In my last post about our weekend out 'in the village', I mentioned that we had a few hours at our disposal between kids' club and our cooking class at the H*pe Center. We decided that since we were only about half an hour from the sea, it might be nice to get some lunch and show Ryan the Adriatic before he left Albania in a few days' time.
From Vlash, the sea is only about twenty minutes away in Durres, but it's not the prettiest place to enjoy the beach with the port close by and no easy access with all of the development making parking a challenge. We heard that 'the locals' enjoy going to a slice of beach north of Durres and that it was a straightforward drive from our village home. Armed with verbal directions, we decided to give it a try!
Had we internet and consulted Google Maps, this is what we would have read: "Driving directions to Unknown road."
We were told to 'turn right at Maminas' and drive until we reached the end of the road.
Apparently, we were supposed to drive to point "C", but since our friend's last visit, they had paved the road beyond, which we didn't know, so we kept driving until we reached point "B" (see map below) where the road TRULY ended.
It took as long to get from C to B as it took to get from A to C!
We wound our way up a big hill and were met with this stunning view below (shot from our moving car since the road was only one car-width wide and there were no guard rails, we dared not stop!) -- can you see where the sea meets the sky? I can't really see it either!
We found miles of undeveloped coast line and ended up here: on the Cape of Rodon at a hundreds' year old church called St. Anthony's. If we had known where we were, we would have known to hike a little further to see the ruins of Rodoni Castle where Skenderbeg and his family retreated during the siege of Kruje (1450) and were whisked away by boats to Brindisi for safety from the Ottomans. The castle walls are now partly submerged in the sea... But given that we were utterly lost and signage was minimal, we didn't know the history that surrounded us.
(above) Yes, that is a communist bunker in the background, behind the church to the right...
Sadly, we were hungry and on the prowl for a place to eat so we didn't stay long. Our options didn't look promising given the sparse population of the surrounding environs. We had been told there would be a restaurant with a green roof, practically right on the beach. That should have been our first clue that we missed our turn off.
The closest thing we could find was a little portable concessions trailer with a green tarpaulin stretched over a metal frame covering about 6 folding tables with plastic chairs. They had no menus, bit it also looked like they had no electricity so we politely climbed back in the car and kept driving.
That is one of the largest herds of goats I have ever seen. The photo doesn't do it justice.
We finally figured out where we were supposed to stop. We ate a late lunch outside and kept saying, "I can't believe this is NOVEMBER!". Finally, we were able to shed our shoes and hike down to the beach and put our toes in the water for a brief thirty minutes...
Proof that our beach visit was impromptu ... no proper swim attire. Gotta love spider m*n undies.
I wonder how many memories Ellie and Reni will have like this from their childhood?
We had the beach completely to ourselves!!!
And before we knew it, we had to get back to the real world.
Thanks for letting me share a little slice of our corner of the Balkans...
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