We were up and on the road just after 9am Monday morning. Lots of exploring to do. They were all to places Ruth and I had been to before, but we wanted to show Helen and Tony some of these attractions.
It was about a 45 minute drive through the mountains to the popular Blue Eye. Ruth and I had been here in April of last year and it's an interesting natural geographical feature. What a lot of changes in a year and a half though!
When we were here back then, the road in was so rough that we parked the car and got out and walked.
Now, there is a big parking lot and a gate and there is a small entrance fee of 50 lek (under a dollar) and the road in is completely paved with a walking path and cycling path!
Colorful water at the Blue Eye nature park.
New road in with walking and cycling paths.
There are certainly a lot more tourists around compared to when we were here a year and a half ago. Haven't heard that much English being spoken since we left England at the beginning of the month.
The water is just as clear as can be.
And in the right light, it has a nice color too.
There is a new viewing platform and they've built some trails.
Selfie at the Blue Eye.
Tony, Helen, Ruth, Kevin.
We had taken a lot more photos when we were here last time, so didn't see the need for duplicates. If you want to see the video of the water source it's in this blog post...
From the Blue Eye, we drove to the coast. The beach at Ksamil (south of Sarande) is really pretty but it's a big tourist place and there's not much there worth seeing. Just constant hotels and restaurants. And the season is pretty much over now and many places are just closed up.
Empty beach at Ksamil.
It probably would have been a lot busier over the weekend.
It was a nice enough day, just not much sunshine.
A few lounge chairs being used.
The beach at Ksamil.
Ruth and Helen got their feet wet.
They had brought swimsuits, but decided against it.
Ruth said the water is a little "fresh"!
A great sculpture made at the entrance to one of the beach restaurants.
From Ksamil we drove north to the city of Sarande. A blog reader, Janis, had invited us to visit so we stopped in and took her out for a late lunch.
We stayed at Sarande for a week back in mid April of last year. It's not our favorite place in Albania. Too many apartment buildings and the constant construction of new ones. It's a really popular spot in the summer. And most restaurants (and even some grocery stores) close up during the off season.
We finally found a restaurant that was open.
This tabletop was a huge world map.
Kind of suits us!
Janis is an interesting lady. Single, and retired, she is originally from North Carolina. But she says she can't afford to live in the U.S. anymore, so looked for somewhere cheaper and decided on Albania. So she moved here all by herself without knowing anybody in the area. She doesn't consider herself overly adventurous, but many people would say that she is!
Tony's meal looked good, but he said the pork chop was a little tough.
Ruth and I each had the seafood risotto.
Not bad, but not great.
After lunch we drove downtown and went for a walk around.
When we were here last year they were rebuilding the waterfront area.
It's all done now.
Kevin, Ruth, and Janis.
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