Visit to Karavasta Lagoon, Albania 9 December 2012.

The Karavasta Lagoon is the largest lagoon in Albania and one of the largest in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from the Adriatic Sea by a large strip of sand. The lagoon is part of the Divjake-Karavasta National Park. It host a small population of the Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is a massive member of the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe to India and China in swamps and shallow lakes. The nest is a crude heap of vegetation.

The canal that link the Lagoon with the sea, view towards the Lagoon

The canal that link the Lagoon with the sea, view towards the sea

We visited a local restaurant

The had their own small zoo, with an eagle

Mandarin duck

Water buffalo calf

The sea outside the Lagoon

Not everything on the beach was neat and tidy

And some kind of feeling like being at Klondike

Some locals were fishing

Another walk on the hills south of Tirana, 24 November 2012

Lørdag var det igen strålende sol og dejligt varmt og jeg gik igen (som sidste weekend) en tur op i bakkerne syd for byen. Denne gang nåede jeg helt op på bakke-ryggen med udsigt til den ene side over byen og til den anden over landsbyer og marker. Bakke-ryggen var ét stort militæranlæg fra kommunist tiden, med bunkers og masser skyttegrave. Og jeg var helt alene bortset fra nogle få hyrder og deres geder og køer, selv om det er mindre end en times gang fra byens centrum. På et tidspunkt tog jeg en sti ned fra bakkerne tilbage mod byen som forsvandt i et tornekrat, som jeg nær var blevet helt fanget i før jeg fik taget mig sammen til at vende om.

A walk on the hills south of Tirana, 17 November 2012

Workshop in Batumi, Georgia, October 2012

Saturday 26 October I went via Kiev to Batumi to participate in a workshop on “EU Water Framework Directive Assessment and Monitoring Training”. (I was invited by the project: “Environmental Protection of International River Basins Project (EPIRBP)”, and my presentation has the headline: “Monitoring of biological quality elements and experience from the Kura river basin”). I arrived Sunday morning at 3 a.m., and Sunday was allocated to recovery after the trip. I had booked a room in the Dzveli (old) Batumi Guesthouse, with pick-up at the airport. Batumi is the main holiday resort Lisbeth and I visited Batumi, Georgia's Black Sea resort, in October 2009, and many new big buildings and constructions, that was not present during Lisbeth’s and my visit, now dominates the city. From my window I the Guesthouse I can see a new build skyscraper, which probably is the Trump Tower Batumi, which former President Saakashvili and American property tycoon Donald Trump unveiled in April 2, 2012

View from the window in my room toward Batumis scyline

Trump-Saakashvili-Batumi: President Saakashvili and American property tycoon Donald Trump unveiled on Sunday April 29th, 2012 in Georgia's Black Sea resort Batumi a project of planned 47-storey luxury residential tower to which Trump has lent his name. Construction of the Trump Tower Batumi will start within a year and is expected to be completed by late 2013 or early 2014. The property is developed by Georgia's one of the largest investment companies Silk Road Group, which uses the “Trump” name and mark under a license deal.

The Dzveli (old) Batumi Guesthouse is in the old town, and when you look down in the yard instead up at the skyline it look very Georgian and charming

View from my room in The Dzveli Batumi Guesthouse

There were not many people in Batumi compared to the summer season, but the weather was very nice and the water warm enough for bathing

The old town

The sun sinks into the Black Sea

Hotel Sheraton, Batumi, where we had our workshop

Mount Dajti, Albania, Saturday, 20 and Sunday 21 October 2012

Saturday Karim and I planned to go to Dajti National Park, Albania, located 26 km to the east of Tirana. You can go up to 1230m above sea level in under 15 minutes, the Austrian-built Dajti Express cable car or Teleferiku. So Saturday we happily boarded a taxi for the Dajti Express, but unfortunately it was closed for repair. A lot of families and a bus from Kosovo also arrived together with us to try the Dajti Express, but as us they were in vain, and no information on their home page. Instead we took a walk among the villages on the mountain side. As we were informed that the Dajti Express would be working Sunday, we tried again, but not so surprisingly with the same negative result.