We had spent three and half years in Turkey, now was the time to move on to pastures new.  We left Finike which had been Cuffysark’s winter home for the last two years and off we went.  We now have the joy of the Schengen Shuffle, as Brits we can only spend 90 in any 180 days in the Schengen area, which is getting bigger with Croatia joining on 1^st January 2023.  So after a few stops along the Turkish coast we finally left Turkey and headed to Albania.  We transited through Greek waters going down around the Penopolese coast just stopping overnight but not stepping ashore.  We also did a couple of overnight trips and finally after 15 days we arrived in Sarande, Albania. 

Whilst on anchor we got a message from some American friends that they had friends anchored in the same bay.  They certainly were, we were next to them.  Barbara and Jim had hired a car and invited us to go with them to Gjirokastra which was about an hour from Sarande.  The town is cobbled streets and stone built houses. 

One of the larges castles in Albania is Gjirokastra Castle which it is believed was built in 12^th/13^th century.  In the 1930’s it was used as a prison. 

There is a long gallery which houses guns which were either abandoned or captured from the Italian and German forces during the second world war.  There is also an Italian Fiat tank. 

The prison was opened in 1932 by King Zog.  It was used to house political prisoners during the communist regime.  It was a harsh place in terrible conditions where prisoners were tortured and beaten.  It was known as the prison of seven windows.  It was used by the Italian and German occupation forces in World War II.  Many of the cells have writings on the walls from activists held there during the war.

In Albania you will see lots of bunkers sticking up out of the landscape.  Between the 1960s and the 1980s the Hoxhaist government led by Enver Hoxha who was paranoid Albania would be invaded and so built over 173,000 bunkers.  The bunker at Gjirokaster, left in its original condition, was built in secret in the 1970s and is 800m long and had 59 rooms.  There were rooms for government ministries, local government, interrogators, party elites, sleeping, power generation, and water storage. 

Our final stop of the day was to the “Blue Eye”.  The Blue Eye is a water spring and the initial water source of the Bistrice river.  It is, as you’ve guessed, a beautiful blue colour.  The water is pumped to the surface from an underwater cave at a rate of 18,400 litres per second.  The spring is more than 50 metres deep, no one really know how deep it is as this is the deepest anyone has been able to get down to and the water is very cold. 

On our way to check into Sarande we passed Butrint, an ancient Greek City and later a Roman city and Ali Pasha’s castle.  It is possible to take the boat there and anchor, we couldn’t go there on the way to Sarande as we had to clear into Albania first.  It is quite shallow but as a catamaran that’s ok for us and means not many boats go there.  We went back down and anchored and what a fabulous anchorage it was opposite Ali Pasha’s castle. The castle was built in the 15th or 16th century by the Venetians .  The Ottoman ruler Ali Pasha of Tepelenë took control of the castle in 1804 and lived there until 1820.  The castle was rebuilt it in 1819.   

We took the dinghy up to Butrint.  The earliest evidence of settlers dates between the 8^th and 10^th centuries BC.  It was one of the major centres of the Chaoians, a Greek tribe.  It is strategically located because of its access to the Straits of Corfu.  It became part of the Roman empire in 44BC.  It survived until late antiquity when an earthquake destroyed large parts of the town when it was finally abandoned. 

From the late 5th century the site underwent extensive rebuilding and changed hands many time.  In 1799 it was occupied by the Ottomans and it was eventually abandoned and left unoccupied.  It became part of Albania in 1913. 

The basilica was built at the beginning of the 6th century and until the18th century was still a functioning church.

There is also a castle which was built by the Venetians in the 14^th century to protect the area after they purchased Butrint along with Corfu. 

Our next stop was Porto Palermo where we tied alongside a concrete quay overlooked by Port Palermo Castle.  The castle sits on a small island which is joined by a small strip of land.  It is said that the castle was also built by Ali Pasha in the 19^th century.  During and after World War II the castle was used as a prison and a shelter for military units.

From here we had a quick stopover in Vlore before moving onto Durres where we would check out of Albania.  The anchorage wasn’t the prettiest as it sat alongside a shipyard.  The town of Durres was a pleasant surprise.  We didn’t stay long as we needed to get a move on to get up to Venice to meet our first visitors of the season.  We will come back to Albania on the way back down and explore more then.  There was an exhibition in Durres town square, lots of teddy bears and balloons.

May 2023