A substantial breakfast before going to the countryside
The area round here has spring water sources and natural hot springs. Roadside stalls sell mountain herbs and honey to unsuspecting tourists. My guest house owner, who is also a day trip tour guide and driver, says never buy "honey" from the street as the honey is not genuine. It's nothing but caramel, with some honeycomb in the jar to make it look like honey. The spring water that comes out of various pipes is real, though. My guide filled up his big bottle for the trip.
The true beauty of Albania is found in the countryside. FYI, the country, about the same size as Belgium, is nearly entirely mountainous and has a rich geological history. And only until very recently the infrastructure has been improved. Before that many remote villages were completely cut off from the outside world in the winter due to snow or harsh weather conditions. Because of that they also make more cheese, pickles and preserves, until spring arrives.
There's a beautiful old stone foot bridge at the hot spring
The thermal pool is quite small and just barely warm, really not worth getting undressed and getting wet for. There's also a lot of gross-looking floating stuff in the water. To me it's unsafe to soak in this "hot spring".
We went for a walk instead. Endless waxberry trees everywhere. Some are within reach so I picked some and ate on the spot. Apparently it's not recommended due to possibly the presence of tiny critters on the exterior of the berries.
Albania's mineral wealth has been exploited since antiquity.
Looking down from the road above. The river bed is quite dry at the moment, but it's filled with water after lots of rain. I told the guide in a couple of years they'd build hotels along the banks, erect a gate and fence. It would surely cost a fee to enter the area. The guide said of that he had no doubt at all.
On the stone foot bridge going back to the car
The Albania I remember. Shepherds and their flocks are a part of the countryside landscape. Now I also see flocks of turkeys and their herders. But sheep outnumber them all.
Lunch at a fish restaurants in the hot spring area. Guest house owners/family come here often for fish meals so they all know each other.
The adults had the same fish dish, the children had pasta.
Crispy-fried fish that came from the river behind the restaurant. Firm fleshed and flavourful, almost without any trace of the swamp. The water comes from the mountain so maybe that's why.
Suddenly there was noises and everybody turned their heads to the source...
River behind the restaurant
We caught up with the shepherd and the cute noise makers on the way back.
After a filling fish lunch I requested a small dinner: qofte (meatballs), mixed pickles, vegetables, yoghurt sauce and raki. The guest house owners make a lot of things themselves, pretty much the only thing they don't make is meat. I've mentioned they make own wine, but they also make raki. Couldn't drink raki on my previous trip. So strong and I hated the taste. But this one I can drink and actually enjoy it. We always get a shot at the end (digestif) but today he gave us the bottle for the meal. We drank 3 glasses each.
Their salads are usually refreshing and citrusy.
Mixed pickles. Most popular during cold months. The cooks commented I already know so much about Albanian food. (I like to research the gastronomy before visiting a place, but I've only barely scratched the surface, really.)
Home-made qofte (meatballs) can be any shape you want
Strained yoghurt (with some olive oil on top) for the qofte.
Smithy, the yoghurt sauce for meat is usually plain with some olive oil. It can also contain chopped herbs, or sliced green onions. But I really like the version with chopped pickled aubergines. This goes especially well with meat.
FYI, Albanian qebap (Albanian spelling of kebab) is also plain. Just the meat (qofte) in (hot dog-like) roll, some salt and pepper if desired, that's it. I had a long conversation with an intelligent and kind young girl 7 years back and she translated what her mother said about plain qebap and yoghurt sauce: We Albanians are poor, we don't have a lot of things to add to our food.
Btw, I never forgot that intelligent and kind young girl who spoke flawless English. Actually, I just found her family's shop again and spoked with her brother (also fluent in English) and her mother! Anyway, more about that at another time.
