Just outside of Sarandë is a place called the Blue Eye. It’s a natural Spring that bubbles up and looks like a Blue Eye. Divers have gone down to 50 meters but they think it goes deeper. It was really pretty. None of us dared to go in but our Jevy went in and loved it. He runs at about 150 degrees so anything cold is a welcome for him. There’s a sign that says no swimming, no diving, no littering, but we had read somewhere people were swimming in the pool. I didn’t feel good about Jevyn going in there but he was so looking forward to the cold water and other people were already in there. So, we allowed him to jump in then out right away. I was thinking that people probably drink that water downstream and that’s why I did t want him to jump in there. Well, first and last time! I hope next time we come back they will be more strict about people not going in there.
Ksamil is a small beach town at the south end of Albania, very very close to Greece. For those who follow me on IG and FB saw the amazing food we had. Such fresh food. Then, for a swim. The water was actually very tolerable. The water has been so so cold our entire trip. I really expected the water in Croatia to be warmer. Oh well. I don’t think we saw one American, not even one English speaker. Each restaurant has their own little beach area, walled off from other restaurants/beaches, with lounge chairs for rent. So, you have a delicious meal, then sit in a beach chair to chill or swim then chill. What else can you ask for??
The next day we went to Butrint National Park and the ruins there. This little place had Greek ruins, Roman ruins, and Byzantine ruins. We did finally see some Americans here. This place is going to have to expand its facilities and parking soon. There was a bus load of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians, another bus full of Brits, a bus full of Germans, and another bus full of Russians, in addition to the Americans. It was a very hot day and we were going to go to another set of ruins but the kids were so hot they couldn’t handle it. So, we went back to Ksamil and had lunch at the restaurant next door to the one we were the day before. This restaurant was a lot bigger so they had two tour groups in there. We were still able to get our food pretty quickly. Yummy!!
The next day was another adventure to find another set of ruins – Gjirokastër. But, somehow Justin and I missed the turn and all the kids were sleeping so we decided to head straight to Bunec beach. Justin had read that this beach was off the beaten path and was amazing. But we had asked several locals and no one knew it at all. We realized why. It was all rock and no facilities. It was a very rough road down to the beach. On our way we ran across these two blond ladies, one rolling her suitcase down this rocky dirt road. So, we stopped to help them out. They are “nomads.” One has not lived in her native Finland for 7 years. The nomadic people go from town to town for these rainbow gatherings from mid-moon to mid-moon. You can tell one of the ladies had just had it. Plus, she was traveling for the first time with one of her good friends and they were not compatible traveling partners. She was looking for an excuse to get away from her. So, Justin dropped us off then went back to give them a ride. We gave one of them a ride back to Sarandë. She commented that she was not a very good hippie. That was cute. We didn’t stay very long at the beach because the kids said the water was very cloudy. We discovered there was a power plant up the beach from us. So, we decided to leave the beach.
We had a relaxing last night before we headed out of Albania. Next stop, Macedonia.
Higman Travels 