Sometimes I think I could live up here, away from the city noise, the pollution, the people… Always man seeks what he doesn’t have, maybe the people in Voskopoje think the same about moving to a metropolis like Tirana… I wish there was some kind of service/agreement for people to swap their lives temporarily, just to see how green is the grass on the other side, without long term commitment.
This is the famous village of Voskopoja as seen from one of the opposite hills. Pretty close to the snowy peaks and the pine forests.
Lakror is the traditional dish in Korce area. Two to three thin batters of dough, filled with spinach or squash or tomatoes and grilled meat. It’s delicious and quite famous in Albania.
This one is not a strictly local dish but you can find it all over Albania, home grown chicken on rice. This one is a favorite, I’d choose this any day.
My, my beard and my brother.
This one is a large monument from the communism time honoring the date the local people formed one of the largest brigades to fight the Germans during WWII and also their fallen comrades. It’s by the main highway from Librazhd to Pogradec but can easily be missed, especially if you’re looking carefully at the many curves of the road.
As every August 18-22 or 20-25 or somewhere in the second to last weekend of August, people from surrounding areas of mount Tomorr gather at a holy shrine midway up the mountain. There is a Bektashian holy place where the tomb of their holy man is burried. Bektashis are a liberal sect of Islam but they’re quite moderate as they drink alcohol freely and they are allowed to drink water while they fast (or so I’ve been told).
The road to Kulmak is very bad and most people do it by 4×4. There are even small cars going up the mountain but most of them come to a forced stop midway due to overheating. Our driver was a funny guy with a dirty mouth. At least he got us up there safely. Price per person was 1,000 leke one way. Funny thing, whenever you ask for a price, whatever you buy there, they first weight you from head to toe and then give you the price.
View along the way, where half the mountain looks like a construction site, due to stone tiles being dug up and sold all over Europe/world.
This small shrine has been built at the place Abaz Ali stood up (or smth) and the place is called The Footprint.
Finally after an hour of off-road driving we got to our destination. This is the entrance to the holy site. I also think I broke down most of my kidney stones during the journey.
Tents everywhere, some of them self made with plastic wrap. Also, people sleeping like refugees.
A panorama of the view from our tent. We camped at the same place as three years ago, great view, flat area and 1 minute far from a water well.
This is a zoomed photo of the small shrine on the peak of Tomorr. So, we were like at the base camp and this was the peak. Another 1,000 – 1,500 leke per person to go up there but we passed the opportunity as we’ve been before (check my previous post on Tomorr pilgrimage) and we were short on budget. We could always hike up there but it was a 2.5 hours difficult hike and we postponed it for another time.
We went there a day before the holy days so people were still working on setting up their makeshift shops, bars and restaurants.
Plenty of cooked meat. You could bring your own lamb or just buy one up there and pay a certified butcher to kill it and prepare it for the skewer. This costs like 1,500 leke but then you have to pay another 1,000 or 1,500 leke to cook it, if you didn’t make your own fire.
This was the abattoir. At least they built a semi decent looking one. Last time animals were being butchered all over the place and the stench and flies were a constant annoyance. Some old trees unchanged since our last visit there.
I think this plant forgot how to plant properly.
Wifey hiking around to get a better look of the surrounding areas.
Our tent as seen from above.
Although funny, this guy did the right thing. The dust there gets into everything so he covered the car too.This is the main building of the whole compound. There is also a dormitory in there, for travelers throughout the year (free of charge) except during the holy days which all beds are booked by their organization for cooks etc.
There were so many candles being lit, the paraffin was boiling in some of those “furnaces”.
Lambs for sale. Further down, a pile of skins and internal organs
Your pilgrimage is not considered complete if you don’t taste Raki from Skrapar, the most famous local spirit in Albania. 500 Leke per 50cl.
Trading Prohibited sign, for the local ambulant sellers. It was full of them tho.
The guy on the left is the head of the sect, still alive I think. The guy on the right is Abaz Ali, the holy man himself. The short poem didn’t make sense to me but here it goes:
Abaz Ali came to Tomorr, he came close to us, Albania wasn’t any more lonely, as God loved it…
There used to be a famous village, newly rebuilt after the 1971 earthquake. They even had a cinema, a first for small villages. Ninesh became famous around that part of Albania, even Enver Hoxha himself went there to visit the people.
Ninesh is still there but instead of a cultural hub of the area, it has become a quiet place, with old, new and half built houses, gravel roads and a nearby lake full of fish. The villagers go on with their daily lives, work the fields, feed the cattle and sell their produce.
Why am I talking about Ninesh? I happen to have relatives there, they own a piece of land and they’ve built a small villa there, as their summer retreat while they live and work abroad. As you can see on the photos, their villa is surrounded by green hills, the lake is quite close and there are little fish that eat the dead skin out of you. Also figs, delicious figs.
While having a great time chillaxing by the veranda, me and my cousin thought it would be nice to share this experience with other people too. This way, A Piece of Albania was born. First as a Google Locations Guesthouse (without success) and then an instant success through AirBnB. French people started booking and it’s so amazing whenever we hear the notification on our phone. New bookings help other people experience what we wanted to share in the beginning, we treat our self to a nice little extra income and the village benefits too, whenever our guests decide to buy fresh produce or home made raki
Last but no least, you guys can also book and pay in bitcoin if you happen to wander around these parts. Cheers.
Paragliding is becoming more and more interesting lately. If you fancy flying from Llogara down to Palase, google Alket Islami, the head of the Albanian Aeronautic Association (or smth similar). Otherwise write me here, I have a couple of contacts.
This is the view from the platform they have been recently, down to the military post where Top Gear flew an old Lada down to a ravine.
Saranda, calm as always, with small and big yachts becoming more and more prevalent in the bay between Albania and Corfu.
Ksamil and its small dreamy islands… Always a pleasure to come here and lay on the beach, reformatting your hard drive, away from city noise and pollution.
The small island you see in the Porto Palermo bay hosts one of the many fortresses of Ali Pasha of Tepelena (or Ioannina). It isn’t an island actually, there is a small strip connecting it to the mainland. The buildings on the foreground are part of a military complex serving the submarines base at the shore. I’m not sure if the base is still functional but I do know there are no more submarines there.
This place is almost after Himare, before reaching Qeparo or Borsh. The area is full of Aloe Vera and other medicinal herbs.
Guys, I’m seriously thinking of turning my passion for travel to a full time tour guide operation. If you ever consider visiting Albania, let me know
For you guys that want to find it online, most people have tagged this place as Gjipe because N & GJ are two letters of the Albanian alphabet that never go together. The street signs of the Ministry of Transport have the correct name on them, Ngjipe.
Here are some photos of the canyon. It was dead dry this summer and the only being I saw were a couple of frogs and a small snake living in a pond. No photos of them though.
Some old trees unchanged since our last visit there.
I think this plant forgot how to plant properly.
This is the main building of the whole compound. There is also a dormitory in there, for travelers throughout the year (free of charge) except during the holy days which all beds are booked by their organization for cooks etc.
