Day Trip to Sarande

I woke up early to catch a bus to Sarande. It is a coastal city near Greece, apparently with some nice beaches nearby in Ksamil. I was armed with Allan's guidebook and some instructions on how to get around. I found the bus going there easily, and enjoyed the scenery from the bus going through the mountains to get to the water:












I arrived in Sarande, and walked around:






I found the local bus that would take me to Ksamil, where some nicer beaches are. It was still at least 20 degrees C there, so it was warm. I found a very pretty beach that was pretty much empty except for two people. These two were speaking English though, and turned out to be staying in a hostel in Sarande.

They were leaving, so I had the place to myself! It was warm enough to go swimming, so I went in the sea for the last time this year.













the beach was white, the sand was nice, the water was so clear... There were even sea urchins hiding on the rocks so you had to be a little careful where you stepped, but it was so easy to spot them it wasn't a problem. I swam around and dried off. A family came to the closed-for-the-season bar thing beside the little beach while I was swimming, to do renovations and relax. They had a little girl and a cat that played on the dock.

Eventually I decided I best catch a bus up to Sarande. I ate some food while waiting for the bus, but unfortunately it drove by while I was eating. I watched it angrily since they only ran every hour or so. I finished my food and decided to walk for a bit towards the city and see if I can catch a ride before another bus came. The third vehicle was going to Sarande, and turned out to be a candy truck delivering sweets to convenience stores! The driver didn't speak much English, so he was calling his friends to talk to me on his phone in English lol.

He bought fish which made me think of the ride to Gjirokaster. He then gave me a big unopened bag of mini chocolate filled croissants from his truck!




Dropped me off in Sarande and I bought some phone credit. One of Allan's Peace Corps friends lived in the area, and were hosting the same two Kiwi's I had met in Tirana. We were going to meet up, but it was too late they weren't in the city anymore. I had another issue...

It was a long time before another bus was going to Gjirokaster. I didn't know of anything else to do in this city, and certainly didn't know what was around to do after dark. I wanted to get back in the daylight. So I tried to find a ride out since the last one was so perfect. I found one in like three minutes, and the person driving turned out to be hilarious.

He was constantly worried if his car was too hot or cold for me, always changing the music impatiently, and drove rather slow. He would almost stop if there were animals on the road, so I could get a good look at them. While on the road, I made arrangements with Allan to meet up at the same pizza joint as last time. When we got in, I was dropped off right outside the store and I was able to just run right in! I got back by evening, so we ate pizza together and then went to meet up with some of the crew. There was some kind of party going on for students, so we went to check it out.

At first it reminded me of a high school dance because of the lack of dancing. Everyone was sitting down! It took ages for us to get a beer, so we only had one there and went to buy more from a corner store. We sat in the Stadium at first and drank some beer, then three of us went back to the house and I did some laundry while drinking more.

I stayed awake for a bit; the other guy was going back to the village on the other side of the mountain (where he lived) so he stayed on the bed opposite mine. It was an eventful day and night!