Heading south from our 2 amazing park ups in the north of Albania our first stop was Turtle Farm which is 4km away from Tirana, the capital.
Here is the view, it was very peaceful which we loved, especially with it being so close to Tirana. The owner Erjan was an exceptionally good host, he made us coffee when we arrived and chatted with us. His English is very good.
After coffee we went back to the van. We were just starting to make dinner when another van from the UK arrived!
We had to move to make space and then we realised that it was a family that I had been chatting to on Instagram. They had just arrived in Albania and I had told them where we were heading but as they’d been busy with work and their children they hadn’t actually had time to reply. It was a nice surprise when they arrived.
We went into the bar/restaurant area where we’d sat and had coffee earlier. We had a beer or wine each. The bar and restaurant was not officially open for the season yet. Erjan was happy to serve us drinks tho and he joined us which was really nice .
We ended up having a few drinks and the dinner I had started preparing was forgotten! Instead we had toast and crisps later back in the van!
We were the first people from the UK that Jordon, Kayleigh and their 3 children had actually met since setting off on their travels.
In the morning Erjan’s mother prepared a really lovely breakfast for all of us. We did of course offer to pay but they would not hear of it! Here’s the photo, not sure where their youngest daughter was !?
After breakfast, Erjan dropped us off at a shopping centre, we just needed to top up our SIM card and change some money. He then went back and took Jordon, Kayleigh and their children into Tirana. I think they had a great day with him.
We sorted out the things we needed to do then had a lovely sushi lunch, complete with wine and beer, ‘hair of the dog’ as we say in the UK.
Back at Turtle Farm we all decided to stay for another night .
Erjan and his family were amazing hosts. He also has many plans for this fabulous place. We would definitely recommend going there if you are near Tirana and it is also featured in Our ‘Best Park Ups in Albania’ post.
Click here Albania-Our Best Park Ups
Gyrokaster
We left turtle farm around 10am . It seemed our hosts had a lot of family arriving to spend Sunday with them.
We headed further south to Gyrokaster.
Gyrokaster is located in a valley between the Gjere Mountains and the Drino at 300 metres above sea level. The old town is a Unesco World heritage site, famous for being a well-preserved Ottoman town. The city is overlooked by Gyrokaster Fortress.
As usual we arrived around 2/3pm and we hadn’t had any lunch, so the first thing we did was go to get something to eat.
We sat outside a restaurant with great views. The service wasn’t the best but maybe they just wanted to go home!
After eating we had a roam around Gyrokaster and the old town.
We didn’t actually walk right up to the castle, just had a walk round the town. As you can see lots of steep narrow windy roads.
I think there are hikes around the area but in the morning we decided to head to The Blue Eye.
The Blue Eye
The Blue Eye is a water spring and natural phenomenon. It is located in the village of Muzine about 22km east of Saranda in Southern Albania.
It is on the road between Saranda and Gyrokaster. It is actually in the middle of nowhere! There is an official car park and also another one very close. We parked in the one close by, you can park there for the night, although I’m not sure why anyone would want to unless they arrived late maybe.
You can only access The Blue Eye by van or car or an organised tour.
The ‘Blue Eye’ is an underwater spring . There is a cave very deep underneath the water which pumps fresh water to the surface.
Divers have reached 50 metres but no one knows the real depth. The water is a constant 10 degrees Celsius.
The Blue Eye is a pool. In the centre of the pool you can see the dark underwater cave, it looks like the pupil of an eye. Surrounding the pupil is turquoise water that oaks like the iris of an eye.
In Albanian the spring is called Syri I Kalter which means ‘the blue eye’
On arrival you need to pay to go through a gate. It’s not very much, 100 LEK which is £0.80 or €0.90.
There is a bit of a walk before you get to ‘The Blue Eye’ but that is also quite scenic.
As you walk you can see that all the road and pavements leading to the Blue Eye are new. Although it was quiet when we went there I imagine in the summer months it would be heaving with tourists.
I also imagine that not so long ago it would have all been unspoilt, a bit like Benji Hot Springs. We found it quite sad but also appreciate that tourism is good for the economy of Albania.
The photo below is showing underwater cave looking down from a viewing platform.
Below are some other photos we took whilst walking around at the Blue Eye. It was a really beautiful place.
As you can imagine I really wanted to swim there. Sadly there were signs everywhere saying that swimming was not allowed! I read on the internet that some people do just jump in anyway, but as I didn’t see anyone going in I wasn’t going to be the one to break the rules !
Ksamil
As said, once you have seen The Blue Eye there is no reason to stay in a car park in the middle of nowhere! It’s also very barren.
We decided not to go to the busy town of Saranda, instead we headed for another peninsula and the town of Ksamil.
We didn’t really know too much about Ksamil and I think we were half hoping to find something like our fabulous park up, Bar Ledh in the north which was also on a peninsula.
As soon as we drove onto the peninsula everything about it said “package holiday paradise!’
Luckily as it was March and out of season there was no one around!
We found a park up next to a restaurant that was closed and opposite a hotel that was closed !
This restaurant had what could only be described as it’s own private beach. And because there was no one there it really was like having my own private beach!
It was very calm and clear turquoise water and in some ways absolutely beautiful. However there were 2 other bar/restaurants forming a triangle . They were so close that it was possible to swim to them! It made everything really tacky! In the summer this place would have been heaving with people on package holidays and we would have hated it!
We stayed a few days, found a restaurant that was open and had nice food. I even managed to get a pedicure and some waxing done.
We were basically ready to move on and were very close to the Greek border but we still had LEK to spend!
We even considered driving back to the north and to Bar Ledh, we loved it there and such a different vibe to here! However we realised that we would spend all our remaining LEK on fuel to get there and then back again! This in mind we decided to head to a supermarket in Sarander and stock up on food, beer and wine.
Once we had done that we were on our way heading to the Greek border.
We loved Albania and were sorry to leave, I think we may end up going back one day.
Our next post will start in Greece.
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