Cow dung & rustic village idyll

06/29/23

I had specifically positioned myself in front of this stable because it looked the 'cleanest' there...

At around 01:00 AM, I woke up feeling raindrops on my face. The canopy I was lying under couldn't protect me from the rain coming from the side, so I had to retreat to the unpleasant interior and towards the cow dung. The bar for comfort and cleanliness in terms of sleeping places has dropped significantly.

As agreed, I meet Sammy this morning at his guesthouse. By the way, Sammy also speaks Albanian because he grew up in Macedonia. That comes in handy here and allows me to have a spontaneous breakfast at his guesthouse this morning. Pancakes, eggs, cheese, and the day is yours.

Today's stage takes us from Valbona to a small village called Cerem. It is the shortest overall, taking about 4 hours. To avoid the danger of being underchallenged, we make a little detour to one of these enchanting small crystal-clear lakes at the beginning.

We reach the first houses of the settlement around noon via idyllic forest paths. Unlike Theth and Valbona, there are no hotels and restaurants here. The guesthouses are more traditional and rustic. The location of the village is wonderful. Juicy green forests and rugged peaks everywhere you look. The feeling of an Albanian mountain village could hardly be more authentic. At least that's my impression.

Apparently, we were recognized as hikers from a distance, so a boy came towards us on a bike to recommend his guesthouse. Another boy suddenly came up the slope and advertised his family's guesthouse. Sammy took care of it, and we went to a waterfall that could be seen from a distance to enjoy our packed lunch there in a unique atmosphere.

One of the boys was already waiting for us when we returned from the waterfall. The young local was almost too nice not to accept his offer. Sammy negotiated a good price, which made me give up my original plan to sleep in a tent. There's nothing wrong with paying 25 euros for the night with dinner and breakfast. The people are also very hospitable and are supposed to benefit from hiking tourism.

Here at the Afremi guesthouse, they are already working on additional wooden structures.

The Peaks of the Balkans seems to be popular. In the afternoon, entire groups of hikers arrived here.

Once the sun disappeared behind the clouds and mountains, it got really cold in Cere.

We still eat outside because the dining room is still under construction. The hosts have four children and are only here in the mountains during the main season. During the winter, they are in the nearest larger city, which is 1.5 hours away by car.

We spend the evening socializing with a hiking family from Tübingen.