Hike to the Cave of Pellumbas, 24 June 2012

The drove from Tirana to the village of Pellumbas takes about 45 minutes. We walked 2 km up the trail that leads to “Shpella e Zeze” or “The Black Cave of Pellumbas”. They had some very impressive haystacks in the village. The view from the trail is spectacular, with the mountainside dropping down into the canyon of Erzen River. The trail was repaired by the Outdoor Albania Association in 2010 and in a very good condition. The cave stands at an elevation of 350 meters and is said to be one of the earliest prehistoric settlements of the area. Tools and artifacts dating back to the neolith, bronze and iron eras have been found there, as well as fossils attributed to the cave bears (ursus spelae) that lived in the cave more than 10,000 years ago. We observed the stalactites and stalagmites, and heard bat sounds and also saw a few bats in the cave. It was extremely muddy and slippery, and some places our feet just disappeared under us. Because of the obvious similarity this stalactite (or stalagmite?) is named after Albania’s hero, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. Skanderbeg was an Albanian who had served as an Ottoman military officer, renounced Ottoman service, allied with some Albanian chiefs and fought off Turkish rule from 1443-1478. One of the visitors to the restaurant, where we had our lunch, was not impressed by the menu of the day, and decided to change it

Tirana, 10 June 2012

It was a very hot Sunday in Tirana, and everybody, who could afford it had gone to the Sea. It only takes a little more than half an hour to drive to the port of Durres, where it seems that half of the Albanian population has a flat at the sea. View to the apartment block where my apart is on the 9th floor. In the centre of the picture my apartment with the small balcony with two boxes (for aircondition) Some of the people without possibility (or interest) to go to the seaside are playing chess (or?) at a small park. Two scavengers, getting their income from what is of value in the garbage bins, are taking a rest. Another scavenger and his son are searching the bins for plastic bottles. It takes a lot of training to become a good scavenger. Impressive wiring It seems that for every 50 inhabitants in Tirana there is a café. Although this café looks very cosy, there were no customers when I passed. The dentist and the layer had their businesses next to each other When you can’t afford to go to the seaside you can have a nice Sunday afternoon in the Tirana Great Park. And the park even has an artificial lake where you can do some bathing