna for our lunch. The Greek and Italian influence throughout Albania has been very strong in regards to cuisine and architecture. I’m interested to see if it’s just along the coastal areas or further inland as well.
The man below is grilling lamb for Jesse and Octopus for myself and Gio. It was all excellent although the kids wouldn’t eat the hand cut chips because “they’re just potatoes”.

Locals set up on the side walk playing cards.

After lunch Gio thought it would be a good idea to wrap his seatbelt around the headrest of the drivers seat infront where it got stuck as the headrest wasnt removable. We couldn’t get it to release enough to get it back off. I’m embarrassed to admit we were a bit panicked and considered we may have to call a mechanic before I thought to simply slide the seat back and recline it ? ??‍♀️. Later when we returned to the car someone had parked us in and a lovely local passing by took the time to stop and give us some tips on getting out of such a tight spot. Definitely not something we are used to doing back home.

Pistachio gelato to finish off a great day!