Sarandë, Albania

September 16-18, 2023

The Hydrofoil

We arrived in Sarandë, Albania, on a hot, muggy afternoon via a hydrofoil on the Finikas Boat line from Corfu, Greece.  The boat looked pretty ancient.  It was completely enclosed and looked like a submarine that had just surfaced.  A really old, somewhat beat-up submarine.

It had two smoke stacks, both with thick black smoke puffing into the blue sky. Kind of a polluting hazard.  But it did get us to Sarandë, albeit one hour late.  

Little did we know that Sarandë’s time difference is one hour earlier than Corfu-time (our origin), so we actually arrived on time!  Life is funny like that sometimes.

The Hotel Kaonia

Our hotel has a balcony with the classic white plastic table & chairs.  It’s not too elegant, but the view looking straight out to the Adriatic Sea is worth a million dollars.  There’s a lovely, wide, pedestrian only (mostly) promenade along the water, with large palm trees, green wrought iron benches, a non-functioning fountain and a lovely, pebble beach. 

The Sarandë Public Beach

The water is a gorgeous turquoise, and is crisp and cool.  It feels wonderful on these hot and sticky days we’re having now in mid-September. 

Turns out our hotel lends out beach umbrellas, so we are happy as can be.  We have our Turkish towels, multi-purpose woven delights we purchased last fall in Turkey, plenty of sunscreen, our kindles, and can borrow an umbrella. 

Butrint National Archaeological Park

We really enjoy visiting archeological sites so made a point of scheduling The Butrint National Park in our Sarandë itinerary. 

Butrint is the most famous attraction in southern Albania and the UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s also the most visited archaeological park in the country.  

The ruins at Butrint are 2,500 years old. Some are the best-preserved Roman ruins across all of Europe. Butrint was an important stop along a major trade route in the eighth century and was controlled by various empires, including the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans. 

In order to beat the heat of the day, we made sure to catch an early morning bus to the archeological site.

The ride takes about 40 minutes, and costs 200 lek each, or the equivalent of $2 US dollars each.  

Butrint National Park is 36 square miles and includes wetlands, marshes, reed beds, coastal waters, rocky shorelines, sandy beaches, and Mediterranean forests. Thankfully it’s very shady on most of the trails that wind through the ruins of the city.  

The Roman theatre of Butrint is among the best preserved buildings of the town.

Beach Day

We spent our last day in Sarande lazing around on the beach. We borrowed our colorful, but faded, beach umbrella from the hotel clerk (owner?), who speaks virtually no English. But we are in Albania, so that’s fair.

The Umbrella

I approached the elder clerk, saying “May I please borrow a beach umbrella?” He gave me a blank stare. I probably would have just given up then, but we knew they had beach umbrellas to lend, since we had talked to his adult son the night before (who does speak English).

Again, “Do you have a beach umbrella?”

Another moment of blank staring, then he assertively pointed his finger at me, almost poking me dead in the stomach, and said as a forceful statement, “You want an umbrella.”

“Yes, that would be great!”, I said with much delight, so happy to have made a connection.

If only we could have some small folding chairs… but beggars can’t be choosers, and we were very happy to have an umbrella to protect us from the blazing heat of the day.

A Bed of Pebbles & Rocks

That being said, we were really feeling our age as we sat for three and a half hours on the pebbles and rocks, since there is no sand. I did have the great idea to bring along my inflatable plane pillow, so at least when I laid down to read my head was comfortable, even if the rest of me wasn’t.

But the water was glorious, and I visited it multiple times. And the umbrella kept us in the shade and comfortable. What a great way to spend a lazy day on the Adriatic.

We knew it was time to go when our trusty umbrella made the decision for us by suddenly flying into the air when a gust of wind came up in the early afternoon. Yep, time for lunch.

Wins & Losses

Wins

Sarandë has a cool vibe. It’s a bit of a party-town, at least here at the hotel & restaurant laden promenade along the waterfront. There are several bars playing loud music in the night, and a crazy party ship that cruises the bay every evening with an incredibly loud sound system and wild lights outlining the ship.

There’s much more to Sarandë , I’m sure of that. We barely scratched the surface. We didn’t make it very far from the waterfront area, except to a great little eatery in the downtown area, Pita e Qytetit. Good food and phenomenal prices. Dinner for two and beer under $10. Was nice to see at least a little bit of the real town.

Money

This is one of the very easiest conversions we’ve ever had in a country.  The Lek is 100:1 USD.  It’s so nice to calculate the costs so quickly and easily.

New Friends

We enjoyed meeting Janny and Greg on the local bus as we returned from Butrint. Kindred spirits for sure. They are Australian, around our age, and are in the process of buying a 2-bedroom apartment with a beautiful water view and will live here for 10 months out of the year (they’ll travel in July & August to beat the heat and the tourists).

They obviously love Sarandë and Albania. I can’t wait to see more of the country that won their hearts.

Unique Chip Choices

You’ve got to love it when your chip choices are Oregano or Ketchup flavored. I picked Oregano.

Losses

As I entered the washroom at Butrint Archeological Park, an Albanian attendant there looked at me and said, in a subdued, almost grumbling tone, “Problem….problem”.

Hmmm…not sure what that means, but doesn’t sound great. Turns out the water wasn’t working in the sink – or the toilet, but thankfully I was able to do my business and headed out.

As I left, she looked at me apologetically and again said, “Problem….problem”. I appreciate her effort. That’s more than I can say in Albanian.

Next stop: Himarë, Albania