Himarë / Gjipe Beach 🇦🇱

We are on our way to Corfu to spend the last two nights there, from Saranda we will take the ferry to Greece. Let's get to the point:

Himarë. What a place, in retrospect, an absolute favorite of this tour! After a real hellish bus ride from Tirana, right through the mountains, we finally find some peace. The hostel is absolutely crazy at first sight. Lime and pomegranate trees with hammocks hanging from them, friendly people and a beautiful garden make us feel at home right away. So the first thing we do is extend our stay!

After breakfast, we hitchhike to Qjipe Beach, a car picks us up relatively quickly and we spend the whole day together. I never thought Albania would be like this. I have to mention the 157,000 bunkers that have been built all over Albania. No matter how remote the place may seem, there are always bunkers. But the crystal clear turquoise water and a beach that reminds me more of the Caribbean than Eastern Europe are quite nice.

On day 2, almost the entire hostel goes to a beach that can only be reached by boat. There is permanent shade through a cave, so it's perfect for me. We are all from Norway, Germany, Albania, England, Australia, Brazil, Italy, and more. It's always nice to make these acquaintances. And the two English guys we met in Tirana live in Cairo, and since we get along so well, our next trip will probably be in that direction. I hear it's quite nice there.

In the evening, we have a barbecue together. Besides the actual grilling, I have to mention the lady at the butcher's shop who really put her body into cutting and pounding the pig on a wooden block for the grill. Quite interesting. YOLO

And on day three, we go to a beautiful beach. Through the entire village and some plantations, we march to protect ourselves from snakes until we reach a hill.

Anyway, the descent at the end was quite tricky because there was a rather unpaved "path" waiting for us, where we had to go down about 25m along a small rope, but we made it.

Our last day together is unfortunately a bit rainy, so we don't spend it on the beach. But it's Albanian rainy, which means it's raining a little for about an hour, so we spend the day at the hostel.

We have beer, raki, and we cook. It's bearable. There are many things worth mentioning, but that would exceed the scope of this text. I can only recommend traveling to Albania!

However, I have to mention the Albanians' really exaggerated hospitality.

As a small example: since there is no real bus stop in Himarë, there are no direct schedules either. That means you just stand by the road, and either a car picks you up or the bus, if it comes. So we made a sign that said Saranda, and without investing any time to find someone to take us, a gentleman approached us and offered to take us. Mind you, he didn't want any money. A bit overwhelmed by the situation, we got in and during the ride, we learned that he was actually on vacation with his family, but he wanted to help us. "Interestingly," he had been to Bielefeld before, more precisely in Brackwede. Because he and a friend wanted to go to Germany to buy a car. However, since his colleague had lost everything, from passport to money, and the Albanian embassy left the gentlemen in the lurch, they had to apply for asylum just to somehow get by. This means he was involuntarily in Bielefeld and then in Kassel for a total of 8 months before being able to return to Albania, of course without a car. There are several stories like this, so honestly, none of the prejudices that exist have been confirmed.