Hotel California in Himare, Himara Hostel / Albania

05.09.2023-07.09.2023 and 08.09.2023-14.09.2023 (night from 07.09.2023-08.09.2023 in the shepherd's hut near Maja e Çikës

Ok, where should I start? I love Himara Hostel! And how did I get there? To be honest, extremely coincidental... I actually took the bus to Saranda in the morning on an extra plastic stool, which wasn't all that comfortable. Here in Albania you can often be happy with the buses that 1. you can somehow get a seat and 2. that the driver actually takes a direct route to where the bus should actually go according to the sign on the windshield😉.. ..that's why everything is good today.

On the trip I meet an American who decided to travel as a way of life 4 years ago and a German woman who is traveling with him. I immediately like both of them. I ask where they are going and when I arrive in Saranda and see Saranda's party miles, I quickly decide to join them on the next bus to the more tranquil village of Himarë. The American, who has spent a lot of time in Albania in recent years and seems to know the most beautiful places, leads us to the Himara Hostel. And as I said, as soon as I enter the garden and am given my cozy little tent including a comfortable mattress, I realize that I finally want to stay here longer and relax. At night I feel like a baby in a cocoon in my tent.

The sparkling clean hostel, which is managed by Shaip, who is just 24 years old, not only has 2 hostel dogs, a flock of wild cats and a perfectly equipped kitchen where you can even find everything you need for baking, but also a very special communal vibe. And somehow everyone who stays there at my time is just nice. I get to know impressive solo travelers like Riki from Australia and Marcella from Argentina, among others. Both have been traveling for years with an unforeseeable end to their journey.

Festim also asked me whether I would be interested in accompanying him on a hike that he was currently planning. He is a northern Albanian who emigrated to England at the age of 20 and has regularly visited his mother in Albania for the last 23 years. I should have listened when he said that he had been to Kilimanjaro, among other things...

After he tells me a little about the unique nature, shows photos and also says that he has often been out with amateur hikers, I simply say yes, even though a 10-hour hike seems quite challenging to me. Get out of the comfort zone, I think and motivate a 21-year-old Australian volunteer from the hostel named Alicia and a 22-year-old Austrian named Sarah, who is also on vacation in Albania, to go hiking with us.

So we set off for Pilur by taxi in the morning on September 7th, 2023 at 6:30 a.m.

We start in a good mood and highly motivated. After a 10-minute hike, the first sheepdogs chase us to defend the sheep. Fortunately, we successfully defend ourselves with sticks, stones and shouts. After our hike, I learned from Festim that the taxi driver had warned him in Albanian that recently a hiker in the area was so bitten by German Shepherds that he had to be taken to the hospital.