Berat, Albania
I first “saw” Albania when I was 17, sitting on a beach in Corfu. We were told, under no circumstances to kayak or swim over there as you will be arrested and might not be released – mmmm ok….!
A few years later…?I find myself in Albania – cool!!!
I arranged a driver from Ohrid to bring me to the airport in Tirana to get a car. No way I was being without one now! The first hire company, had a car, for half the price of Macedonia and I could drop it off in the North, and I was told if I crash the car no problem – perfect…
The driver had taken me through Tirana on the way to the airport. I had no desire whatsoever to battle my way back into the Capital and complete bedlam. Not after coming from such beautiful places, I was in a peaceful mood!
I headed instead for the 2,413-year-old (can’t get my head around that!) city of Berat, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Another name for it is the City of Floating Windows. When you look at the houses you just see windows…
The castle is way up on a hill (funny that), so, up I trundled.
The castle grounds are huge with a lot of the little houses still occupied. I went up at sunset to have a look around.
I was only up there half an hour before the most hectic storm hit, torrential rain, thunder, lightning. It was so hectic, I started heading down straight away, Being on top of the hill with this amount of lightning was a bit scary. As it was so dark and raining there was not another soul around (just this idiot…).
I was finding it tricky to find my way down again. I eventually found a tiny hole in the wall shop still open and asked the way down (they didn’t speak English…). They told me… To stay put they would get me a taxi – great! Their son turned up in a car to take me down the mountain. If I knew you could drive up!!!! Anyway, we set off in the torrential rain, very quickly, I realized he doesn’t have windscreen wipers!!! So down the winding mountain, we go ( the long way) not being able to see a thing. We only went in the ditch once, when another car came around the bend (at least they drive on the right…). It took 20 minutes – of pure terror (on my part) to get all the way down. I will bring an umbrella next time…
