Balkan Trips with Family and Friends

Trips with our three kids and then the Searles around Albania
and north to Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia

Stopping at the Albanian "Blue Eye", an underground spring with amazing blue colors

While Peter worked in this Albanian city, the boys were on the island here, Corfu, Greece

This is the BEST beach in Albania...Nice color of the water!

The bad news...This is the long road to the beach!

Back in Tirana, we visit the Angel's Cradle, babies given up for adoption.

A glass of wine on top of a Tirana mountain in an old castle

Sharing the fresh water spring with the wooly ones

Engaging in lively conversation!

Climbing up to the castle from the walled-in city of Kotor on Montenegro's fjord

Climbing the mountain above walled in city of Kotor on Fjord in Montenegro

Dubrovnik....Climbing the stairs to walk the 2 km around the old walled-in city

View from our apartment in the old city of Dubrovnik. 

Views from the old town and island right off the port.

On to the Croatian Island of Korcula, wine, antiquity and quaint (but what isn't over here!)

Fabulous slopes for vineyards. Peter just loved driving these roads!

Town of Korcula

 A day of bike riding through the vineyards and to the beach.

Guess who got a flat tire???

The next stop was Bosnia and the old city of Mostar. This is a city from Ottoman times on a large river. The 400 year old bridge was their landmark but it was destroyed in 1992 during the war with Serbia.

From our hotel..patio view, appetizers and wine upon arrival, full breakfast and 2 complimentary bottles of wine
 $40/room

Entire cemeteries are filled with young men like this one who died in the war in 1992/93

Although there has been much reconstruction, remnants of buildings like this and pock marks in all the structures, tell the story

Back in Albania

Everyone needs a photo next to one of the 775,000 bunkers around the perimeter of this country!

An Albanian family eating at our "slow food" restaurant

Saying good-bye to Jae - sigh

This is one of the oldest (2nd Century) amphitheaters in Europe but typical Albanian scene, houses built on top of it.

Albanian football (soccer) fans watching the World Cup Qualifying game between Albania and Norway
Ended in a 1-1 tie

The boys leave and the Searles arrive to tour the central/south perimeter of Albania with us.

Climbing the narrow mountain road out of Tirana to Lake Ohrid. Macedonia is in the background.

A stop in the city of Korca. This is a new Orthodox church but amazing icon museum. While the Dictator banned all religion and burned churches and mosques, he considered the religious paintings national treasures. 

Brian, Secretary of Transportation for the State of VT. is inspecting some of the roads from Korca to Gjirokastra.

Another Roman bridge near hot springs.

Our "castle" hotel just south of the city of Saranda. On the beach - a very friendly family operation.

Butrint, Albania's national treasure. This is a city/community going back before Christ.

Sharing the road with the wooly ones.

Stopping for the mandatory coffee break at this cafe with multiple waterfalls behind it. OSHA would not approve of the safety standards with no railings!

Water time...

While Elizabeth cringes at the steep switch back roads,  Peter, our fearless driver, hugs the center of the road as we come across these memorials to let us know our fears are somewhat founded!

Last hotel in Vlora hangs on a cliff looking to where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet.

Last afternoon at this hotel for a little more pool and beaching it.

Thanks to our family and the Searles for such a fun time.

Short Weekend in Thessaloniki, Greece

Driving 6 hours through rural Albania and Greece, we appreciated the agricultural scenes, the long  tunnels through mountains and the small towns off the highway. Notable is that in Greece, we saw very few people working the fields or anywhere outside the city, for that matter. As you cross the border into Albania, every field is filled with folks turning the soil by hand and donkey carts carrying wood, greens, produce or a tired wife!


Thessaloniki is in the north eastern part of Greece, a city maybe of half million people. It has a big university, old churches, Roman bath, Hippodrome, an old town. The city sits on the Gulf so has a nice promenade. to sit and watch the people and sunset. There were some signs of the economic woes of Greece but overall it was not bad. The food was scrumptious.

White tower (no longer white) which was a prison not long ago

Church of the Orphan Stephen. Smallest church in Greece.

Awil....some of your brothers on the streets selling every color sneaker imaginable. 

I didn't take a photo of the Hippodrome. This was the scene of chariot races. In 390 AD, Emperor Theodosius The Great was mad that the fans lynched his friend who banned some chariot racer from participating. So, he had 7,000 fans killed. It seems they never had the stomach to return to the ensuing chariot scene and so it feel into disuse. 

 

Market scenes

Gyro, anyone? Is this what it looks like in the kitchen of Ali Baba?

Peter meets and talks with an Albanian working in the store

Like Berlin, Graffiti is "in"

It looked like owners paid young people to paint on their walls

This is a 600 year old church and ancient ruins adored by the artist!

Our trip around one of three peninsulas just south of Thessaloniki

On the trip home we stopped at Lake Prespa, bordered by Macedonia, Albania and Greece

Our next trip is to Lake Prespa for a weekend in May

Back to Albania and Lake Orchid on the way home