Overlooking the city of Vlorë is the remains of Kaninë Castle. While the city is at sea level, the castle is in the mountains just behind the city at an altitude of 380 meters (1,250').
We had thought about walking up there from our apartment. It's only 6 kms (3.7 miles) one way. But it looked like there might be some hiking to do once we got up there, so we decided to drive.
It didn't take long to get some great views...
Looking down on Vlorë.
We made it up to the very small parking lot by the castle, and we were the only car there! Good thing, because it was a narrow road up. The sign at the parking lot said there was a 300 lek ($3.60 CAD, $2.90 USD) per person entrance fee, but walking up from there we didn't find anywhere or anyone to pay.
Ruth, standing on part of the castle wall.
Vlorë, as seen from Kaninë Castle.
This guy has a nice view!
Old gate through the old wall.
We walked around the inside perimeter of the wall, and eventually came to a guy with a booth. It turns out the ticket booth is located at the walkup entrance only. I guess it's just not busy enough to have two of them. We paid for our tickets there.
A village outside the wall.
What is left of the main part of the castle.
Old wall.
Old wall.
While it's really quite pretty up there, and the views are fantastic, there's very little castle left. Just a bunch of the old walls in various levels of decay. It's actually tough to justify the cost of the entrance fee. Very few informational signs, and some where there used to be a sign, but it has fallen apart. So the entrance fee money doesn't appear to be used for much, although we did notice one section of wall that had been recently repaired.
View looking east.
This gate made no sense.
It didn't look that old, and it was welded shut. Strange.
I found this part really interesting.
The castle and walls have existed since 400 BC. The walls were built in stages over periods lasting hundreds of years. I find it difficult to comprehend the length of some of those time frames. Building techniques changed a lot over the years, and as each occupier built the walls higher, it was done so with different styles and materials. This section of wall shows the differences very well.
Our apartment is down around that area.
This poppy like flower was actually bright red.
It looks more orange in the photo.
I guess my camera no longer likes that shade of red!
We tried going for a walk outside the castle walls, but there was nowhere worthwhile. The main road would normally have been fine, but they are building a new north south road through the mountains and there were a lot of dump trucks and other construction traffic.
We decided to go for a drive inland a bit.
Monument at the town of Drashovicë.
We didn't really go that far. Only to the fairly run down town of Drashovicë, which had absolutely nothing to offer other than the monument and statue above.
Part of a section of new road. Yikes!
This relatively new road we were on had one section where it looked like the retaining wall had sunk and caused the road to swell. Very strange, and we've never seen anything like it.
Hopefully the new road they are building through the mountains lasts longer than this one!
We drove back to the apartment and did some computer work ad had an afternoon nap. Then we went for a long walk on the waterfront. Lots of people out and about on a nice Saturday afternoon. We also noticed a lot more traffic on the two lane road in front of our place, in fact for several hours late afternoon and into the evening it was bumper to bumper in both directions. We also noticed a lot more of the apartments were occupied on the weekend, and figure that many of them are second apartments for people living inland.
Waterfront in Vlorë.
This cafe was actually pretty busy, but most people were in the indoor section.
Looking south.
The beach has been recently groomed.
Our apartment building.
Today is starting off a little more cloudy, but they are calling for a high of 18C (65F), so quite pleasant. It's Sunday, so we would rather do our planned day trip south when the weekend is over and there will be less people. We are just going to hang around here today, and go for a walk on the beach to the other side of the port.
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And in Canada...
All areas have there hidden gems. It's just some areas take better care of them.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy the beautiful views.
It's about time.
Yes, many places have some hidden gems for sure but we can tell you that there are definitely some that don't!
DeleteIt looks a lot cleaner then some of the other places you've been. On other blogs you mention litter on roadways. I never noticed but Florida is getting really bad with litter on the roads. I guess you get used to it. Now that I notice, it's driving me nuts. They don't have funding anymore for the cleanup like they used to do.
ReplyDeleteWe have found in the city centers themselves are very clean but once you are out of the city centers there is definitely garbage around. We have found the same thing in Mexico and we just try to focus on the beauty of the area and not on the garbage that is strewn around. There are definitely some areas that are worse than others here.
DeleteWe have noticed when driving through the States that some states are definitely cleaner than others. You would think with all the education that they do in both Canada and the US that it shouldn't be an issue but in some places it still is. We have seen pictures of some BLM lands out west that get garbage dumped on and now the government it starting to close some of those areas, which is such a shame. We as humans should take better care of our lands! :-(
Nice views of the city from the castle with interesting walls. If only those walls could speak! Haha. Beautiful waterfront too. Vlore looks like another pretty city by the sea.
ReplyDeleteThe views from the castle were beautiful!
DeleteKevin and I have often said the same thing when we are wandering around old places like that. A lot has happened since those walls were built.
Vlorë is a pretty little city and they mayor is working on making it even better.
I wonder if the road damage was earthquake-related? Tectonic plates shifting could do something like that. Might also explain the gate to nowhere?
ReplyDeleteWe have thought of that but this road is pretty new and I don't think that they have had any major quakes here that could have done this kind of damage. I am sure there must be something on the internet about it but it is so difficult trying to find that information when it is in another language that we don't understand.
DeleteThe gate has been like that for a long time, so it is quite possible that quake might have done that, again I don't think we will ever find out the real story. To us it looked like the gate was put in as an afterthought but what do we know, lol?!