Never melting snow of Tomorr

They say it is snow that never melts and sure enough, this year it looks like it will endure the last days of summer. (Photos were taken on August 23rd.)

Sacrifices

The following images show animal sacrifice therefore consider yourself warned. 

If you can't sacrifice your own sheep or ram, you can buy one up here. Conditions in which the animals are kept, are not that good. Animals are also under constant stress since every minute there are sheep being slaughtered in open areas.

The view behind the hedge reminds the holocaust or the massacres of ISIS. Hundreds of animals get slaughtered each day and all their innards are just thrown down there. It smells like death and God knows what happens after Sunday when people leave the holy shrine for another year. I guess there begins the vultures feast.

The ritual demands blood and that you shall slaughter your own animal. That means no one feels responsible for the mess they leave behind. On the other hand, even if they want to clean up the mess, there are no garbage bins or whatever. Irresponsibility begins from the local government.



An artistic impression of the situation.



Someone slaughtered a lamb at the shrine's inner yard, on the east side. Maybe you must face the rising sun before you do the deed... Maybe, deep inside our subconsciousness, sun is the one true god.

View from the top of mount Tomorr

The brownish patch seen down there is ice and it never melts, they say. There were people going down there and touching it but the path was very steep and it would take some 30 minutes to go there and back. Ain't nobody got time for that :D

The Shrine of Abbas Ali

[caption id="attachment_2361" align="alignnone" width="660"] Shrine of Abbas ibn Ali[/caption]

This is the top of Mount Tomorr, the Partisan's Peak, the Shrine of Abbas Ibn Ali. The shrine has a tomb inside but Abbas wasn't buried there. He is actually buried at that ground where he fell from his horse in Karbalā, Iraq. The tomb is covered by gifts, clothes and money. It is said that the money that gets collected up here and down at the holy ground (look my previous posts), is transported via helicopter (needs citation, I have no source besides word of mouth). I suppose it goes to the Bektashis Community but I don't have further info on how it is spent. Never heard them financing anything but then again, never heard them living la vida loca either.

The weather is clear, the air is cold, I guess some 5-10 degrees Celsius. The people are not wearing heavy clothes because down the mountain is quite hot. They just visit the shrine for a couple of minutes.

[caption id="attachment_2359" align="alignnone" width="660"] Abbas ibn Ali[/caption]

Here is the statue of Abbas ibn Ali, on his horse and with two children (the other one is behind the horse's head). The statue's size is lifelike. The sculptor must have been on acid I guess. look them eyes :D The statue is also seen on the far left of the next photo.

[caption id="attachment_2360" align="alignnone" width="660"] Praying[/caption]

The people here are burning candles and praying for their loved ones, dead or alive. Although Albanians don't pray much on their dead, it isn't our custom. We pray for health and money (Albanian: Shnet e Pare).

As you can see, the parking place is not a parking actually. The road ends here and cars are parked on both sides of the road. When you step out of the car, if anyone approaches you to ask for money for parking, don't pay. You can give money if you want someone to look after your car not to get scratched (accidentally) or blocked by other cars (due to small space) but this is entirely up to you. There might be beggars as well, I wonder how they get up here. Perhaps they collect enough money to pay the ride which is fairly expensive.

On the way to the summit

[caption id="attachment_2354" align="alignnone" width="660"] To the top[/caption]

The driver came on time and we took the road to the summit. The good news is that the car can drive up to the top. The bad news is that the road is not entirely as good as you can see in this photo. It is also very steep sometimes and you have to be extra careful not to slip back. It has happened before and the last case was 2 days ago. The people ended up with major injuries but alive fortunately.

The green structure seen on the top is a small room in round form. It has a round yard and it is the highest peak of mount Tomorr, standing at 2,416 m. In Albanian we call it "Cuka e Partizanit" which means Partisan's Peak.

[caption id="attachment_2353" align="alignnone" width="660"] Vertical Clouds[/caption]

While you drive it feels like flying, except the good shake from the rocky road. On one side you have a clear blue sky and you can even see the Adriatic sea if clear enough. On the other hand there are lower mountains and hills as seen on this photo.

[caption id="attachment_2356" align="alignnone" width="660"] On the edge[/caption]

This part feels like you are on the edge of a boiling pot, some sort of cloud factory.

[caption id="attachment_2355" align="alignnone" width="660"] Cloud Factory[/caption]

Checking around the tent

Those guys down there built a fairly large tent during the evening and next morning they were gone.



See those lines of stones? Too short for walls and too close to be used as borders between parcels. I couldn't ask anyone around. If you have any clue, let me know.



Me, doing the star fish :P





Lots of pines. I  guess goats feed on them and when they poop, the ground becomes fertile and little pine seeds grow in this circular area.

Waiting for the sunrise

[caption id="attachment_2343" align="alignnone" width="660"] Waiting for the sunrise[/caption]

After a long, cold and very windy night, we woke up too early (we barely slept to be sincere).



Now I understand why old Egyptians worshiped the Sun. It warms your body and soul, it warms your heart.

[caption id="attachment_2341" align="alignnone" width="660"] Our Tents[/caption]

We had built two tents, a large one and a smaller one. At the large one we were laying down like sardines. I had brought an air mattress with my but I forgot to bring a pump to fill it up. I tried with my lungs but it was an impossible task. Needless to say, we slept on the ground. It wasn't that cold because we had brought blankets and warm clothes but the main problem was the wind. It wasn't constantly windy, there were moments of absolute silence too. At some point, in the middle of the night, the guy next to me wakes up and says: Nick, Nick, there is someone outside!!! I knew there was no one outside because I wasn't sleeping at all. He heard some noise and mistook it as someone walking by... We didn't get outside to check though, no one was man enough.

Trip to Baba Tomor - Milky Way

[caption id="attachment_2336" align="aligncenter" width="379" class=" "] Trip to Baba Tomor - Milky Way[/caption]

Trip to Baba Tomor - Stary Night

[caption id="attachment_2333" align="alignnone" width="660"] Stary Night[/caption]

Beside a sky free of light pollution, the moon as well, was nowhere to be seen. The landscape looks well lit because of strong lights from the water processing plant a few kilometers away. The photo is a 10 sec. exposure, ISO-800, shot with a SMC Pentax-M 50 mm F1.7 on my K-x.

Trip to Baba Tomor - Part 3

[caption id="attachment_2328" align="alignnone" width="660"] Drinking Water[/caption]

We were there around 11 o'clock if I recall correctly. We passed the holy ground and continued some 3-400 m to find a flat area to raise the tents. We stopped close to this water spring and after setting everything up we came back to fill up some bottles for the night. As you can see, animals get equal respect. The plastic bags at the bottom were full of beers and water melons. The water was so cold that you could use it as a natural refrigerator.

[caption id="attachment_2329" align="alignnone" width="660"] Sacrifice[/caption]

Making a sacrifice is one of the pillars of the pilgrimage. You can bring your ram or lamb or you can buy it up there, alive or cooked. If you are a vegetarian or animal lover, I strongly suggest not to visit this place. Although the animals meet a quick end, the rest is somehow macabre. Piles of intestines, streams of blood and a horrible stench dominates the surrounding area. As I said in my previous post, it feels like a travel back in time.

[caption id="attachment_2330" align="alignnone" width="660"] Public Transport[/caption]

Actually there is no public transport. As with most holy places, the majority of visitors are poor people wishing for better fortune. Hence the amount of people trying to go down to Polican. We were staying under a tent here, a sort of mobile fast-food selling bread with meat balls, feta cheese and french fries. Although 23rd of August, it was perfect weather, some 18 degrees Celsius and a breeze cleaning the air. The wall seen behind the car is the entrance of the holy ground. The man depicted in the picture is Abbas ibn Ali. As you see, alcohol is well blessed around here. The drink of choice is not beer though, it's raki. Every country in the Balkans have some variation of raki  as their traditional alcoholic drink but the Albanian version doesn't have any smell like anis or whatever. It's like burning water, rushing down your throat and turning on your internal engine. :D

Trip to Baba Tomor - Part 2

[caption id="attachment_2322" align="alignnone" width="660"] Tomorr[/caption]

I've been quite a few times in Berat and this time I avoided taking photos, I was again on the wheel. Here is a gigapan photo, the most detailed one you could ever find. After Berat there is Polican, a small city famous for its ammunition factory, hence the nickname Ghost Town. We used to produce there Kalashnikov - Made In Albania... Polican is surrounded by nature, is quite small and very quiet. If you're driving with a small car, you should definitely park here because the road to the top of the mountain is very very very rocky. We managed to rent a Land Rover Defender for some 120$ to take us to the pilgrimage site on Saturday morning and then come back Sunday morning to take us to the top of the mountain (2,416M) and then back to Polican. We found the driver through a common friend so the price may not be the normal rate they charge for the exact service. However, it is impossible to find cheaper than that. They usually charge 90$ only for a round trip to the pilgrimage site (which is midway to the top).

Trip to Baba Tomor - Part 1

[caption id="attachment_2312" align="alignnone" width="660"] East of Tirana[/caption]

This album is a delayed one, the trip took time on August 22nd. I was thinking to post some of the photos as standalone images but then I thought this way would be more helpful for future travelers.

Baba (Father) Tomor is a mythological figure in the Albanian folklore. He is regarded as the father of gods and humans, like some sort of Zeus but no similarities with the latter. His home was on top of Mount Tomorr, in Berat (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and he lived there with his wife, Earthly Beauty. From 20-25 August, he top of Mount Tomorr is also a pilgrimage site for Bektashis, an Islamic Sufi Order. Their world headquarters are located in Tirana. Albanians are not that religious and most of us embraced Bektashism because it allows you to drink alcohol and it allows you to drink yogurt while fasting. Pretty cool huh? I'm not sure though, that's what I heard from people claiming to belong to this order.

Ok, that was a short intro about the mountain, the legend and the religion. We decided to visit the top of Tomorr during those days for a couple of reasons. It would be easy to find a ride to the top because my car stood no chance to those unpaved roads. It would be safe since there were a lot of people with tents sleeping for 4-5 days there. It would be easy to find food and water, although we knew beforehand that there are many springs around that area. Last but not least, there would be the perfect conditions for astrophotography, like clear skies, visible milky way and zero light pollution. And so me, my wife and 2 other couples begun the trip from Tirana to Kucove. The rest will follow in the next days. 

Love Sees No Color

[caption id="attachment_2307" align="alignnone" width="660"] Love Sees No Color[/caption]

Embrace yourself, rain is coming

[caption id="attachment_2304" align="alignnone" width="660"] Embrace Yourself, Rain Is Coming[/caption]

The angle shaped building is St. Paul's Cathedral while the roof hardly seen on the left is the famous Dajti Hotel, on Tirana's main boulevard. The mountain on the background is Dajti. Welcome to Tirana.

Raindrops

[caption id="attachment_2298" align="alignnone" width="660"] Raindrops[/caption]

Raining Cats and Dogs

[caption id="attachment_2295" align="alignnone" width="660"] Raining Cats and Dogs[/caption]

Rainy Days in Tirane

Tirana is well known (in Albania) for its rainy days. Sometimes it rains for 3-4 days without stopping. Sometimes it rains so much you can't see more than a couple of meters in front of you. The unusual thing about this photo is that when it rains, the streets are full of cars and traffic and this particular street, Joan D'Arc Boulevard, is one of the most problematic. On top of that, it was midday, rush hour.

Rain

It started raining out of nowhere. In just a couple of minutes it looked like Venice.

Thunders out of my window

Oak Nut

[caption id="attachment_2281" align="alignnone" width="660"] Oak Nut[/caption]

My son had found it while in Sarande and had kept it in his pocket. He took it out when we sat for lunch.

I wish vacations would never end...

Sunset in Patos

[caption id="attachment_2278" align="alignnone" width="660"] Sunset in Patos[/caption]

Patos is a small city close to Fier. The latter is the next city after Vlora on the way to Tirana. My mother is actually from Patos and my father is from Fier. Patos had its greatest days during communism. The regime built close to Patos the biggest oil refinery (there is the biggest oil field in Albania) and they brought engineers and intellectuals from all over the country to work and live there. With the fall of communism, things started to change, people would leave the city to move to Fier or Tirane or even emigrate to Greece or Italy. While the refinery is still there, it is outdated and not working on full capacity. We should also take into consideration that during communism unemployment rate was zero therefore every industry was overcrowded with people and technology was not that efficient. Most of the biggest factories in Albania were built during the 50's-70's by the Russians and after them by the Chinese. After the Chinese we were on our own and things started getting worse. There was no possibility to keep up with new tech and machinery so more people were brought in to do the hard work... Now it is depressing to watch the same city deep in unemployment and poverty. When I was young I remember there was a circus, a cinema, a culture palace and many other buildings for social gathering. Now most of them do not exist at all, those were demolished to make way for bars and coffee shops, the only profitable business in our country.

I guess I could talk for hours and hours about Patos or Fier, if you have any questions feel free to ask :)

Bay of Vlore

[caption id="attachment_2275" align="alignnone" width="660"] Bay of Vlore[/caption]

After Dukat, the descent continues to Dukat i Ri (New Dukat), built after World War II and then to Orikum city. In front of us lies the bay of Vlore and down left is the Pasha Liman Naval Base which cannot be seen in this photo. There are some old submarines built with the help of the Russians. It was actually the only Soviet base in the Mediterranean in the 50's.Following the collapse of the Communist regime, the base was rebuilt by Turkey and under a bilateral agreement the Turkish Navy has the right to use it.

The first mountain on the left is the Karaburun peninusla. The farther mountain is Sazan Island, the largest island of Albania, albeit uninhabited. A joint naval force between Italy and Albania stay there, mostly to prevent contraband or immigration (now there is no immigration via boats, since Albania joined Schengen Area).

Dukat Village

[caption id="attachment_2272" align="alignnone" width="660"] Dukat Village[/caption]

After Dhermi the distance between the road and the seaside widens, there are a couple more small villages and then begins the difficult ascent of Llogara Pass. It takes some 45 minutes to reach the top and the road is beautiful. There are some side pockets where you can stop to take photos and enjoy the scenery. Llogara is a protected national park. Along the road are several restaurants, hotels, and a small wooden cabin complex. Prices are quite reasonable and everything is delicious. The main specialty is lamb or young goat. After each meal, we often order yogurt (they produce it there) or apples baked in honey, walnuts and cinnamon.

After Llogara Pass the road descends toward Pashaliman Bay, via Orikum city. The village shown in the photo is Dukat, a very famous one. When Julius Caesar tried to fight Pompeus, he asked help from people there. It has a strategic position and it hasn't been always a village. Funfact: The word Ducat is associated with a gold or silver coin. According to a historian, the name of the village comes from this very coin. What we know for sure is that the people of this village have been famous through time for their wealth...

Dhermi Village

The village of Dhermi, on the side of a mountain overlooking the Ionian sea. The beach at the feet of the mountain is one of the best in Albania. Beware of the prices though, very expensive for Albanian standards. The last years it hasn't been that clean as well. Garbage all around and trash bins full, if you managed to find any. Let's hope it will be better next year. The government is spending a lot to improve Albania's image and tourism income.