Sarande, Albania
Early this morning we passed from the waters of Greece into Albania as we travelled northward up the Dalmatian Coast. The skies were clear and our ride from Ithaka had enough motion to remind us that we were on open water but not so much as to make anything slide across the counters. Clearance into Sarande, Albania, our port for the day went very quickly and shortly after breakfast we were on our way towards Butrint archaeological site.
We were met by two local guides, Loreta and Shpresa who stayed with us for most of the day. They introduced us to Albania and Butrint as we drove south to the site which is very close to the Albania and Greece border. Along the way we had very nice views of the fertile valley along the shores of Butrint Lake. Our coaches could not get us all the way to Butrint due to a small channel that has no bridge. We disembarked the vehicles and boarded a local cable ferry for an entertaining ride across the channel. Once inside the site we were able to explore among the ruins dating back to the 4th century B.C. Butrint is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and for good reason. Our guides pointed out evidence of Greek, Roman and Venetian construction as we made our way to the top for a visit to the museum. This also gave us a nice overview of the ruins below and the countryside surrounding Butrint. We returned to our coaches via the cable ferry and then back to Panorama for lunch.
Sharon Grainger, one of our Lindblad staff and Grace Fielder, our National Geographic Expert took a small group of guests to the local market in Sarande to explore. They viewed the local produce and fruit that was available and met many of the merchants there. Later in the afternoon, Auron Tare, an archaeologist and one of the founders of the Butrint National Park made a presentation on an ongoing project in the area. He is involved in an underwater archaeological survey of the Corfu Channel and he showed us some fascinating images with good explanations of their finds.
Before the end of the day we headed up into the hills above Sarande for a cocktail party and some appetizers at Lekuris Castle which dates back to Ottoman times. We were greeted by a local flutist playing Albanian folk tunes on a traditional instrument and wearing an appropriate outfit. There were also two violinists who happened to be music students that entertained us as well. Before the party was done the flutist and the students improvised a few folk tunes together which was a nice surprise and seemed to represent two generations in harmony. The sun began to set towards the Adriatic and the temperature began to drop, so we returned down to the port and the Panorama as our day drew to a close.
