For the last five days, we got to catch up with a friend who volunteered for the Peace Corps and was placed in Albania. The high speed ferry from Corfu only takes thirty minutes and Lesley met us on the other side for lunch. The town where we landed, Sarande, is quite touristy, including a promenade along the water. After lunch and a 40 minute bus ride (20 kilometers) to Ksamil, we settled into her apartment and walked around town shopping for dinner. We were excited that we could cook for ourselves again. Lesley had planned veggie fajitas and beans. It was great to get our hands dirty and be proud of our meal.

Lesley is teaching English in the village, so we had to occupy ourselves for two mornings. The first day we went to Butrint, an archaeological site just a little further south. It has many layers of history and some items date back to the 8th century BC. It was used by the Greeks, Romans, and Venetians. Surprisingly, the sea level has risen and fallen over the centuries and currently some of the ruins are submerged in a couple inches of water. That afternoon Lesley showed us what her little town is famous for, beaches! The sand is brought in, but the water is very clear and pretty calm – thanks to some small off-shore islands. While we were there, we spotted a rather large, dead jellyfish on shore.

We decided to spend a little more time at the beach the next morning and actually swam around the smallest island that is just off shore. We also found three more LIVE jellyfish, but left our camera at home. Since it was now Friday afternoon, Lesley suggested we head out of town to the city of Gjirokaster. The town is up in the mountains and has an old European feel to it, complete with a castle. We stayed with another volunteer and had a delicious veggie pizza for dinner. We tried the local Albanian wine, it is definitely better for cooking.

The next morning we found ourselves eating byrek and enjoying coffee as folk dancers paraded by on their way to the festival being held in town. We trekked up the hill and visited the castle. The hilltop perch has terrific views of the valley and town as a whole. On the journey back to Ksamil, we hopped off the bus to see the Blue Eye. This is a natural spring that pumps out 7.5 cubic meters of water every second. It’s crystal clear, cold and great for a picnic. Back at home we had another gourmet meal with fresh, free figs as our inspiration. We finished off some Croatian wine that we had brought over a couple of rounds of cards.

Our last day with Lesley we made scones for breakfast! Who would have thought we would have such luxury living Peace Corps style? Lesley wanted a haircut so Heather tried her hand at womens hair for the first time. The three of us then headed to the beach for a swim and shell collecting. We had a lunch of mussels, Greek salad and wine ($3.50 each!). We rounded out the day with more home cooking. This time with some genuine Indian spices we had Marco Polo-ed from India. Chicken Tandoori with potatoes and roasted veggies turned out wonderful and SPICY! So spicy we went to cleanse our palates with a beer at one of Lesley’s favorite spots. Albanian beer is much better than their wine.

We were up early with Lesley to go to school and catch the bus back to the ferry dock. We found out the hard way that the ferry schedule changed and that the first ferry on Monday doesn’t leave until 12:45. We enjoyed our last cheap latte for a while and hit up a bakery for lunch. After the ferry back to Corfu, we take another ferry to mainland Greece and then an overnight ferry to Italy. Three boats, three countries, one day!

Tags: Albania · beach · beer · food · history · mountains · wine