But we shall start at the beginning. On June 14th, we woke up in a hotel in Shkodra, Albania where we helped ourselves to a wonderful buffet breakfast at 7:00am.
We also knew that our ride into the mountains was leaving at 8:30am sharp!
Really nice included breakfast at the Hotel Promenade in Shkodra.
We were able to leave our two carry on bags at the hotel storage area, for pickup when we returned ten days later. So all we had with us for the ten day trip were our two backpacks. I'll do a summary post in a few days detailing what was in those backpacks!
I didn't take many photos of the ride from Shkodra to Theth because Ruth and I have done that road twice before. The first time was in May of 2021 when we stayed in the village of Boge for a week.
Albanian traffic jam!
Sheep, heading to pasture.
The beautiful village of Ducaj.
At the top of the mountain pass, heading down towards Theth.
It was about 10:30am by the time we arrived at our guesthouse in Theth, and were shown to our room.
We had been told that we would have our own private room at the hotel in Shkodra for the beginning and the end of the trip, and a private room in Theth. But otherwise, the accommodation was listed as being "shared", and we weren't sure what that meant. Having said that, we didn't ask either... we just assumed that's all that would be available in the mountain hut guesthouses.
We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the rooms.
Something we would continue to say throughout the trip!
Wet bath showers are common in this area.
The view from our bedroom balcony!
But... it was already after 10:30am and we still had an 18 km (11.1 mile) hike to do! Fortunately, it wasn't one of the more strenuous hikes, but it's still a fair distance when you're getting a late start.
Starting out on our day one hike at 11:03am.
There are so many fresh water streams in the mountains of Albania.
Some of the cafes and guesthouses along some of the routes keep their drinks and fresh fruit cold in natural refrigerators using the cold water of the mountain streams. This is also the source of drinking water!
Heading towards the waterfall... the first major attraction on the route to Blue Eye.
Yes, we had to cross several sketchy bridges!
Notice the missing planks!
Scenery along the way.
Old stone house.
The Grunas Waterfall.
A few people went swimming. Too cold for me! Really pretty waterfall though, I can just imagine what it must be like during the spring when they've had a heavy snowfall. This past winter was a fairly light snow, but many of the mountain streams were running throughout the ten day hike. Many were also NOT running. The last heavy winter snow was the one prior to when we were here in May of 2021.
Ruth, on the trail.
Ussie with Ruth crossing a stream.
Another sketchy bridge!
Me, crossing the sketchy bridge. Yes, Ruth did it too!
Scenery along the way.
The Theth River.
The Bridge to Nowhere is the remains of an old river crossing.
The Theth River.
Ruth, thinking about crossing the Bridge to Nowhere.
Can you see Ruth near the bottom left?
Click on any photo to make it full screen, then click again to zoom in.
I usually walk faster than Ruth, so many pics are from my view looking back at her.
Clear mountain water.
Albanian mountain scenery.
Near the Blue Eye, there is a restaurant complex overlooking the river.
The River has carved its way through the rock.
You can't hear it rushing down... I should have taken a video!
More scenery.
Me, and the mountains.
A waterfall in the distance.
A very rustic bar/cafe along the hiking trail.
Yes... except we couldn't figure out how to get to it!
There were quite a few trails, and we could see where we wanted to be, but we couldn't find the right trail. Of course, we did eventually.
We could see the people enjoying the day.
We found another trail that ran down beside this old building.
But it led to another sketchy bridge.
We decided against it. The person on the other side also was hesitant about crossing. We were actually laughing at each other. and eventually we decided against it, but she did cross.
We found a spot to sit and have a few snacks.
The water is clear and natural... but very cold!
A pretty Grey wagtail was also watching.
We eventually found our way down to the shore.
It's a beautiful spot.
But not everybody does an 18 km round trip hike to get there and back. You can actually drive to within 2.5 kms of the attraction. And it's free, so it gets quite busy, especially on the weekends.
You can actually sit downriver where it's a little more peaceful.
Heading back the way we came.
Back at the restaurant complex.
More scenery.
Me, on the trail.
What is that I see in the field down below?
Zoomed in, there is a camper van doing some wild camping.
A horse, of course.
We detoured a short way to see this gorge.
Zoomed in on the waterfall we had been to near the start of the hike.
More scenery. Yes, there will be a LOT of scenery over the next ten days!
Back at the guesthouse,
We arrived back at the guesthouse at 5:25pm. Still lots of time to sit and have a cold beer and wine before dinner. Being day one, we still weren't sure what amenities were going to be available at these guest houses, but it turns out that almost all of them have a beer fridge, and sometimes more!
Dinner was better than expected!
If the first day was any indication (and it was!) then we are in for a great trip... stay tuned for day two... the popular Theth to Valbona hike!
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WOW! The scenery is absolutely stunning! And the food doesn't look bad either. What a wonderful adventure!
ReplyDeleteThe scenery was amazing to say the least and the first day was probably the least scenic if you can believe that!
DeleteThe food was really good for the most part, it was all traditional and homemade. We only had one day with a breakfast and a lunch that we felt wasn't very substantial and we could have done with more in the way of fruit.