It's extremely hot in Tirana. The weekend approaches. What to do? Why not head up in the mountains in one of the most remote places in Albania. This is the Lura Lakes region. It is 7 or more lakes set up in the craters of the high mountains. Few tourists or Albanians have ever visited. Why? For starters, the 2 1/2 hours to get into the region from the paved road and the 2 hours to get out of the area require an SUV type car.
4 1/2 hours of jostling and banging around in your seat could deter the faint at heart.
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| That is a road along that slope! |
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Views, as always here, are breathtaking and compensate for the wild ride.
They lakes are colorful and serene. The only problem is that years ago angry Albanians cut down swaths of the trees around some of the lakes, for little reason except to destroy some of the beauty (and maybe make a few dollars).
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| Picnic lunch with wine, fresh produce and bread. Ahhhh. |
On the way to the town of Lura, we stopped at a mountain side "hotel/restaurant". Below is a woman cooking this special very rich "pie". For 3 hours she bends over this fire cooking this dish. It starts with a mixture of milk, eggs and butter, then a layer of feta cheese, then repeating layers about 100 times in 3 hours, cooking the pie after each addition.
We were served coffee, raki and I got this amazing "cup" of delicious honey.
As the sun was going down, we drove down the mountain side to the quaint town of Lura. 2500 residents live here. It sits in a highland valley and is inaccessible for 7 snowy months of the year. I would say it is pretty much inaccessible the entire year!
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| Center of Lura with statues of a few important folks and the mosque |
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| The roofs here are made of wood. Beautiful stone structures. |
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All too brief, we drove the 7 hours back to Tirana, into the sweltering heat. On the way, this monument to those who fought for Albania's freedom during WWII came into view. Can you see the 5 women in this depiction? Equality of men and women was alive and well during the 45 years of the dictatorship from 1944 to 1990.
I'm sweating back in the city but have great visuals in my head!
