Albania!

[motodraconis]

So, being so close to Albania, how about another day trip? A bit of prior rummaging on Google indicated that there was a ferry to Albania from Ohrid.



Unfortunately...



On arrival in Ohrid, this proved not to be the case. Tourist information was aghast that I would even contemplate such a thing. There was only one tourist day trip organised tour ferry and that was on Sunday (the day I would be flying home) and under no circumstances would any of the water taxis take me across the lake to Albania. I could find no website on this fabled ferry, and info on the net was scant. All I had for info, was this blog post of someone who had crossed the border near the Sveti Naum monastery on the Macedonian side...apparently you could take a bus or taxi to the border, but no further, and would have to walk no man's land between the border crossings "We headed first to the tourist office to see what we could do in Pogradec, to our delight the man who worked there spoke perfect English! However he told us quite plainly that there was nothing to see in Pogradec and that if he was us, he’d just leave." Hmmmm, sounds promising!

Boat trips to Sveti Naum ran daily, so I took the earliest one, and on arrival strode straight out to the far gates to see if I could have any luck. No buses, but a taxi guy seemed keen and agreed to take me over the border "just give me 10 minutes to drop off these tourists first." I waited, getting pestered by local taxi dudes, all of whom were in private, unmarked cars and would only take me to the border. I reckoned I'd chance it with the first guy, who at least had a proper taxi, and to avoid the pestering, I started walking to the border on foot. The guy did return, it turned out he was Albanian, and could take be across the border for a good price. I asked to see "the mosaics" and we made a deal.

Crossing the border proved no problem, and the taxi dude pointed out Bunkers to me on the Albanian side. (Not my photo, click pic to see the dude's website.)



According to Wikipedia, "173,371 concrete bunkers were scattered throughout Albania.[1] The bunkers (Albanian: bunkerët) are still a ubiquitous sight in the country, with an average of 5.7 bunkers for every square kilometre." These are a relic of the Dictator Enver Hoxha's programme of "bunkerisation" resulting "in the construction of bunkers in every corner of the then People's Socialist Republic of Albania, ranging from mountain passes to city streets. They had little military value and were never used for their intended purpose during the years that Hoxha governed. The cost of constructing them was a drain on Albania's resources, diverting them away from more pressing needs, such as dealing with the country's housing shortage and poor roads."

Bunkerisation!



First stop was the Springs of Drilon, a preferred holiday spot for the Bizzare King Zog (shown below looking suitably odd.)



and Vila Art, the summer lakeside holiday home of Enver Hoxha, now a restaurant. Here's Hoxha again, looking unnervingly decapitated due to unfortunate colour matching.



And here's me living it up at the Dictator's old pad...



Speaking of Old Trouts, here's an Ohrid Trout... (the spotty one) at Drilon. Unique (except where it's been introduced elsewhere) to Ohrid Lake and now endangered from overfishing.



Turns out Lake Ohrid is rather special, one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes "Reaching depths of 950 feet (290 meters), this UN World Heritage site is also known as the "museum of living fossils." It provided sanctuary for creatures from the tertiary period which died out elsewhere during the ice ages." Oooh! It's also really lovely to swim in.

Here's my taxi driver, and Albanian Guide for the morning.



Then we backtracked to Tushemisht - where there was a brown tourism sign clearly stating "Mosaics." My taxi dude guided me into Tushemisht to see the sights.

Famous (Well, famous in Albania) comedic actress Violetta Manushi (1926 - 2007) honoured with the People's Artist of Albania award. Tushemisht is the setting for Zonja nga qyteti, (The Lady from the City) a film featuring Violetta as the star.



Still popular today from the looks of things.



Taxi guide dude showed me the church, and found a chum of his to open it up for me to see.







Rummaging through drawers of an old desk inside the church, Old blokey showed me photos of a church being restored that (presumably) he'd worked on. With great ceremony, he pulled out some marble grains, wrapped them in kitchen towel, and gave them to me.



I... er... assume they came from the famous and possibly sacred church. Much later, I was eating a pear (given to me by taxi dude from one of the market stalls) when I took out the towel intending to wipe my hands - forgetting it was full of sacred grains! Luckily I was sitting down at the time and caught them in my skirt - phew! They are now home and Safe.

I was given a wee tour of the village, which bubbles over with clear springs criss-crossing people's gardens.









Stuff... I don't know what it is!



The Socks and the Grapes



Old Blokey, seeing me admiring theses gourdes,



bought one for me as a gift.



It is rather pleasing, I'll try and dry it and keep it.

But what of the Mosaics? As featured in the brown tourist sign! Old blokey waved vaguely at these...



And that was that.

UM.

Well I tried googling later so see what that sign was all about, but there was no mention of mosaics at Tushemisht. Nothing at all! There are mosaics in Albania, but they're at Lin. About 40 minutes drive from Tushemisht. Gah. I was too nervous of getting marooned in Albania from missing my ferry back, (and wanted time to see Sveti Naum) so I didn't risk it. Maybe next time?

We finished with a coffee at this derelict bar...





Taxi dude took me back through the border with plenty of time for me to see Sveti Naum.

While there may not have been any "mosaics" gotta admit, a mini tour with taxi dude and Old Blokey was rather good. I gave taxi dude a big tip for guiding. His card is here if anyone else fancies a day trip to Albania from Ohrid via Sveti Naum. Taxi Dude is unnervingly ebullient and huggy for reserved English types to cope with, but he was nice enough.



Though I can't guarantee you'll be given sacred grains and gourds.

Comments

[shermarama]

That all looks like the most splendid of expeditions. I used to work with an Albanian woman, and came away with some sense of the place from her, but not this kind of thing, you know?

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Two of my builders are Albanian, both on hols at the mo (one in Cornwall, the other with family in Albania.) I tried to quiz them for tips but they didn't tell me much! Tushmemisht is only a wee village, but it wouldn't be a bad place for a cheap holiday lounging by and swimming in Lake Ohrid. It all seemed pretty agreeable.

[ingaborg.livejournal.com]

Wow! I'm impressed with taxi dude, and with you for finding him.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Stroke of luck, otherwise I'd have been walking all the way to Tushemisht!

[crazycrone.livejournal.com]

Fascinatin'. You were lucky to get that taxi guy. He sounds like really good value. Old Blokey, too.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I was a bit unnerved at first, as he was very grabby (sort of a back-slapping thing.) A cultural difference, I had to tell him to reel it back as English types can't cope with that sort of thing!

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Those aren't the most charming of mosaics I've seen, and that doesn't look like the most well-kept-up pier either... but great trip by the looks of it!

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

A toe dip into Albania! I'd have liked to explore more, but you can never tell when you'll be back in that area close enough to visit, so you have to grab what you can.