More Castles.

This morning, despite getting up at 8 i wont be at the ¨bus station¨ before 11. One more nice breakfast with Stavri, getting of the city bus at the wrong stop, wondering around the market and looking for the post office will delay me. As i get to the big roundabout where buses are supposedly leaving, i get sent from one corner to the other only finding buses to Durmir, the coast resort. Finally in a nice shaded parking spot, i find my Furgon to Kruje . It is the former capital and there stands the big castle fiercely defended by the Albanian hero Skanderberg against multiple Turkish attacks. This charismatic figure is considered a huge hero in Albania and is sculpted and depicted on many occasions, namely on the 5000 lek bank note ;) The castle is nice, the museum refreshing but i don't learn much since most the stuff here is in Albanian... The setting is nice but i preferred Gjirokaster.
I head back on the road have a couple fruits (i realize i never ate so much fruit than during this trip, a couple peaches, apples or plums are just the ideal lunch in the blazing heat). And get back down to the valley with a private building worker. Then a road construciton boss pikes me up and drives me up closer to Skoder in his air conditioned 4 wheel drive. We pass a huge wood fire that just keeps burning... They have no way to stop it, no planes, little fire vehicles. And once more i get dropped at a bus station, People always seem to thin it raly is the best way and i should top hitchhiking... Furgons what to take me to Skoder, i dont :) walk away a bit, stick out my thumb and just as locals are trying to help me out and ask why i dont get a sign with my destination, a van stops. Old man, silently driving his wreck towards destination, smiles and looks out the windows with his big clear blue eyes. We pass a dramatic frontal crash, probably a couple dead in that one. This remembers me of the main danger in Hitchhiking those countries, it is not the driver itself as most people would think and argue but rather his driving and the bad roads...
I safely get to a village, closer to my goal, Koman, from where my ferry leaves the next morning, up a beautiful canyon, closer to the Kosovan boarder. As walk the road here, i am invited to relax and have a beer with some local men. Ani, a young men who has been to england for a couple years but did not like it much except for work, along with older fellows are chilling around a glass water. They tell me the story of Francois who passed here last year walking his way to Israel and whom they never heard of again, despite phone number...
Back on the road i get a short ride, then a longer one with other garbage trowing Albanians, a shorter again with Italian emigrants and finally a local youngster does a 30 km detour to bring me to Koman. And what a slow detour, the bad and curvy roads take ages to get over into the valley.
Finaly in Koman for sunset, i have a fresh beer and then a good super with my last lek at the only local restaurant whom offers me to sleep over, in his garden for an euro. I accept, mainly because of the shower and the nice trees by the river where i put up my hamac. The bathroom is worth a couple words, it holds a washing machine, a shower hose, a small mirror and a Turkish toilet trough which the water from all this flows away. All this despite its simplicity (or maybe thanks to) is however very clean and there is no sign of moisture or bad smell.
The moon is shining, the river flowing and the wind blowing, i get into my hamac for what wont be the best night of sleep.

Kluja Castels

hitch to the ferry

Beautiful coast.

Yesterdays hitchhiking successfully brought me all the way down south to Saranda. There i meet some friendly Albanians again, besides almost everyone who friendly salutes me, kids are particularly nice, first those two playing football then this whole bunch amongst which two speak fluent English. They ask me, like all kids. naive questions but also where i sleep. I tell then i have a hamac, they point to some trees and warn me about dogs :) The want to touch my muscles (hehe), know my name, my life... they are a curious, funny and happy living bunch. The Marines on their base right next to here are just the same. Except for their boss who shouts i should get out of here. I don´t get what they do here, they are just 3 4 old frigates, half of which are rusting, the other half is already half sunken.

I go for a nice plate of fish in a nearby restaurant in whichs backyard i then set up my hamac. Except for a couple barking dogs, the night is quiet here in the cities outskirts. I wake up go for a coffee in that same restaurant and head off to i don't know where. «j n’sais pas ou je vais ca j’n’l’ai jamais bien su, mais si jamais je le savais je crois bien que je n’irai plus» as la Rue Ketanou sings. As i pass a stopped bus, the gypsy kids sitting there advertise the ride! it is only 100 leke to Butrint, an archaeological site, I should really see it. They are quiet funny and friendly, a bit sticky but cool. So I get on to Butrint.

On the ride I meet an multilingual Albanian from Kosovo, he has worked in Geneva and speaks perfect French. Once arrived, I realize it is 700 Leke entry. 500 for me :) I would have paid 700 if i had known what was waiting for me. Maybe the best archaeological site i have seen in my life and all for me alone in those early morning hours. It has a very complicated history from the 4^th century BC to nowadays. Healing sanctuary, roman Mediterranean trade an culture city, religious center, Venetian military outpost...

From there i hitchhike my way to the beautiful fresh, sweet waters of the Blue eye, but before getting a ride i speak to my gypsy friends again :) At the spring i relax, swim in the cold water (about 10 degrees they say). Later an Albanian photograph shows up and take nice pics :) Then the man from this morning bus ride comes along. He worked in Geneva for Albanian education and integration.

I then rapidly manage to get to th beautiful Gijorkaster for sunset. And meet a serious Albanian entrepreneur who started solar and green energy here. He has a contract for street lights using leds. We talk a bit technical and of course exchange emails.

I find a nice room with a dude who is a bit in a hurry. Tonights shots of the nice sunset panorama of the surrounding mountains along with the snapshots of the massive impressive insides of the castle and the view of the old authentic stone roofs of the old city are unfortunately lost in a wrong manipulation during transfer from my memory cards... This castle, its old town and the surrounding mountains are and will remain my favorite in Albania.

butrint

Blue Eye

Bran Castle, Dracula style

Next Day is unfortunatly (you will soon understand why...) a Sunday and it starts with an unlucky hitchhicking attempt to Bran, some 20 kms from Rasnov. I end up taking the bus to get to a famous castle of the region. It is not exactly the castle of dracula but supossed to be a very nice one, quite renovated and representative of castles in the area.

Aproaching the Castle.

Queing for entery... This is why i hate tourist Saturdays...
Check out the price (12 lei = 4 euro), 100 people per quater hour getting in... and do the math.

Before getting inside there is a reconstitution of what villages looked like in different places of Roumania, once upon a time.

This is what it looks like inside, damn small bed :)

Now, that is better, inside the castle, they must have had more to eat, be taller and have nice big and fancy beds... Pretty dark too, I bet you would have loved it Greg.

View from inside the court, again, loads of people quing they way through the visit, an arranged oneway circuit through all the rooms.

Inside stairs... Immagin it with no light, or candle light :)

The castle from its best angle in my opignon, better than the inside full of people.