New Year's Day

Day #6 Sunday January 1, 2012

            Actually, we didn’t sleep too badly and didn’t hear that much noise.  Either they have a lot better insulation in this hotel or the speakers downstairs weren’t working very well.  Arrangements had been made earlier for us to have breakfast in our rooms this morning as they didn’t feel they could handle having us in the dining room after the party the night before.   We get a knock on the door and a man brings in one tray that has a large greasy omelet on a plate that is cold.  A basket of stale bread, a glass of milk, and  a couple of pastries.  No coffee, no juice, no fruit, no yoghurt, and nothing to put on the bread.   There was no coffee, did I mention that.  NO COFFEE!.  While we are waiting for him to bring in another tray, my husband goes to the door and realizes the waiter is about to knock on our daughter’s door.  Since we don’t know for sure if she is downstairs working out or still asleep, my hubby stops him and has him bring the tray into our room.  I ask if we are supposed to share the tray we already have and he says, it was just breakfast for 2.  We tell him that we are three people and the front desk should know that.  He says he’ll go get another breakfast.  Now why we even wanted him to do that, don’t know.  The food was pretty awful but since we made him bring another one, we felt a little obligated to at least look like we had eaten some of it but we flushed some of the omelets. 

            This was a 4 star hotel supposedly and I had looked up all the hotels on line before we came and this one had a fitness room.  It consisted of a small room with two broken elliptical machines and a treadmill, I think, and a weight bench that was so wobbly that I wouldn’t have used it in fear that the bar would drop on top of me.  Our daughter did manage to use the equipment but don’t know how.  None of it was very safe.

            This is the day we were supposed to go to Butrint which were Greek and Roman ruins and Albania’s most important archaeological site.  Our guide had pointed out from the Fortress yesterday at late lunch where the ruins were and a large lake that accompanied them but he had also told us he had called and was told that Butrint was closing at noon on Dec 31 and would not be open again for several days.  Now he is saying to us that things will be closed Jan 1 and 2nd.  Nobody goes back to work before Jan 3rd.  But he is going to come and take us to see the Blue Eye which even the itinerary does not explain.

            As we are driving to the Blue Eye, there are many signs posted along the road that read ‘this chapel that way, this monastery other way, ruins straight ahead, etc. etc. museum to the left, castle to the right.”   We thought with so much being closed that we could at least drive to some of these sights and see something but our guide insisted that the signs were better in being a sign rather than in what they were marking as the “ruins” might be a single rock, the castle might be a hole in the ground and the museums would certainly be closed

            Klodi retrieves us for a trip to the Blue Eye.  He seems pretty chipper and we ask him what time he went to bed last night and he says around 3.  He stayed at the restaurant until about then, stopped at the hotel to see if we were downstairs as part of the party and then we to his friends and got some sleep.  We drive out of Saranda along the same route we will take tomorrow to go to Gjirokaster.  Along the way, we pass a large gypsy camp that looks to have been in the same location quite some time.  Through a few hills, over some curves and to a dam and drive across the earthen dam and down a long row past some defunct and deserted Communist fish farms.  The fish farms are large, long concrete open top troughs with scummy water in them and weeds growing up and around and all over them.  They have probably been sitting there empty since the early 90’s and any fish died or were scooped out early on when the farm went under. 

            We park in a lot where there is one other car and walk down the path past some rushing water that is remarkable clear.  We had noted on the drive over that all the water we saw was so clear, when it isn’t filled with debris.  Their power is hydroelectric and we also had passed a large hydroelectric plant.     We cross a foot bridge and come to the Blue Eye.  It is a fresh water spring bubbling up from the ground.  Apparently Albania is blessed with a number of these springs especially in this area.  This one is the prettiest.  There is a flow of 7 ½ cubic meters per second which is quite a current.  The temperature is a constant 10C all the time (50F) and the water is good and tasty and I can attest to that as I got a handful and tried it.  Also spilled it on my polarizing lens and tried to clean it off later with the wrong cloth and ended up having to clean all the lenses including the inside lenses.  Anyway, back to the Eye.  In 1995 and 1998, some divers descended into the spring and were able to go to 50 meters (150’) before they could not squeeze any further into the water column.  Not sure how the heck they did it and my husband and I had some fun trying to imagine the logistics involved with diving that deep and coming back without rising too fast because of the current, etc. etc.  Something divers like to do – analyze other dives.  The opening of the Eye was quite blue with a very deep blue in the middle.  Supposedly, it looks like an eye if you climb up to the viewing platform over it and look down.    I really didn’t think so.      

                                           

            There was green plant life growing around the eye as well.  Another debate between myself and hubby as to whether this was algae or plants and we think plants.  It was a lovely spot and the water rushed out and down the river and spilled over rocks and trees and was quite beautiful.  We walked down the path a bit rather than immediately return to the car    Further down, the river widened and there were a couple of floating docks over the water and you could see the plant life all the way on the bottom.  Quite lovely.

            This is a country where we figured we would need to drink bottled water.  First night in Tirana, we got a bottle out of the mini fridge because the hotel desk clerks couldn’t understand what we were asking.  Next day we had asked Klodi and he said it was safe to drink so we had been the entire time and so far none of us have gotten the runs from the water.  Now we are looking at this beautiful outpouring of clear, clean water and it is just lovely.  Three miles away and everywhere else we have been, the water is full of crap and debris and garbage.  This is a country where they have not figured out what to do with their trash so they throw it all in the rivers and streams and creeks.  All the rivers are debris strewn and you can see high water marks on all the rivers based on how high the trash is and that it is all “flowing” in one direction.  Certainly a bit of a contradiction in having clean water to drink and having dirty crappy rivers.

            Back to the hotel and we are going to walk along the promenade and see if anything at all is open.  Being a good resort town like it is, there are numerous  hotels along the walkway and restaurants.  Most really seem to be closed.  There are a couple open that seem good.  We are wanting some lunch and having a hard time deciding where to stop.  We walk a ways and finally turn to come back and pop into a restaurant where we can sit outside and not be bothered by too much cigarette smoke.  It is comfortable in the sun.  We order and it takes a while to come plus the man had to come out with an English speaker and tell us one thing we ordered wasn’t available and to choose something else.  This was my hubby’s dish.  I got mine first, a kind of gyro which was quite good.  Our daughter got hers next which was veggies and she also had ordered some grilled shrimp which we knew were going to come with the heads on and my hubby  promised to take them off for her.  He  took off the heads of her shrimp but the dish passed under my nose and I thought it was atrocious smelling, positively vile.

            She got busy peeling her shrimp and when she was done, she had a plateful of shrimp crumbs and debris.  Not a single shrimp had stayed together in one piece.  She tasted one and then she showed us the shrimp debris and mangled crumbs of shrimp.   We both tasted the shrimp and it tasted as bad as it smelled.  Good thing all of us had been tentative and not taken a big bite.  Definitely bad, bad shrimp.  Later we commented on it to Klodi and he reminded us he had told us a tale of not liking shrimp for the same reason, he got some bad ones.  Took her several days to totally get the smell off her hands.

            Back to the hotel.  We didn’t find any place open that had fruit or veggies.  There was a place selling cigarettes and candy.  Can always count of a cigarette place being open all days of the year so we were able to get some candy bars and drinks.

            We are meeting Klodi for dinner and we go back to the same restaurant where we had our New Year’s Eve dinner.  It was tasty again and that ended our almost totally wasted day in Sarande.