Sunday, August 6, 2023

We left Podgorica in the morning via bus. The trip was supposed to take 4 hours. Instead it took nearly seven, and for no specific reason other than traffic. traffic out in the middle of the countryside, traffic at a traffic circle, traffic into town. The whole route into Tirana from Podgorica is on what seems to be a local highway that the whole country uses to get North and South. There is no autostrada. Furthermore, the bus has to take the same route even if there’s a shorter path. to add insult to injury, Max said he had to pee before we even left the bus station. I had to run out the door with him to let him pee on a tire right before we left.

This just goes to say that travel days are hard. We made it into Tirana and quickly caught a cab to the airport to get our rental car. Albanian cash exchange does not take Bosnian currency, by the way.

We packed our things into our next vehicle and drove another two hours to our final destination that day, the town of Roshnik I Vogel, outside of Berat. The drive was scenic, and we kept getting glimpses of a lonely mountain sticking up in the distance. our route took us on quite small roads, with us passing the occasional donkey pulling a cart.

We got in close to 7, unloaded the car, and put the kids to bed. our destination was Alpeta winery, a charming little winery with restaurant tucked at the end of the road in town. Sara got a salad to supplement our relatively sparse “car dinner”, and we were pleasantly surprised at how lovely it was. we split a pitcher of their house wine and sat on the porch until bed. there was an engagement party going on, and I caught a glimpse of some traditional dancing under the arbor beneath the restaurant.

Wake up, Mom!

On the bus, ready to go.

View out the bus window

1 hour in…

4.5 hours in…

Food and Restroom break 5 hours in…

Traffic in the middle of nowhere, 6 hours in

Welcome to Tirana

Interesting smoke stack…

Tomorri Mountain

Ben saves a tortoise on the road

View of Tomorri Mountain

The town of Roshnik i Vogel with Tomorri mountain behind it

Goats

Lights under the arbor, with the restaurant behind it

Simple dinner

Title

Monday, August 7, 2023

The next day was a school day. The kids worked in their journals on the deck and then moved to the terrace. We read outside all morning. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the winery, all lovely. Before dinner I took the boys on a hike, where we found wild berries, a pair of tortoises, walnut trees, wild cherries… and some great views.

Kids up early writing in their journals

Happy hopper

Kids doing school

Breakfast

Breakfast

Under the arbor

Lunch

Lunch

Millipede

Ben

Sam and Dad

This is everywhere

So is this…

Kids with a “happy hopper”

Happy hopper

Wild cherries

Old olive tree

Tortoises

Kids found some tortoises

Dinner

Dinner

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

We visited Berat on Tuesday. We parked and walked into town, grabbed a coffee in a cafe overlooking the park, and hiked up to the castle at the top of the hill. There views were great. There are the ruins of a mosque as well as an underground cistern, which looked like a chapel buried underground at the top of the hill and filled with water. Extraordinary! We had lunch up at the top and then hiked down a very sketchy, slippery path to the old town at the bottom. in search of gelato, we crossed two old bridges and toured both banks of the river. After ice cream we drove back to the winery, seemed the kids dinner and stayed for the wine tour, letting the kids stay in the room by themselves. It was worth it; we met some fun people and had some adult fun that has been rare on our trip.

Cafe in Berat

Walking up to the Castle

Made it to the top, but very hot

Looking down on the kids…and Berat

Kids, what kids?

The South side of the river

Fruit at a fruit stand

Who’s the stickiest boy?

Free-standing arch down to town

Humpty dumpty stood on a wall…

Minaret of the Red Mosque

Sam by an old wall

Ben, in archway

That’s what I call “arch"itecture

Old cistern

Castle grounds

Looking through an old building

Looking down on a different part of Berat

Castle grounds

Our lunch menu

Walking through the old town

Typical door

We have to walk up to go down…

Sketchy path

Check out that overhang!

Much needed water

Kids in front of “the town of 10,000 windows”

Crossing the old bridge

Looking up to where we came down from

Much needed gelato break

Back at the winery

Wine tour, but where are the kids??

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

The next day we hit the books early and hard. The reward after lunch was a hike with me, Ben, and Sam. We tried to follow a local trail but just ended up walking along the road, going above a nearby town that offered views of the winery and Tomorri mountain, the subject of most of my outdoor scenery photos.

Nature was on display during our hike. we saw three frogs, a jumping stick bug, a water snake, I caught a glimpse of a fox darting into the brush, and the kids found two more tortoises.

On our way back down the hill, am older man flagged use down on the road as he came out of his field carrying an armful of grapes. he thrust then at me, telling me in so much Albanian to give them to my kids. I tried to give them each a grape and he said no, and gave me the whole armful. We said thank you as he walked back to his field. We are grapes the rest of the way home.

This experience turned out to be quite typical during our time in Albania. The people are so friendly, giving, and joyful, especially around our kids. The servers would play with our kids in the restaurant or come over just to tousle their hair. The folks at the winery gave and got so many hugs from the kids, and clearly enjoyed them. Sam got a couple wasp stings and was surrounded by adults wanting to hold him, help, or comfort him.

This is the life

Kids inspecting a frog

Water snake going fishing

Looking out over the countryside during our hike

Panorama

The trail is getting bushier and bushier

“Dad, are you sure this is the way?”

Where we turned around

Gifted grapes

Down by the reservoir

Rooftop deck view

Dinner on the deck.

Thursday, August 10, 2023

On our last morning at the winery the kids were invited to pick tomatoes with one of the farm workers.

Kids picking tomatoes

Hello Frog!

Goodbye hugs with one of our hosts