From the bottom of the Llogara Pass all the way to Saranda is known as the Albanian Riviera
With beautiful beach after beautiful beach
Mostly still wild
But very quickly being developed to host the large number of tourists who have now started coming to Albania for summer holidays
I feel very lucky to be here whilst there’s still many untouched areas and hardly any other tourists around (due to covid, the war and the fact it’s winter)
I stopped at Porto Palermo to see Ali Pasha’s castle
Ali Pasha was ruler of a large part of the Ottoman Empire’s European territories
He spent a lot of his time at this castle
Apart from me, there was one other family there. The guard said the castle hadn’t had any visitors for a while and he was very excited to see us and give us a tour. It was extremely detailed and fascinating.
Ali Pasha’s ancestors were Christian Albanian’s who had converted to Islam during the Turkish invasion. He was very sympathetic of Orthodox Christians and even had a Christian wife.
Four notable families from the area surrounding Porto Palermo made a deal with Ali Pasha. If they built him his castle in this strategic position the people of this area would be left alone (no taxes and no converting to Islam). Ali Pasha agreed and that is why there are still so many churches and monasteries in this region, including one right outside the castle
The castle was later used during WW2 by the Italian military and then by the communist regime as a storage place for oil and weapons, and as a submarine base
You can see above the doorways markings from each time period, which show the different uses the rooms had under each regime
Our guide was also a traditional folk singer and so sang for us, which sounded absolutely beautiful in the echoy castle (if you would like to hear a snippet of it I can send a video on WhatsApp)
That evening I parked up at a beach not too far from the castle. With curious cows for company
I got a knock on the door from two young Germans, Tobi and Mareen. They had recently moved to Albania and lived just up the hill from where I was parked. We got chatting and they ended up inviting me to join them the next day to explore the semi abandoned village of Old Qeparo
Tobi and Mareen’s friend Detjon also joined us
His family had lived in Old Qeparo for generations. He gave us the history of the place and the stories of different houses and the families that had once lived there
The views were incredible
We sat on top of Detjon’s grandfather’s house and watched the sunset
Before going back to Tobi and Mareen’s garden for a fire
We cooked potatoes, cheese, eggs, grilled vegetables and fresh bread on the fire. I ended up staying until 1am
The house Tobi and Mareen live in is one of the abandoned houses in the old village. They made a deal with the owner that they can live there for 5 years for free in return for doing a little bit of renovation and preventing the house from going further into ruin
They are making good progress and now have running water, a vegetable garden, electricity and wifi (next job, doors and windows!).
The next day we went on a road trip together to the next village
We explored, drank coffee, met a Dutch couple who were hitchhiking and chatted to them.
As we were driving back a group of cars started beeping at us. It was some of Tobi and Mareen’s friends. They had just been at Porto Palermo, octopus fishing
We stopped to say hi and ended up going on a walk with them
One of their friends, Nonda, knew all about the flora of Albania. He showed me which flowers and plants were edible, which had medicinal properties and which were poisonous. He told me about how they process olives and offered to bring me some the next day along with some lemons from his garden.
We stormed the castle for sunset
Later that evening Tobi and all the boys went off to find a goat and gut it ready for a party the next day. Me and Mareen decided to give that a miss and we had dinner and wine together in my van.
Days like these can’t be planned!
I am going to keep in touch with Tobi and Mareen. They are going to document the renovation of the house, if you would like to follow along their Instagram is @nomad_villa