Hotel Panorama Himare

... het hooggebergte van Albanië. Het eerste wat we doen is een duik in het prachtige heldere water nemen waar je in tegenstelling met Italië weer vissen onder je ziet zwemmen.<br>De morgen begint natuurlijk met een zout bad, het water is in Griekenland ook nog lekker koel. We hebben uitgeslapen en zijn pas startklaar om 11.00 uur Griekse tijd (+ 1 uur) als we besluiten toch maar niet met onze ...

... in the place but we quickly made our way past the majority of them to a quieter spot. The sights are old Roman but to be honest they were not very impressive, after seeing so much in the middle east and everywhere else these runis were nothing special. We were told to spend 3 hours there I think we stayed 1 hour. The American I am with is a Archiologist and loves these thigns but even he didnt think it was that great, so we went through it ...

... brought it and asked them if she would let her know the next time it was near America so she could get a cheap flight to Australia, classic! its unbelivable how some people are! Anyway I managed to get on the bus and the journey was really beatiful passing through windy roads and big mountains with cliffs surronding us and blue rivers passing through underneath. The scenery was really amazing. I must admit I am really liking Albania it is such a nice place ...

... is quite casual, no enclosure, no numbered lanes or much information at all. When the agent turns up and starts chatting to a group of Greeks at the port I relax. Note to mum! Customs didn't get me, they got the man in a van next door. How freaky is this? As I'm climbing the stairs I look at the boots in front of me and think "they look familiar", I look up and it's only the crazy, bald Greek man that led us on the assault course ...

... strict instructions from Alexandros about what he wants but come back lacking one ingredient, I think it was my Greek but I'm told it's not me, the old boy in the shop can never get it right, no matter, it's delicious as normal, but I still can't get the hang of having fried potatoes in my pitta and at 1.60 euros each they are a complete bargain. I soon become hyper active and have achieved a lot tonight, I've been really naughty about updating my blog and have ...

... a very lost looking couple in a car, it turns out they are Germans a long way off track, Nikoleta jumps out to show them on their map how to get where they want to go and they follow us down the mountain for a bit before being directed with a cheery wave in the right direction. We park the car at Palaiokastritsa and walk up to a monastery. The view is fantastic and it is so quiet, a truly holy place. Its here I get my best ever shot of a Corfu cat ...

... vent de changement a souffle sur l'albanie qui a voulu aussi se democratiser mais ce fut penible et ce n'est pas encore facile; on dit que le salaire moyen est de 6 dollars par jour; une multitude d'hommes flanent dans les cafe-bars toute la journee p.c.q. ils n'ont pas d'emploi... gjirokastra venant d'etre reconnu comme ville du patrimoine mondial,l'unesco a entrepris de reconstriure et de renover les maisons a l'abandon ou presque... il y a beaucoup d'avenir pour le ...

... through Shkodra, which was just like being back in the souks of Syria, with heaps of market stalls selling everything imaginable on the side of the road, stray dogs running everywhere and no traffic laws at all. At this point we were wondering what we had got ourselves in for but we carried on and found a big sandy beach with heaps of cars parked on it and people as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately the beach was also covered in ...

... cost 300 leke - about 2.5 euro. Fantastic journey it was too, through the Llgora Pass national park, the most beautiful part of the country I saw, and down along the coast road (appalling though it was). Staying with a Greek-Albanian family in Himara was interesting to see the somewhat more traditional roles they played. As in, the men sat around smoking and drinking while the women ran around doing all the work. Also, it seemed the entire family lived in the ...

... Sarande has a beautiful beach~! We were getting hungry, so we meandered down to where the restaurants were. We ate at a REALLY nice place right on the water. We sat outside, and it was perfect. Dennis had octopus for the first time, and LOVED it. The people there were so nice, he completely changed his opinion of Sarande. We took a gorgeous stroll down the beach back to our hotel.<br><br>We stayed in Sarande for two days. The second ...