It was a very long travel day from Durres, but only because I made so many detours. I like having a car and being able to cram my “day trips” into my travel days. I covered Bashtove and Apollonia in the last post, but I made one other stop on my way south before reaching Vlore, Byllis. Byllis was another Illyrian city built in the 3rd or 4th century BC. It also fell into Roman hands and later Byzantines. There’s some great preserved inscriptions here and the remnants of several churches.

I chose Vlore as a base to see some of these archeology sites in the area that are pretty off the beaten track. Other than that, there’s really no reason to come here. But it’s a very nice relaxing seaside city to hang out in. Apparently there are a couple of ferries from Italy that land here too, so Durres is not the only option like I thought. I started my day here by visiting the small St Mary’s Monastery on a tiny island in the bay of Vlore. There’s a long boardwalk extending from the road out to the island to get you there. The best part was observing all the birds and the crabs in the water though.

Next, way up in the hills, the ancient city of Amantia. There’s not a whole lot left. Some of the town walls are pretty impressive and there was the foundations of a temple, but the showpiece was the incredible stadium. No idea what they actually used it for, but wow!

I walked through the stadium to see the rest of the site and on the way back I stopped to take this great pic from another angle that I missed before (see below). These two old guys were obviously friends because they high fived each other a couple of times, but they were having a very heated discussion. Why they went out of their way to have this discussion right in the middle of an ancient stadium is beyond me, but there they were. I didn’t feel like waiting in the sun for them to finish and move out of my pic, so now they’re holy crap immortalized.

Kanine Castle is the castle that I almost didn’t make it to. My GPS that likes to direct me where there are no real roads, had me headed up a ridiculous flooded and torn up path that a 4×4 would have trouble with. So, I said forget it and turned back, thinking I just wouldn’t make it to the castle. On my way back to Vlore I got detoured by some construction, when suddenly the castle appeared on the hilltop above me with a nice smooth paved road leading right up to it. Awesome! Vlore may not be an exciting town for tourists, but it sure is pretty from up above.

Vlore is just a super quick stop, so I’ll be heading further south in the morning. As I’m nearing the end of my trip (only twelve days to go) I feel like time is moving really fast. I still have a lot more things on my to do list, though.