Home » Albania » My Albania trips in September 2003

This autumn, I have been to Albania twice. The first time I went there is between the periods 30th of August and 5th of September 2003, and the second time is between the periods 23rd of September and 2nd of October 2003.

My Albania trips in September 2003

Tib
2004-03-13 15:43:21

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I made these trips in my four-wheel drive car, so that we - me and my tourists - were able to explore and visit other remote places, as well as the conventional places. On the first trip we spent two nights at a beach, camping at Golem near Durresi. We visited the museum quarter of Kruja, where is museum of the national hero, Skanderbeg, - who unified Albanians against the Turk conquers in the XIV. century - an ethnographic museum, an old restaurant, some medieval houses and a bektashi mosque (tekke). Next we went to Tirana. The capital is a modern town, there is not too much to see. In the evening we went to Petrela, an old castle, located between Tirana and city of Elbasan. There was an asphalt road to the place, and we found that it does not lead to any romantic ruins, but rather to a new, expensive restaurant. Of course we saw only the castle.

The next day, we went to Berat, the most beautiful city in Albania. Berat is one of the museum cities of Albania, its "nickname" the city with thousand windows, because it has three old quarters with original albanian houses. In the castle was the christian quarter with some old churches, under the castle on the brae was the muslim quarter, with some mosques. As we walked in the old districts of Berat, we visited a few places of interests namely, the Museum of Onufri which housed the famous Albanian icon-painter, the museum of ethnography, a lot of old houses, and mosques.

We wanted to go to Kelcyra near Tepelena, via the mountains, but the road was blocked, so we decided to go to Tepelena instead. We reached Tepelena in the evening, after a 120 km - but 3 hours long - ride. Near Tepelena lies a small village, Benca, where we stayed in a small house-hotel called Eko-Villa. For our dinner course, we ate some fine trouts, from the river.
In the morning we explored the canyon of Benca river. It is a beautiful valley, with deep gorges and a huge Partizan monument and cemetery.

The road ...