| Since I had to move out of the room I had rented in Patras, I took the opportunity to finally leave expensive Greece. Following the path of cheapness, I decided to try my luck in Albania. Being close to Greece, Sarandë (for simplification from now on Sarande) was my first stop. | Da ich aus dem Zimmer, das ich in Patras gemietet hatte, ausziehen mußte, nutzte ich diese Gelegenheit, um das teure Griechenland zu verlassen. Dem Pfad des Geizes folgend, entschied ich, mein Glück in Albanien zu versuchen. Weil es so nahe lag, war Saranda dort mein erster Halt. |
|---|
| It was a disaster. The first hotel I had booked was close to the port, I thought. It was just 500m, so I refused the taxis & walked there. Bad choice, with 2 suitcases of some 30kg each & a 20kg rucksack. Because Sarande is hilly: up & down, up & down. Not having slept 2 days didn't help. & then at the hotel, they wanted me to carry my luggage up to the 5th floor. I would have died trying, so I cancelled the booking & decided for another hotel. | Ein Desaster. Das 1. Hotel, das ich gebucht hatte, war nahe am Hafen, dachte ich. Nur 500m, also lehnte ich ab, ein Taxi zu nehmen & ging zu Fuß. Schlechte Idee, mit 2 Koffern zu je 30kg & einem Rucksack von 20kg. Denn Saranda ist hügelig: auf & ab, auf & ab. 2 Tage ohne Schlaf halfen auch nicht gerade. & im Hotel sollte ich dann mein Gepäck auch noch in die 5. Etage schleppen. Hätte mich umgebracht, also stornierte ich die Buchung & entschied mich für ein anderes Hotel. |
|---|
| Being a bit wiser by then, I wanted to take a taxi. But I couldn't find one. So, I walked again. Up & down, up & down. & then I even walked past the guesthouse, because it wasn't marked & the street address online was wrong. But, well, I finally made it. Above you can see my first impression of Albanian bathrooms. Note the bin. In Albania it is common to throw used toilet paper in a bin, not into the toilet. | Etwas schlauer als zuvor wollte ich ein Taxi nehmen, fand aber keines. Also latschte ich weiter. Auf & ab, auf & ab. & dann auch noch an der Pension vorbei, weil es keine Schilder gab & auch noch die Adresse falsch angegeben war. Aber immerhin fand ich sie dann doch. Oben sieht man meinen 1. Eindruck von albanischen Badezimmern. Man beachte den Mülleimer. In Albanien schmeißt man gebrauchtes WC-Papier in den Eimer, nicht in die Toilette. |
|---|
| Not with me, though. Can't have that. But apart from that, the room itself was actually nice, with a large terrace with sea view, as you can see above. There was harbour nearby & the sailors could be a bit noisy at times. That was not the problem, though. The problem was that internet didn't work! | Nicht mit mir! Kommt mir nicht in den Eimer! Davon abgesehen war das Zimmer selber aber gut, mit einer großen Terrasse mit Meerblick, wie man oben sieht. In der Nähe war ein Hafen & die Matrosen waren zeitweise unangenehm laut. Aber das war nicht das Problem. Das Problem war, daß das Internet nicht funktionierte! |
|---|
| Can't live without internet, at least not for long, but I was too tired to change hotels again. Therefore I decided to find a supermarket first to buy something to eat. On the way I passed the harbour, which had a small wharf as well. There I saw the above wreck. Looks like an old hydrofoil, probably from the coast guard or navy. Found an older picture of the wreck which shows torpedo tubes. | Kann ohne Internet nicht leben, jedenfalls nicht lange. Jedoch war ich zu erschöpft, um nochmal das Hotel zu wechseln. Daher entschied ich, erstmal etwas zu essen zu finden. Auf dem Weg kam ich am Hafen vorbei, der auch eine kleine Werft hatte. Dort sah ich dieses Wrack. Sieht aus wie ein altes Gleitflügelboot, vermutlich von der Küstenwache oder Marine. Ein älteres Bild des Schiffes zeigt es mit Torpedorohren. |
|---|
| In the hillside above the wharf there were more remnants of Albania's military past: 2 bunkers. Albania is famous for its bunkers, well, for the number of its bunkers. Particularly the kind you see above is ubiquitous. | Auf dem Hügel über der Werft fanden sich mehr Reste aus Albaniens Militärgeschichte: 2 Bunker. Albanien ist berühmt für seine Bunker, naja, für deren Anzahl. Besonders die Art, die man oben sieht, findet man überall. |
|---|
| Sarande has also a more interesting distant past. The area has been settled at least since the 3rd millennium BC, with connections to the Mycenaean culture. Haven't seen any of that, though. But in the city centre are some interesting ruins from the Middle Ages: a synagogue that later was made into a church. I found it by coincidence when I was checking the city next day for cheap supermarkets. | Saranda hat auch eine interessante ältere Vergangenheit. Die Gegend wurde mindestens seit dem 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr. besiedelt, mit Verbindungen zur Mykenischen Kultur. Davon fand ich jedoch nix. Im Stadtzentrum gibt es aber interessante Ruinen aus dem Mittelalter: eine Synagoge, die später in eine Kirche umgewandelt wurde. Auf der Suche nach billigen Supermärkten kam ich daran vorbei. |
|---|
| The synagogue is said to have been the 1st in what is now Albania & was probably built in the 4th or 5th century. The church supplanted it in the 6th century. That thick wall beside it may have been part of the old city walls, but I haven't found any info about it. The plaques at the site were unreadable. | Die Synagoge soll die 1. in Albanien gewesen sein & wurde wohl im 4. oder 5. Jahrhundert gebaut. Die Kirche ersetzte sie im 6. Jahrhundert. Die dicke Mauer daneben könnte Teil der alten Stadtmauer gewesen sein, aber ich fand dazu keine Infos. Die Schilder vor Ort waren unlesbar. |
|---|
| If it was a city wall, though, why would they build a corner tower (?) with distinctly thinner walls? & why would a dog sit in front of my camera like that? Mysteries abound. | Wenn es eine Stadtmauer war, warum dann ein Eckturm (?) mit deutlich dünneren Mauern? & warum setzt sich ein Hund so vor meine Kamera? Fragen über Fragen. |
|---|
| Sarande is actually quite small. So you can go everywhere on foot (unless you carry too much luggage). Just a few minutes from the ruins is the sea promenade & the beach. | Saranda ist ziemlich klein. Man kann alles zu Fuß erreichen (außer mit zuviel Gepäck). Nur einige Minuten von den Ruinen entfernt ist die Seepromenade & der Strand. |
|---|
| A small marina is also there. Haven't seen many boats being used, though. Seems to be mainly for tourists in summer. | Dort gibt es auch einen kleinen Jachthafen, jedoch ohne viel Aktivität. Wird wohl hauptsächlich für Touristen im Sommer genutzt. |
|---|
| Near the marina lay the yacht (?) from the title picture. Looks very nice, but not very comfortable. | In der Nähe lag die Jacht (?) vom Titelbild vor Anker. Sieht gut aus, wenn auch nicht sehr komfortabel. |
|---|
| At the promenade is a number of statues honouring people from Albania's past. Above you see 3 'people's heroes' & a Romanian guy who seems to have been important for Albanian statehood. | An der Promenade stehen diverse Statuen, die Personen aus Albaniens Geschichte ehren. Oben sieht man 3 Volkshelden & einen Rumänen, der anscheinend für albanische Staatlichkeit sehr wichtig war. |
|---|
| Another nice yacht, a bit further out at sea. | Noch 'ne hübsche Jacht, weiter draußen. |
|---|
| Hasan Tahsini. Ottoman scholar who defended Albanian rights. | Hasan Tahsini. Osmanischer Gelehrter, der sich für albanische Rechte einsetzte. |
|---|
| Another ruin. Looks like from Ottoman times, but I don't know what it is. | Noch eine Ruine. Scheint aus osmanischen Zeiten zu sein. Weiß aber nicht, was es ist. |
|---|
| Another view across the bay. | Noch ein Blick über die Bucht. |
|---|
| & back to the hotel. As you can see, everything looks very nice. Until you look closer: | & zurück zum Hotel. Wie man sieht, schaut alles recht nett aus. Bis man näher hinsieht: |
|---|
| & that's one thing that annoys me in Albania: wild garbage dumps everywhere. A lot here reminds me of China, eg. the garbage, the toilet paper bins, the state of pavements & streets. | & das nervt mich an Albanien: wilde Müllhalden überall. Vieles hier erinnert mich an China, z.B. der Müll, die WC-Papier-Eimer, der Zustand der Gehwege & Straßen. |
|---|
| What you see in the distance there, which looks like a mosque with cut off minarets, might be part of a cemetery. & that was the last impression of Sarande. It's a nice place to visit, but I was looking for a place to live in. Hence after only one day I already moved on to Durres. More about that in another post, now, just a few more pics: | Was man hier in der Ferne sieht, an eine Moschee mit abgeschnittenen Minaretten erinnernd, ist vielleicht Teil eines Friedhofs. & das war der letzte Eindruck aus Sarande. Ein guter Ort für einen Besuch, aber ich suchte einen zum Leben. Also fuhr ich schon nach einem Tag weiter nach Durres. Darüber mehr in einem anderen Beitrag, jetzt nur noch ein paar Bilder: |
|---|
Wünsche dir einen schönen Start!
Danke.
It looks like a city with two sides, the marina part looks so nice and wealthy, then you have the grotty side, and the toilet paper bins brings back yucky memories of Taiwan, been a long time since I thought of that side of Taiwan.
China too. But I never could bring myself to use the bins. I'm probably too German for that. Never had a problem, though, even when I lived in a room with a squat toilet.
Sarande is a really nice place to visit, though. You just have to be careful with your choice of hotel or guesthouse.
Thank you. A small trip for us and a big trip for you.
LG Michael
!invewst_vote
Thanks! A big heavy weight for me. I'll probably never learn.
Apart from difficulties you encountered, the place is a paradise @bossel
With all those breath-taking views and historical places, I wish to stay there for a while.
Wouldn't call it a paradise, but it's definitely worth a visit. & at least in winter, you can find very cheap rooms. Just read all the fine print & the reviews before you book.
Oh, & be careful with taxis. Forgot to mention it in the text, but on the way to the bus station to go to Durres, I took a taxi. The driver wanted to charge me more than twice of the usual fare of the private taxis there (which is already over-priced). Always make sure to agree on a price before you enter the car.
This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
Please contribute to the community by upvoting this comment and posts made by @indiaunited.
Thank you very much!
Last year I had the opportunity to visit Vlora and Ksamil two amazing Albanian resorts, I also passed through Sarande but I did not manage to explore it, not to forget I was amazed when I saw the picture of the statue of Nicolae Iorga, a Romanian politician, I knew of its existence.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
It's a beautiful place 😊
Yep. Definitely nice to visit.
Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #1760.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Thanks very much!
Excellent photographic views, a lot of quality and beauty. Thank you very much!❤️
Thanks!
What a beautiful place to visit. I was amazed at those buildings hooked on the mountains. The photography is so good.
One of the world's biggest problems is the trash/garbage thrown everywhere. Maybe everybody will take his/her part, self-discipline and help one another to solve this issue.
Thanks. The nice thing with the houses built on the mountain side is that from almost every building you have sea view.