Gjirokaster, Albania
Posted on August 11, 2023 • 10 minutes • 2126 words
Our place was amazing! Right in the heart of it all, in an old renovated building with a large terrace out back and the sweetest couple that owned/ran it.
We needed food and the owner had recommended a place, Taverna Murgana. We walked about 4 minutes, through the bazaar to above the mosque. The place was just what we needed. A back patio with no other patrons outside…we were still pretty early.
Our waiters were maybe 12-14 years old (brothers and kids of the owners I assumed) and it didn’t take long to have them playing with the boys, picking them up and swinging them around, just to be smothered in hugs after. We ordered food and struggled through keeping the kids seated, even though the food was delicious and we ate pretty fast. Wrapped grape leaves (had to order a second round), salad, meatballs that were more like meat patties (yes still delicious), rice balls, spinach pie. A short stroll after dinner where every block you felt you had another great view.
I think I’m saying, ‘if you are not crazy and I can look at a few shops we can get ice cream.’ They weren’t crazy and Dan and I picked out a hand woven beautiful wool blanket.
Wrapped up the night with a stop off for gelato and we put the kids to bed early.
Turns out we were right above an Irish pub and the music got so loud at a point; I realized I was never going to fall asleep. Albania has a law that music has to stop at 11:30pm, so it was a waiting game. I actually did end up falling asleep before, but much. Thank goodness it didn’t affect the kids.
The bed and breakfast included breakfast (yes as the name implies) and we were treated to a lot of yummy food on the back terrace. The bees seemed to also like our food, so we tried to eat up quickly. Dan wanted to get some work done, so I took the kids to the tables at the bar (empty during the day) next to our place’s terrace for school.
We lasted quite a bit and then had lunch from some left over food from the picnic the day before.
This included the melon we bought but didn’t start yet. We all love melon, but Sam has extra strong feelings for it.
Everywhere you looked were the coolest slate roofs. Real slate roofs so perfectly stacked up. They looked so perfectly aligned!
Dan did research on what we could do in the area and with the sun in full position, he decided to do the Cold War Tunnel tour. Every time we left our place we had to walk through the bazaar to get anywhere. It was a very upbeat vibe, but no so crazy that the kids couldn’t explore a bit ahead. And for some reason this day they were extra fond of each other.
It took us a bit to find, but he found the entrance and bought tickets for a tour starting in 30 minutes. That gave us 30 minutes for Harry Potter while sitting on a wall in the shade.
The tour was awesome! Secretly built in the early 1970s for 150 ‘chosen’ people in case of nuclear war. As you walked around, it was hard to imagine this being built secretly as it is below the castle but still kinda in the middle of town. To enter, we walked through 2 concrete doors and 2 solid steel doors…called atomic doors.
The total length of the tunnels was 800m, although we didn’t walk all of them.
The guide stated that there wasn’t much left because when communism fell and the people realized the government was going to save the chosen government people and not the common folk (to paraphrase). Some stuff remained in the conference room and some of the offices.
I didn’t ask Sam to make any face and this is what he decided to do when sitting in the chair of an old communist government official.
They really need to protect the rebar from water infiltration a bit better. Spalling concrete is no one’s friend.
There were so many questions from Ben as he caught most of what the guide said, that we had to explain the cold war and communism to him. I struggle a lot about what to tell kids and when about things like this. We discussed the Berlin Wall and why is was there for so long before we went to Berlin, but I always worry how they will interpret if their minds will dwell on the depression of it all too much. We went ahead full throttle as we snacked on some fruits we bought and the biggest apricot we had ever seen.
We went to dinner at a place recommended to us by a couple we met at Alpeta. Food was great, but with no tables outside we had to sit inside, by a loud TV, where it was too hot, and slow service.
One dish, that I think they forgot about, came so late they wrapped it up for us and didn’t charge us. The owner offered the kids a bowl of candies that she told them to each pick 3. The grumpy kids became happy all of a sudden. We strolled down the street from the restaurant and caught a great view of the back of the castle.
It had felt like a day without enough activity, so we decided to check out an old aqueduct that was a ’40 minute’ walk according to one website, but we got there in about 20 from the restaurant. It was zigzagging up slick cobblestone streets, down a bit, peaking in woody areas for Voldemort and then a short hike on a dirt trail.
You can see the aqueduct in the middle/bottom here.
It looked like an old bridge (so I loved it of course) across a small canyon…maybe 40-50ft from the bridge to the bottom; either way too far for a fall. It was only about 6ft wide, but heights don’t bother me, and I guess the kids not either, so we walked across. Okay, maybe 6ft is a bit of an over-exaggeration.
I let Sam and Ben walk single file with plenty of gap between, but even I have my limits and told Max he had to be carried.
Not thrilled with this, but he survived. Dan chose to NOT come.
The bridge was cool, but the scenery was stunning!
Great views and nice to just feel like you are in nature, even if just for a little bit. The kids wanted to explore and continue hiking, but being almost 7pm, we decided to head back with reluctant kids.
Another big climbing day on the legs.
Knowing the music would be loud again, we decided we would follow the mantra ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.’ So, we put the kids to sleep and climbed 6 stairs and took about 20 steps to a table at patio part of the bar. We could see the door the kids would have to leave through to escape from our table, so we felt pretty good about our decision.
A round of drinks and we started chatting with a couple next to us. Well that turned into more rounds of drinks and rounds of tequila shots. I think the only reason I could function the next day was that shots in Albania seem to be on the smaller side, not the giganto (Max’s word) ones that I remember from college and after. It was lovely and so nice to have a night off.
Another delicious breakfast in the morning and some thank you hugs to the owner.
Since we didn’t make it to the castle the day before, we headed there early. We were there on the earlier side and didn’t have to wait to get in, nor have that many people around. When we bought our tickets, the man said ‘welcome’ as he handed me the tickets in the MOST genuine tone I ever hear. He looked at me right in the eyes. It sounds weird to have such a strong feeling from his ONE word, but when I mentioned this to Dan that night he says ‘I thought that too!’ We enter and right away we are in a long hall with artillery from different eras.
This was a fiat tank and didn’t look any bigger, smaller in fact, than a little fiat driving down the road. It’s hard to call a deadly tank ‘cute’, but that was the word that came to mind.
Ben has a million questions about how they all work, why this one looks like this, what does this part do? Dan patiently answered them the best he could, but at one point we had to move on. Before heading outside we found the old bakery room.
The views outside were great, the castle walls were beautiful and lots of areas to roam and explore.
Making our way back through the castle and stopped to take more pictures. So many rooms, arches, corridors (although you couldn’t explore as much down areas here as they were roped off more than other places)
After enough ‘don’t climb that, be quiet, watch out for those people’ we found an area where the kids could run around outside on the top and Dan and I could enjoy the views.
Ironically, we think it was the old courtyard for the prison that was there at one point. It was a large space, and being on top of the castle, they had a really cool layout for draining the water. The upper level was sloped to the middle with the drainage paths build into the concrete, sloping to the middle. Then from the middle another drainage ‘canal’ let’s call it, to take the water from that low point through the level below and off the building. I think my architect friends would find it very clever.
Ben and I hung back to check out the museum inside and Dan and the other kids headed out so Dan could get a coffee and the kids could run around a bit more. We found a great café for this the day before. Dan said when they were walking there, Sam tripped pretty bad and an old lady came over and spit on the ground and started stomping on it and yelling. Sam couldn’t resist laughing though the tears. Another example of how wonderful the people of Albania have been to our kids.
At the cafe, you could only see them if they popped their heads out, but they are about 30m behind us down the path…making potions.
Cute design in the cafe stone tables.
We all met back up and went back to the restaurant we loved the first night. We showed up and the 2 young boys were there again and Max and Sam ran straight into their arms. We headed to the patio for our same table.
Great food again and we tried a few different things.
We ordered ‘big bean’ and they were so amazing that we had to order more.
It was only about 2pm, but it felt so much later. Maybe because the kids deserved it, or I just wanted it, we swung by an gelato place. It’s amazing how well they share when they get a lick of someone else’s gelato back.
Back to our place for some chill time, which is just behind my right shoulder here.
At our place we just wanted to lay down. Dan got Max (and himself?) down for a nap in the double room as I attempted to while the kids. Eventually got them outside, where they did some playing at the tequila scene of the crime from the night before. Not long after, they were offered chocolates from the owner.
Back through the bazaar to go to a restaurant Dan picked out.
The food wasn’t as good as the other place, but the people watching and feeling of being in the middle of it was great. Lots of practicing our Scottish accents by imitating Professor McGonagall saying “I’m sorry Harry, you can’t go to Hogsmeade, you haven’t got a parent’s signature” or any other line Dan would give us.
out for dinner in the bazaar, some meandering, a flute purchase for Sammy and back for bedtime.
I wasn’t able to book the family room for 3 nights, so we moved to a triple and a double. It was a level above, so I hoped the music would be better. It wasn’t, but the power went out at 9:30pm so that was kinda great for my sleep.