My drive from Vlore to Sarande was about eighty miles of just unbelievably scenic coastline. Mountains stretching up on one side, the Adriatic Sea extending out on the other, punctuated by the occasional beach resort village, and zipping around the twisting road like an Albanian racecar driver grinning all the way. Fantastic!

On the way I stopped at Himare to visit what was described as a castle, but was more of an ancient hilltop village. I walked a lot of narrow cobblestoned pathways around the hill until I reached the top. A few of the structures looked like they had been refurbished and are being lived in, but most were abandoned. At the top were a couple of old churches that, while technically ruined, looked like they still get used and they had some old withering paintings that were really cool to see.

And of course, the views!

Unlike Vlore, Sarande is tourist central. I think the usual route is Tirana to Shkoder to Sarande. Anyway, it’s a lively seaside town with a boardwalk that really comes alive after dark. I’ve had so much delicious seafood here, I’m stuffed! I also visited two archeology sites from here. First was Finiq, though it was known as Phoinike in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. There’s almost nothing left, which I find odd because this was supposedly one of the wealthiest and most prosperous cities in the region at that time.

Perhaps even more interesting, at least visually was the abundance of those communist bunkers that are all over the country. I haven’t mentioned it every time I see them, but I cannot stress the word ‘everywhere’ enough. I come out of an ancient site, bunker. Driving through the country, bunkers. On the edge of the city, bunker. I even spotted one in a residential neighborhood back in Shkoder.

The supposed story of the bunkers goes something like this. The Albanian engineer who designed this type of bunker told the paranoid communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, that it would withstand a tank bombardment. So Hoxha tested the claim by trying to blast it to holy hell with a tank… while the engineer was inside of it. Poor guy! When the engineer emerged shaken but alive, Hoxha ordered them built strategically all over the country to protect Albania from the Western invasion that wasn’t coming. LOL

Just on the outskirts of Sarande on side by side hills are the ruins of the Monastery of 40 Saints, and Lekursi Castle. The monastery was a cool little site with the remains of a couple of churches, and some of the interior still intact underneath all the rubble. The castle is primarily a restaurant now. I went for the views, though, even though I thought the view from the monastery was better.

As I’m sure you’ve figured out, being sort of sandwiched between Italy and Greece, Albania has an abundance of archeology gems to explore. The biggest and most famous, was closed, for one day, the day I wanted to go. No worries, I’ll visit tomorrow on my way out of town. With a free day, I figured I’d take a look at some MORE castles. The two I checked out were built by, Ali Pasha. I don’t know much about him, but he was apparently a very cruel despot who ruled the area until his eventual murder, and he built several castles along the coastline in the 18th to 19th centuries. The first was just called Ali Pashas Castle way down south on a little island just off the coast. It looks mostly like just the four walls and nothing else, and since the boat ride out to it was so expensive, I decided to just settle for pics from the shore.

Next I drove a ways north to a castle I spied on the drive from Vlore that looked interesting, but wasn’t on my list and I didn’t have time to stop for at the time. Porto Palermo Castle, also referred to as Ali Pashas Castle, was pretty much fully intact. I walked around the great hall, Ali Pashas room, his private courtyard, the soldiers barracks, the kitchen, everything. I was kind of mad that this place didn’t show up on any of my research because it was an awesome find.

Now for that biggest and most famous archeology site in the country, Butrint. I got up early, checked out of my hotel and arrived just as it was opening. I can see why it’s so popular. It’s easily accessible and the ruins are really well intact. Butrint was founded in the 13th century BC by the exiled and defeated Trojans as told in Vergil’s epic poem, Aeneid. Wow, that’s a long time ago! So there’s Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman remains, and not just foundations either. I was really impressed with how well most things held up here over the centuries.

The whole city encompasses a small peninsula. I wonder if it was an island at one time. The town walls are still standing, including two of the original gates to the city.

Surprisingly, all four walls of the Byzantine cathedral are still standing. This was probably my favorite part. Also not far from it was the baptistry. There’s a fantastic circular mosaic covering the whole floor. Unfortunately it was all covered with sand for protection so I had to settle for a picture of it, but I would’ve loved to see it with my own eyes.

After exploring the periphery of the park, I went to the rebuilt Venetian castle where they put the small museum and then down to the theatre, which was originally built by the Greeks, but added to and refurbished as the centuries passed. By the time I made it here, the park was getting pretty crowded. I think this is where everyone takes their break. I got a couple of pics without people, but I had to be creative and really super quick.

I’m so glad I got to Butrint early. There was very few people when I arrived and I got a parking space right near the entrance. When I left, however, I almost couldn’t find my car because it was buried in an ocean of other cars and tour buses and people. The lot was full, people were parking all along the side of the narrow road leading to it, all the way up to the other lot a mile and a half away which was also overflowing. Getting out of there was loads of fun. I made it, though, and then made my way northeast ish to my next stop, which is going to be a super quick one, so don’t go far.