Berat, Albania

We woke up with the sun shining for the first time on this trip. Had another large breakfast with great cappuccino, and then walked up to see the Zekate House (about ten minutes from the hotel).

The Zekate House is over 100-years old and an example of the great houses from the era. We had help to track down the caretaker (the opening hours are somewhat loose during offseason). There was a movie that had been filming on location and some of their gear was still in the house, for which the caretaker was very apologetic. The house itself was okay to see; the main room upstairs was the highlight with stained glass windows and carved wooden ceiling (it reminded us a bit of the Palace of Sheki Khan in Azerbaijan).

We walked back to the hotel (had excellent views of the castle and old town centre), checked out, and were on our way to Berat by about 11am.

The road was mostly in good shape, except for the cutoff to Berat. I suppose the Gjirokastër-Berat route is only common for tourists and not a major commerce route.

As we approached Berat, we could see the walled city atop the hill overlooking Berat. Then we turned the last bend and had our first view of the white buildings and went whoa, it looked really cool. (Later we read this blog, they had the same reaction).

Our hotel was accessible by car here so it was much easier to park and unload our luggage. Had a welcome drink (Turkish coffee), then freshened up and headed out to see Berat!

We walked across the Gorrica bridge to the southern side of the river, and then through the cobblestone alleys. Visited St Thomas Church (Orthodox Christian), it was okay. Checked out some craft shops on the north side of the river, and then tried to visit St Spiridon Church, but it wasn’t open even though the sign insisted they were open every day (maybe we were at the wrong entrance?). The sun was setting (around 4:15pm this time of year), got some sunset pics.

We tried to find our way up to St Michael Church, but go lost in the maze of alleys. Found our way out of the maze very close to our hotel! so called it a day.

We had made reservations at our hotel restaurant back when I planned the trip, because I wasn’t sure what was open on Christmas Eve, and also cause it’s one of the top-rated restaurants in town.

Dinner was excellent, I tried some lamb dish wrapped around sweet meats (a local specialty), Heather had tavë kosi, another local dish. We also had a bottle of Albanian white from the region.

So far it’s been a great time in Albania!