Gline

[caption id="attachment_2114" align="alignnone" width="950"] Gline[/caption]

Gline is the name the most famous naturally sparkling water spring in Albania. The huge building is the water processing plant, while the village of the same name sits on the Wide Mountain's steps. So, imagine two mountains forming some sort of channel in between. There lies the Dropull plateau... The surrounding area has quite a few interesting sights to visit. The Church of The Cross in Labove, Ali Pashe Tepelena's castle in Libohove (it was for his sister though, Shanisha), the ruins of the ancient city of Hadrianopolis, city of Gjirokaster and other things mentioned in my previous posts.

Dervican

[caption id="attachment_2111" align="alignnone" width="950"] Dervican[/caption]

Dervican is the next village after Lazarat. The most famous Greek minority political organization was founded there, Omona.

I knew a couple of girls from Dervican when I used to live in Athens. They played it so hard to get that now that I think about it, I wonder if our patience had any limits. Nothing happened in the end. :P

At least we know where the gold is.

[caption id="attachment_2107" align="alignnone" width="797"] At least we know where the gold is.[/caption]

This photo is taken in a crucial moment for the village down below. It is Lazarat, the famouse marijuana heaven in Albania. They were  surrounded by 800 police officers for about a week until their leader was caught and the rest ran toward the mountains. Some of them were armed with mortars and RPGs while the rest had Kalashnikovs and 12.7 mm anti-aircraft guns. There were 2 post blocks on the national road, one in the entrance and one at the exit (the village lies beside the national road) and you could hear the bullets till Gjirokaster. We picked the wrong day to visit Gjirokaster but it was worth it. Good times were had.

[caption id="attachment_2108" align="alignnone" width="950"] Lazarat[/caption]

Rainy Days

[caption id="attachment_2104" align="alignnone" width="797"] Rainy Days[/caption]

It went from hot to rainy weather in a matter of hours. Luckily I had rented the most perfect car for this occasion, a Peugeot 308 SW with a panoramic roof. It looks like one of those iPhone wallpapers. :)

Lonely Crow

[caption id="attachment_2101" align="alignnone" width="950"] Lonely Crow[/caption]

I took this photo when we stopped at the Tepelena Cold Water, a touristic area full of small springs. The water of this area is one of the most famous in Albania. It is the official water of the Albanian National Football Team.

The road widens here for a bit. When you come from Gjirokastra, on your left there is the mountain where the water flows from and on your right, a 100 m. deep down flows the Vjosa river. It flows from Pindi mountains in Greece down to Adriatic sea in Albania, between Vlora and Fier. It is characteristic for its color and somewhere in Permet it creates amazing canyons. Same as Osumi river in Corovode.

I forgot about the crow. It wasn't lonely actually. There were a dozen of them but this one stood still to pose for me.

Windowless Window

[caption id="attachment_2095" align="alignnone" width="950"] Windowless Window[/caption]

I took the path to the water pump. There was a guy in front of me.  I followed him until he disappeared behind the trees.   The pumps building was stripped from everything and it was kinda spooky. I took a couple of photos and got back to my wife.

400

[caption id="attachment_2089" align="alignnone" width="950"] 400[/caption]

This path leads to the water pump, which I mentioned on the other post. The numbers on the pavement might be used for running. On the left there is the lake of Viroi, on the right there is a water stream. It feeds on the same spring that feeds the lake, runs along its shore (separated from this path) and when it reaches the other side of the lake, they join again. The water is crystal clear but I don't know if it's drinkable. Maybe at the spring, but didn't see any comfortable place to bend over and drink.



This is kinda 20-30 m deep. You could throw a penny and see it on the bottom.