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!