Well, Albania has been a great surprise so far!  It is just so beautiful surrounded by so many mountains all around (apparently the ...

Berat

/
0 Comments

Well, Albania has been a great surprise so far! 
It is just so beautiful surrounded by so many mountains all around (apparently the most mountainous country in Europe!… And seems like the country with the most Mercedes Benz per capita! haha)

I arrived in Berat with my friend Adam and immediately loved the vibe of the UNESCO World Heritage city. It felt like a bigger Gjirokaster but still with a lot of charm. 


We dropped off our bags and went out for a delicious lunch of traditional Albanian food. 




After lunch we walked up to the castle and got to see an amazing view of Berat!

The UNESCO World Heritage part of Berat

The other side of Berat


 The castle is in the citadel and  people are still living there so as we walked we could see people's houses and locals hanging out. We walked around the citadel, went up the walls and enjoyed the view.

Adam walking the wall
I thought it was his laundry, but he was selling tablecloths!



A local trimming the bushes!


A super cute hotel full of flowers





 Then we headed back to town and walked around. What I have loved the most was seeing the every day life of the people;  every afternoon older people go out to the park for a chitchat, some coffee, and even ice cream, many of them dressed up in suits! So cute! I think it reminded me of my grandpa and how dressed up he would get when he would leave the house. 

An old phone booth is used to stick the obituary and people come to see who has died and to read the obituary.


Loved seeing the guys walking slowly with their hands behind their back.



Ice cream anyone?



If you look closer you notice that both the cars going by are Mercedes



On the way back to the hostel we passed a church and a guy started talking to us and both Adam and I thought he was being very nice by showing us the church but he ended up asking us for money for showing us around!! haha


That night Adam and I went out for another great dinner and enjoyed the night view of Berat.

Dinner
On my second day I went for a hike on the hills behind the hostel and ended up at a beautiful spot overlooking Berat and the castle. As I was walking towards the edge I said Hi to 3 guys who were sitting there and one of them came to talk to me. I ended up spending like a hour talking and watching 2 Spanish guys doing malabares (juggleing.) When I was ready to keep going on my hike I asked the 3rd guy, an Albanian, which way he recommended and he said he could walk with me and added "Even though I'm from here I haven't done the walk since I took one of my girlfriends and kissed, it would be nice to go with you and remember it!" I decided to skip the hike and head down to the hostel instead!

Berat, the river, and the castle on the other side.

Dani showing off his skills.
Dani and Ivan juggleing!

 My two day stay in Berat was lovely, the hostel's garden was the perfect place to relax and soak up the sun. Now off to Tirana!


You may also like

About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

No comments:

Powered by Blogger.

Subscribe

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Instagram

About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com