Spring Break 2005 – Albania Part 2

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My new Albanian haircut along with my Albanian brother’s haircut and the woman that works next door to my Albanian mom’s pharmacy. You may recall that I spent time with the little sister of the woman that works next door to the pharmacy.

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No, the world isn’t tilted. The church tower is tilted!

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It’s the leaning tower of Albania.

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The old mosque in Vlora.

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A view down on Vlora.

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I decided to take a little side trip down to Sarande to see the Greek and Roman site of Butrint. To get there I took a small bus down along the wild and rugged cost of southern Albania. These birds flew along beside us for quite a while as we drove over the Llogora Pass.

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Sarande.

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Butrint. The Venician watch tower guarding the narrow inlet into the Butrint Lake.

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The castle from a previous occupation of the site. Maybe when the Italians were here? It was restored in the 1920’s or 1930’s.

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Half staff in memory of the pope. I heard about the pope’s death at about 1040pm as I was on my way between Tirana and Vlora on my way back from Kosovo. We learned of his death via SMS.

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This is yet another example of amazingly well done retaining walls. All natural materials and all hand done. I think that many more industrialized nations could learn something from this approach to soil stabilization.

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All of those things out in the water are muscle farms. This area of Albania is renowned for its tasty muscles.

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An old basilica in the lower part of the site.

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One of the old city gates.

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Turtle!

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An important baptismal for the Christian world.

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An old palace that now is slightly below the level of the sea. Proof of global warming? I think so!

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A well. A thousand years or more of use makes for some good rope wear patterns.

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The theater at Butrint.

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The triangle fort.

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Muscle farms.

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A hydro-power station.

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An Albanian transmission substation.

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Syri i Kalter (Blue Eye Spring). The taxi driver I hired to take me out there said that his son had used his cold water scuba diving equipment to plumb the depths. This thing is over 40 meters deep before the passageway gets too small to sneak through with scuba equipment. The water coming out of this spring is very sweet.

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Another spring nearby.

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A restaurant near the spring.

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Southern Albanian transformer.

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The mouth of a hydro-electric power station.

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If it didn’t mean sudden and absolute death, it’d be a blast to jump down that hole!

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Filling up the water bottles at one of the many thousands of roadside springs.

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A typical one person bunker.

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One of the many oil well towers littered around the Albanian landscape. The petroleum pulled out of the ground in Albania is very high in sulfur and the Albanian industrial sector hasn’t yet introduced technology to scrub the sulfur from the petrol. That causes some problems for many cars in Albania. Almost every gas station has both domestic and import petrol.

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An old gun at an old fort.

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That island is part of Greece.

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Another old weapon left at the fort.

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A memorial in Durres to the martyrs that died defending Albania during one of the invasions from WWI or WWII.

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Satellite TV dish on the old fort.

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A cannon bunker emplacement.

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Going into the old amphitheater at the Roman site of Durres.

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The first bits of reconstruction at this amphitheater.

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12th or 13th century Christian mosaics in a small chapel built into the amphitheater.

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The site description. In Albanian.

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Chinese transmission tower.

And with that I left Albania. I’m addicted! I know that I’ll be back.

Spring Break 2005 – Greece

On a whim I mentioned to my Albanian mother and father that I would like to go to Greece. The next thing I knew I found myself sharing a private taxi on the way to Athens with my Albanian Grandparent’s cardiologist. The whole journey took about 12 hours total from Vlora to Athens. I think Greek drivers are some of the most crazy in the world even outdoing Egyptian drivers!

When I arrived in Athens I was greeted by the younger sister and daughter of the woman and her father who run an architectural business in the office next to my Albanian mom’s pharmacy. The familial connections continued in Athens. I think from now on the only way I’m going to travel is with Albanians.

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My first taste of the Greek coastline.

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The driver, myself, and another passenger in the taxi.

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A famous battle was fought at this gorge. I couldn’t tell you what battle or what the place is called though. My guidebook on this part of the world is sorely lacking. I do not recommend getting the Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring book. Sure it gives you a broad overview but you miss most of the interesting stuff!

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Bridge to the Greek island of Peloponnese. It was built for the Olympics.

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In the superb National Archeological Museum in Athens. Note the schwastika motif on this 4000 year old pot.

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On my way back from the museum I was caught in what at first I thought to be a military takeover of Greece. It turns out that I happened to be in Greece during their national independence day. Parade was the word of the day. Every branch of the fighting forces of Greece was represented.

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The all female special ops unit of the Greek military. I would not want to meet any of those women in a dark alley late at night!

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The scuba men backed up by the Nordic ski patrol!

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I believe this is the navy female officer’s corps.

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Another all-female fighting unit. I think these may have been air force or paratroopers.

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Why are these guys the only ones with bullet-proof vests? It seems a bit unfair to me!

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Marching into battle armed with a trombone.

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The mountain rescue corps backed up by yet more frogmen.

During the march I took several videos.  The are below.

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With the parade over I headed for the Acropolis.

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Outside of one of the Roman theaters.

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My Albanian companion while in Greece. Traveling with Albanians is the ONLY way to travel!

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It appears that aliens have landed on the acropolis in the form of scaffolding and cranes covering the major ancient monuments.

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A funerary monument on the next hill over.

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The acropolis from Mars Hill.

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Part of the Roman agora and the octagonal tower of the winds.

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The dogs have the right idea in Athens.

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Sunset outside of Athens. One of my friend’s friends had come down from Vlora for the weekend with his car so we went out driving to see the scenery.

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My old haircut. One thing that I admire in Albanians is their straightforward nature. They all told me to get a haircut so when I went back to Vlora I went to the nearest barber and asked for the latest and greatest style in Albania.

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At a roadside stand buying some magazines. In Greece all forms of pornography are sold openly at every news stand and on every street corner. Coming from Tunisia where such things are banned and rigorously confiscated by the authorities, it was a bit of a novelty.

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The tomb of the unknown soldier in front of the Greek parliament building. Yes, the honor guards are dressed ridiculously.

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Back at the Acropolis. The last time we tried to get in it was closed because of the holiday.

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The mass of touristic humanity flooding over the acropolis entry.

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The Parthenon, by far the most famous building in Greece.

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The Caryatids.

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Once again, the jigsaw puzzle that is the Parthenon is being attempted.

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Looking off the top.

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I absolutely adore photogenic people!

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Going down into the site museum.

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Surely one of the largest ancient theaters in the world. This theater once stretched up to the path seen in the lower portion of the photo.

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The remains of the once massive temple of Olympian Zeus. The temple took more than 700 years to complete, being finished by emperor Hadrian in 131 AD.

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The extra terrestrials have a strong grip on the Parthenon!

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The temple of Olympian Zeus.

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The Roman stadium still in use today and site of the first modern Olympic games in 1896.

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The changing of the silly guards.

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Into the ancient agora.

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In the Roman Agora. The octagonal Tower of the Winds. Each side has a different wind on it presented in relief.

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The Greek power distribution system. This is the only above-ground distribution I saw in Greece.

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A random monument in the middle of Athens.

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Flower on the Acropolis.

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The postcard view of the Acropolis. The next hill over from the Acropolis has the best views in all of Rome but NO TOURISTS ever go up there! Next time you’re in Athens, make sure you get up on that hill.

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Funerary monument.

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This is one of the ferry lines that dock at the Athens port. Those of you who speak Arabic might get a kick out of the name.

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That’s it for Athens! I headed over to the international bus station, bought a ticket, and boarded the bus back to Albania. My time in Greece was well spent. I am sure that I’ll be back!

Spring Break 2005 – Albania Part 1

My spring break trip was a very spur-of-the-moment decision. I bought a ticket on a Thursday and flew the next Saturday. Prices in Tunisia don’t change no matter how early or late you book your flight. If there are seats available, you can walk up and purchase your ticket 20 minutes before the plane leaves if you want. The Tunisia to Tirana route isn’t that popular so I had no problem getting a seat with such little notice. I purchased my ticket through the STA Travel affiliate in Tunisia. The airline was Alitalia and my route was Tunis – Milan – Tirana going and Tirana – Rome – Tunis coming back.

You may ask why I chose Albania of all places to visit. It’s simple really. Back when I was in high school my family hosted a girl from Albania for the year. Her parents live in Vlora, Albania. I hooked up with them through her and my adventure started. The longer I was in Albania, the more convoluted the relation to my various hosts got. After this trip I now resolve always to travel in the company of Albanians.

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The hotel I stayed at the first few days was situated about half-way between Vlora and Orikum on the Vlora Lagoon. The owner came from this village perched about 500 meters above sea level and directly above the hotel. One day he took me to visit his mom and the village. This village is as Albania used to be everywhere until the rise of Communism. Much of Albania still is like this village.

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As with every Mediterranean country, this one too has thousands upon thousands of olive trees dotting the landscape.

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Looking toward Vlora

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Aside from running the hotel, the owner also maintains a fishing boat for operation in the lagoon and transport to the peninsula where he keeps his beehives. These nets were sitting outside of the hotel in the car-park area.

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If you have a very shallow-draft boat, you too can pull up at the hotel’s private dock! At one point there had been a gas station servicing both automobiles and boats. All that is left of the station is the makeshift pier and an old gas pump.

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My hotel

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One of the older fishing boats long since pulled out of the water.

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The electricity meter and breakers for the now demolished gas station.

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The Llogara National Park mountains in the distance. And yes, that’s snow. Coming from Tunisia where it almost never snows, seeing so much snow was quite the shock.

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The TV antenna for some houses neighboring the hotel.

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Chinese electric tower. During the communist days Albania was allied with China while isolating itself from Russia and the west.

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Communist era irrigation piping behind the hotel.

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The hotel owner’s boat. We were going to go out in it but there were some technical difficulties. There were several abortive attempts to go fishing and collecting honey. He promises me that the next time I visit that he’ll take me out on the water for a good time.

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Six-Cylinder Mercedes power!

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The home-built machinery to raise the nets from the water.

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About an hour north of Vlora the town of Dures is home to some ancient Greek and Roman ruins. The site is called Apollonia. My Albanian father and I were accompanied by one of his friends and his friend’s daughter who is a third year English student at the university in Vlora to help translate.

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The forum.

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The amphitheater.

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The market and promenade.

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The ancient sewage system still works!

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City walls.

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Supposedly Apollonia was a port town. At one point before the river silted up, ships were able to make the 7 kilometer journey from the sea in to the city. Supposedly this column is proof of that as the rope rub marks (near the top) are shown as evidence of the port. However, this column is about 150 meters above sea level! Unless the sea was VERY high in this part of the world back 2000 years ago or maybe if the land has REALLY risen there is no possible way that this was part of the port.

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As with many ancient sites around the world, the Christians decided to build a church on top of it. This actually used to be a monastery before communism. During the communist era it was used as a grain silo. Now it’s a museum.

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Sculptures pulled from the site and put in the museum. During the troubles back in 1997 the museum was broken into and looted. None of the artefacts have ever been recovered and the museum is only a shadow of its former self.

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This person must have been related to the one dynasty of Egyptian Pharaohs who had extremely long toes!

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It appears that the ancient Greeks and Romans liked western themes.

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Yes, those are pots.

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The church at the middle of the monastery.

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There were some beautiful frescoes and paintings dating back about 800 years in the chapel. They would have been better preserved had it not been for the grain being stored inside.

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An abandoned transformer sitting outside of a really good restaurant in between Fier and Vlora.

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The current transformer. Note that it’s placed on the ground with a small fence around it. I suppose that’s one way of getting rid of stupid people and animals!

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Another transformer. This one is at least off the ground but still easily accessible.

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The industrial zone in Fier. The cooling towers are for a oil fired power plant.

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An Albanian substation.

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Rich farmland with a row of bunkers in the distance. The idea during communist times was not to be able to keep the enemy out of the country but rather to inflict such heavy casualties on any invader that it wouldn’t be worthwhile for any aggressor to attack. There are three or four “escalations” of defenses in Albania. First are the coastal defense and border network with bunkers for people and for cannons strung out along the coast. Marching inward into Albania an attacker would encounter several rings of bunkers and artillery installations around each city and most major villages. The total number of rings including the border and sea defenses was and still is four. As each escalation point was passed, the “oh crap” meter would rise higher and higher. It should be noted that Albania has now begun to destroy it’s communist era stockpile of chemical weapons. I wonder which escalation point that they would have been used at?

In post-communist “democratic” times Albania is still rich in bunkers. No matter where you travel in the country, a bunker will be there. People have started to make use of these now defunct concrete communist constructions. Along some of the larger rivers the bunkers have been pulled up and dumped along the banks creating a bulwark against erosion. In some of the larger bunkers people have setup businesses selling a whole host of products and services. Still other bunkers have been gaily painted and now decorate people’s gardens. The vast majority of bunkers, however, remain in their neglected and forgotten state — a constant reminder of the recent past of Albania. One day in the future archaeologists will discover a land full of strange concrete structures and they will say “They must have been a mighty people to erect so many monuments!” If only those archaeologists knew the true nature of these bunkers.

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At a hotel we stopped at for a drink I was greeted by two knights in shining armor.

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My Albanian mom in her pharmacy.

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The road up to Llogora National Park.

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A flag tree. They are famous in Albania for their shape. The wind at certain times of the year comes ripping over the top of the pass deforming these trees and allowing them to only grow to a certain height before they are bent sideways.

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Through the fog and mist, if you use your imagination you can see the sea. From about 2000 meters, the land abruptly falls over about a half kilometer to the sea. From this point you can see all the way to Greece.

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One of the many abundant springs dotting the roads in Albania. The water is amazingly sweet and good.

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Flocks doing their thing. Notice the terraces cut into the hillside. Albania is covered in these man-made terraces — yet another gift from the communist era. The idea was to make the mountains bloom and increase the agricultural production of Albania. Instead, since the collapse, people now are faced with erosion problems and many of the hills and mountains terraced are now sliding which is playing havoc with buildings and roads in the path of the multitude of landslides.