Friday 20 September 2024
Some of our personal highlights so far are:
Natural
Beautiful countryside
Benjes natural springs
Beaches (Orikum, Borsh, Livadh)
Lagoon of Potak
Attractive Towns & Villages
Gjirokaster - City of stone
Berat - Town of a thousand windows
Dhermi
Qeparo
Historical sites
Kadiut Ancient Bridge
Butrint Archeological Park
Apollonia Archeological Site & Museum
Albania is being promoted in the press and by social influencers as the Mediterranean’s undiscovered “hidden gem”. There are certainly some beautiful beaches, stunning UNESCO towns and historic sites but there’s also another face to Albania which is in plain sight for all to see. The infrastructure is in a really poor state - whether that is crumbling concrete walls and jetties, non existent pavements, potholes on busy roads or rubbish being left uncollected for weeks.
Many towns are being rapidly expanded to accommodate more tourism, not always very sympathetically. The tourist attractions are already struggling to cope with the current visitor numbers. Car parks are gridlocked, town centres grind to a halt and tourist attractions are overrun to the point that it is a turn off. We drove past the Blue Eye Lake car park on seeing the numbers there and we also did a U-turn in Kruje realising we’d never make it to the castle due to the traffic jam.
Another concern is the number of private beaches reserved solely for the use of hotel or bar clients. There is generally one small Public Beach area - and it’s not overly welcoming. We’re not really beach bums and baulk at the thought of paying €15+ each to hire an umbrella and sun-bed for a day. We brought this one in Italy - a country which also sadly has miles and miles of private beaches.
We have another week to explore more parts of the country, some quite far off the beaten path. We can then reflect on our Albanian road trip in its entirety.
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