Recap Movie

Travel Diary

Saturday July 16

We left very early in the morning from home to make our way to Eindhoven. Due to the recent airport problems, we wanted to make sure that we arrived nicely on time. Therefore we arrived 3 hours too early. However, we only just made our plane in the afternoon. After arriving in the evening at Tirana airport, we had a transfer to Shkodra. Our driver opened up during our long drive and we learned  a lot about the country of Albania (for example that they call it themselves Shqipëri. In the evening we enjoyed a delicious evening meal in a traditional restaurant, which doubled as our hotel for the night.

Sunday July 17

At dawn a bus was waiting for us and we took a beautiful drive along the gorges of the Drin to Lake Koman for approximately 1.5 hours. Our boat, a converted bus, made its way through a series of narrow gorges with sheer rock walls, which were very similar to the Norwegian fjords I personally saw many years ago. This beautiful trip took us 3 hours, stopping several times along the way at houses whose only connection to the outside world was this boat. We had a lunch break in Fierze where we learned to know the other companions on our trip. After our hunger was over, we were taken by car through the highlands of the Valbona National Park to a traditional village with imposing tower houses. Here our first walk started. We hiked along a crystal clear river through old beach forests. Along the way we hoped to take a swimming break at a secluded pond, but it was full of mosquitoes and mud. The walk ended at our cozy guest house in Valbona with an amazing view on the mountains. We enjoyed a delicious evening meal and took a well-deserved rest after our first encounter with the accursed mountains.

Monday July 18

Today we woke up very early to try and hike an extra part on top of our planning. We started by going to Kukaj, a remote hamlet where only two families live. The windy path took us through beautiful flower meadows to a shepherd's hut, located at 1650m. During the communist period, when this area was a no-go zone, this hut served as a military barracks. We admired the wild mountain scenery, and enjoyed a cold lemonade beverage called lemonsoda. This was however just the beginning. We still felt fresh and decided to climb even higher and make the border crossing with Montenegro. We went all the way up to Maja Rosit (2524m). From there we had a wonderful view onto the highest peak: Jezerca (2694 m). After thoroughly having enjoyed the view at the top and having done some refueling, we descended along the same path back to our accommodation in Valbona. In total we climbed 1564m, and descended the same amount. Talk about a well-deserved rest!

Tuesday July 19

Today was actually supposed to be the hardest day of the trip. It also proved to be that way, but simply because we had all those meters from yesterday still in our legs. We started with a short but very bumpy ride on a rough road, after which we met the drivers of the horses. These horses carried our main luggage, which we left behind at the start of today's walk. Next up was the way up, all the way to the Valbona Pass (1811m). Upon reaching the pass, the surrounding peaks appear level and provide a beautiful view of both national parks. We enjoyed the picturesque scenery during our lunch break. Afterwards we descended to Theth (for Grace with quite some struggles due to blisters on her toes from descending yesterday), where the fairytale beech forest provided us with some necessary cooling.

Wednesday July 20

Today we had a choice: the route to the Peja Pass on the north side of the valley or a panoramic route to the meadows of Denelli. We chose the latter. The walk itself was nothing too special. The Denelli walk started at the guest house, passed along the green Ulaj and after a river crossing through forest to the Denelli meadows. We were hoping to encounter some shepherds here for a nice lemonsoda break, but were left disappointed by an abandoned hut. We made our way back down to our guesthouse for some reading and doing nothing, which was welcome after these tiring days.

Thursday July 21

We started the day off with a small walk through the village of Teth, which allowed us to fully discover it together with its green fields. We visited the old tower and took many pictures of the small but beautiful church. The tower was formerly used as a defense tower, but also to protect the people who were wanted for blood feud (a practice that unfortunately still exists in the northern part of Albania). We hiked further along narrow channels to a beautiful waterfall. Before continuing our walk along the river downstream to Nderlysa, we looked into the 50m deep Gruna's canyon. In the evening we explored the area and went for a swim in one of the nearby ponds. Icecold, but amazing!

Friday July 22

On our last hiking day, we walked through a canyon that lead to the “Blue Eye”, the place where an underground river springs from the karst mountains, fed by melting snow. The area around the source is beautiful to see, a real fairytale forest. Because of the crystal clear water you see the most beautiful colors and you can view every underwater plant in detail from above the surface. Also here we went swimming, be it a little bit earlier than the Blue Eye itself. Going into the water was not possible for longer than 30 seconds because it felt like needles were constantly being poked into your skin. Luckily the view was much more enjoyable than the cold water! We made our way back to the guesthous accompanied by our dog-companion who followed us the whole morning. In the afternoon we took a scenic drive by public minivan over the Terthoria Pass into the valley of Boge and to Lake Shkodra for 3 hours, where we had a drink in the same restaurant we stayed our first day. It was here I had internet access again and I learned that I had won an OffRoad grant! Yippee! The perfect ending to our holiday! After this good news it was another 2-hour drive to Tirana, which showed us the modern and completely different side of Albania. In the evening the whole group went out together for a nice meal and some drinks!

Saturday July 23

We woke up early in the morning to catch our plane back to Eindhoven. We made it all the way into the plane and onto the runway, but were stopped three times from departing due to a technical defect. After heading back to the airport terminal it was announced that our plane would not be flying any more that day. We went to the desk to see if we could fly the day after, but the earliest flight they could put us on was on Monday (and to Charleroi instead of Eindhoven). So reluctantly we booked those seats. A hotel was given to us as well, which had a pool nearby. However, we had to run around the whole day trying to arrange things. So after a day of stress and frustration, we were happy to take a dip in that pool.

Sunday July 24

Since we were given an extra day, we had time to explore Tirana some more. We strolled through the city, visited a few souvenir shops, and went to the House of Leaves museum and Bunk Art museum, both reminding its visitors about the darker days of the country while it was under communism. To get to the city from our far away location and get back, we had to take the local bus, which was also an adventure we will never forget. In the end, we were even a bit happy that our flight got cancelled. The day was concluded with another swim in the pool.

Monday July 25

We woke up very early in the morning to catch our flight, which was a succes this time around. In Charleroi, my mom was waiting for us to drive us to the train station of Mechelen, from where we took the train home, back to Leiden, where we arrived in the evening. All worn out, but happy to be back home.