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!