Kids were back to waking at 4am. Definitely never experienced jet lag this bad when traveling west in the past! The room we ended up in had no cooking facilities and early morning options on the esplanade were fairly lacking so the kids ended up with giant brioche donuts for breakfast. They didn’t seem to mind the lack of nutrients too much. 
After another play on the beach we packed up and set out to explore the village of Dhermi which was 10 minutes drive up the mountain.
Such a quaint old village with lovely old buildings. Unlike the vast majority of European old towns we have visited there wasn’t a souvenir shop in sight! We had the whole place to ourselves. The downside to Albanias still developing tourism industry is they’re yet to get their garbage problem under control. Very sad to see a lot of rubbish everywhere.
Statue of Petro Marko. A communist writer who was born here in 1913.
Always watch for livestock roaming on the roads! ❤️ We’ve encountered goats, donkeys and a heard of horses so far!
From Dhërmi we made our way 20 minutes south to Himarë Castle ruins. The whole area surrounding it is covered in stunning old olive trees. They must be hundreds if not thousands of years old. I read there’s one back in Tirana that is 3000!
Gio sniffed out this cafe in the castle ruins overhanging the cliff looking out over the ocean. Very idyllic! Here we tried the local favourite dessert “Trilece” which is a light sponge soaked with evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, double cream and topped with caramel. Noelle wasn’t adventurous enough to try it but the rest of us decided it was a hit!
Noelle was super impressed by the ripe grapes!
Jesse managed to pick her some which she then fed to Gio as even grapes aren’t trustworthy overseas in her book.
Before checking into our bnb we picked up ingredients for a bulk spag bol since up until this point Noelle has nearly exclusively survived off white bread and to be honest I love the challenge of cooking in a strange kitchen. Dicing onions with butter knives, resorting to asking the neighbours to open a can of tomatoes and having the power trip half a dozen times for instance always adds to the sense of accomplishment when the meal is finally on the table!
The bnb was attached to an older couple’s home and was listed as 2 bedrooms. Not sure if putting a single and a lounge in the kitchen really makes a dwelling 2 bedrooms but the kids sure thought it was neat!
Once the kids were down Jesse and I retreated outside to escape the sleeping quarters and had to fight off3 determined cats hell bent on eating our antipasto dinner! Jesse invited the man who lived in the attached dwelling to join us for a “raki” which is a popular local spirit usually made from grapes. It goes down a tad too easily for something that’s 42 proof! We had great fun conversing with the aid of google translate. His name is Ali, was born in the city of Vlorë which we passed through on our way down the coast from Tirana. He is a nominal Muslim, has been married for 36 years with a son whose a surgeon in Germany and a daughter who is an accountant here in Albania. He sings tenor in a traditional music group, loves to fish, keeps bees (he gifted us some delicious honey!) and had a great sense of humor.
Our first impressions of the Albanians was that they weren’t that friendly but we are coming to understand that it just seems that way because no one really smiles over here. However we are learning they’re all super helpful and accommodating they just don’t trouble themselves to smile much while they’re at it!
About to board Melbourne to Singapore
