Days 49 and 50

(Dan’s comments are italicized)

• Bus to Durres

Today, we said goodbye to Sarande and our wonderful patio. And we were surprised when we opened the bedroom curtains as there was a huge ship parked outside…

There was good and bad news with the bus. The good news is that they turned people away so nobody was standing 🎉 The bad news is that the seats were so crushed in that there wasn’t enough room for 5’5″ me, let alone 6’3″ Dan 🤪 Rhia took one for the team and I got the privilege of the aisle seat so could move my legs out. 🙏

It was a very long 4 hours (though we did get a 20 minute break halfway through) BUT the views were wonderful.

We had high hopes for Dorres. And then we arrived! The air bnb description was a bit misleading; this was the first photo in the listing…

…and this is where we are 😂

So, we’re in a less touristy area…isn’t this what ‘off the beaten track’ is about? Buoying our spirits, we went off to find the ancient walls.

Ah, but our spirits can’t be broken that easily so we went in search of the Roman baths.

They were UNDERNEATH an apartment building 😂😂 At least we could visit the ancient market square…

But seriously, it’s not that bad as we passed a very pretty fountain in front of a mosque. Tomorrow we shall explore some more and who knows what delights we shall find.

What a difference a day makes! I’m so glad we went out with a good attitude today…wait for it, we love Durres!! We walked past the fountain again and saw the wall by the side of it.

This wall is part of the Roman wall built in the 1st century and reinforced during Byzantine times (and repaired after the 2019 earthquake)! The wall we saw yesterday (!) was what was left from a 15th century Turkish wall 😂 This one was more impressive..

Two things struck me about this wall. Firstly, the recycling of material (common in ancient times) is fascinating as it gives us tiny windows into even older times.

Secondly, Durres is not (yet) a tourist trap as you can see by the state of the information about the Roman design!

Our meanderings then took us to the Roman amphitheater. Although it’s in poor shape, there’s something to be said about wandering around while archaeologists are right on the spot exposing more of the structure daily. It fascinates me that nobody knew this was here before 1966!

Our further meandering took us past the place we’re not staying in…

…and to the ocean where we saw fishermen, an artist, beautiful views, and some statues

At the end of an old entertainment -type building was an office with paintings that made us feel right at home 😂

Durres is interesting; I think we’ve heard one tourist from America and none from the UK; yet many Albanians speak at least some English.

Rhia complemented a woman about her long, curly, black hair, and was rewarded with a conversation with a local native who spoke English. She now teaches in Italy, and was back visiting her family along with her Italian boyfriend. I need to be inspired more by strategies in initiating conversation, rather than how to illegally stick two poles together or transition wood planks to plaster backboard.

Durres truly has an old-world feel to it yet tourism is important. They’re building posh hotels and the one-track railway (that had fallen into disarray) is being renovated into a multi-track system so you know that they’re gearing up for some serious tourism. I understand it, yet it saddens me as there’s something special about feeling like you’ve stepped back in time!

BONUS CONTENT

I only brought two pairs of shoes (sandals) with me on this trip and had to throw one pair away a while back because they were rotting away 😂. So here’s a photo of my feet in my shoes…

…and here are my feet without my shoes 😂😂😂