Albanian Riviera. Culture and history.

 

 

Gjirokastrë is a mountain town about an hour and a half away from Sarandë, which is full of architecture from the Ottoman era and is said to be one of the best preserved cities here. On the arrival, it turned out that in addition to architecture, the city is also full of vertical streets. You don't have to worry about tripping when walking on the street, just stretch out your hand and you'll stay upright.

The city itself was very beautiful, not to mention the great views into every direction. On the one hand, you could have wandered along these streets forever, on the other hand, they were still, as already said, vertical. If you went down some, you had to climb back up another one later. So we focused on the food and went into a tiny restaurant that offered traditional Albanian cuisine. And honestly, in terms of flavors, we had one of the best experiences so far on this trip. First, we took rice balls, which are unique to this region, and are not offered anywhere else in Albania. Such a simple thing and so delicious. We also had tomato balls and meatballs in tomato sauce (both delicious, with clear and clean flavors) and then deep-fried hard white cheese topped with honey and sesame seeds. Fingerlickin' good!

When we got back to Sarandë, we went to the beach (the last day here on the Riviera) and for dinner we chose a traditional Albanian bistro. We weren't exactly impressed by the simple food that night, but we didn't exactly leave hungry either. But we still did go to buy cake and candy.