I left off when we were staying at an awesome little hotel in Dhermi on Friday evening. I need to write a little bit more about our stay because we really picked a good hotel! It was more of a boutique hotel/ bed and breakfast, as we were served breakfast the next morning. The Augustus Hotel is owned and run by a family of 4 and they went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable. As we were checking in, it was chilly and rainy – they had hot tea made for us to bring to our room. We were the only guests so they gave us their biggest room available and told us we didn’t need to worry about checking out by any certain time the next day! Off season perks! We didn’t want to take advantage of them, so we were ready to leave at around 10 on Saturday. As we were packing up, they told us we needed to go downstairs for breakfast, which was a surprise to us. We went down where they had a nice patio set up with tables and a small kitchen. The mom made us eggs and vegetables while the brother fixed us coffee and espressos. It was an great bonus to our first hotel since our travels in Europe began.
Saturday we found ourselves hiking on the hills around Dhermi. From the beach, the hills looked so friendly for speedflying.

There was even a Gin Paragliding windsock set up at the beach, so we knew there were paragliders around. Also, we had been eyeing up some antennas at the very top of the foothills by the beach so we had to go check it all out. It was a short hike to the top after we had parked at a nearby restaurant.

Bella came with us and enjoyed her free range time. The antennas were too low so we weren’t going to be jumping at all. We also weren’t going to be speedflying that day because it was way too windy and the wind was coming down the hill, not good for takeoffs. Even if the wind was coming from a good direction, the hills were way too rocky and shallow to launch safely.

We headed further south to find a new sleeping spot Saturday afternoon. We found a beautiful spot right on the water. There was minimal trash, so that was an added bonus! One thing Albania is not lacking is stray dogs and cats. Funny story. Bella loves chasing cats. Big surprise! A beagle/pointer mix who chases other small furry animals who run away! We were walking along this little beach road next to a row of vacant beach bar buildings (closed for the season). There were 2 cats hanging out next to one of the buildings and as Bella was running by she noticed them. Now, she usually goes straight into a beeline, chase to kill run when she sees a cat. However, right as she saw them, the bigger cat puffed up and hissed, totally on the offense. Bella ended up doing more of a playful pounce toward the cat, but continued running after us. It was at this moment, the cat gave way to chasing Bella while hissing. Bella didn’t notice right away, but as soon as she looked over her shoulder and realized what was happening, she raced to me with a silly little whimper. Bella remained at my side while this cat followed us meowing and occasionally hissing. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next time Bella sees a cat. Anyway, I’ll never forget the look on Bella’s (terrified) face as she was being chased by a cat. Shortly after this event, a handful of stray dogs approached us. Two of the dogs went right up to the cat, who just sat there. As they approached (the cat), they did the whole crouch down, roll over onto one shoulder onto their backs and submitted to the cat! This cat was definitely in charge on this little peninsula.

As we settled in that night and made our dinner, a stray dog wandered up. He was very timid, curious, and skinny. I know feeding a dog won’t make it leave, but I couldn’t help myself. I fed Bella, then poured a pile of her food out for our stray friend. He gobbled it up. And stayed. After about an hour, he left, but then he came back with a lady friend. We threw them a few of Bella’s bones, and they chilled out. The next morning we didn’t see them anywhere so we figured they moved on to do whatever it is stray dogs do. Minutes after opening our door and stepping out into the day, our friend came around the corner with his lady friend again. It’s like they knew there was going to be breakfast. Of course I had to give them a hefty breakfast. I always feel bad leaving dogs behind, but obviously we can’t just start a stray dog collection!

Our last day along the Albanian coast was a pleasant day mixed with beach time, a huge lunch, and a leap into a mysterious spring. We found an awesome private beach just south of Sarande called, Plazhi i Pasqyrave. There were 2 other people there, but they were way on the other side. The waters were, once again, to die for. It was warm, the waves were gentle, the pebbles on the beach were smooth and colorful, and the colors of the water were brilliant.

We were hungry after our beach time and decided this was going to be our day of dining out in Albania. We drove back north to Sarande, found a place to park and headed to the boardwalk. We basically just chose a place that looked busy…it’s a good sign, right? We ended up at a place called, Restaurant Limani. We chose a winner. For 20 Euros, we had 1 liter of white wine, a bruschetta appetizer, a Greek salad (could have been shared by 3), seafood risotto, and seafood spaghetti. Both seafood dishes were loaded with squid, grilled octopus, shrimp, and fish. We ate and drank slow and turned our meal into a lovely 2 hour event.

After our feast we headed inland toward a popular tourist site called, “The Blue Eye” which is a bubbling fresh water spring. It was only about 20 minutes away from Sarande, and a little off the beaten path in the Syri i Kalter park. It was incredible! The Blue Eye is the start of the Bistrice River which leads to the Ionian Sea. Divers have strapped weight to themselves and made it 50 meters down before the force of the spring is too strong and they’re forced back up. Nobody knows how deep it goes and where exactly it comes from. The water is crystal clear and bright blue.

The greenery surrounding the spring and the river is vibrant and healthy. Now, there is a fence and no swimming signs posted. But, I was just tipsy enough after drinking all that wine to brave the cold water and jump in. Our German friend from the last campground we stayed at in Croatia told us about this spot and about how he jumped in a couple of years ago so I had to do it! Being off season, there was only one other tourist there so I wasn’t going to be a huge spectacle. I quickly undressed, ran up to this viewing point, climbed onto the railing, and JUMPED!  It was freezing!!!! Oh, but it tasted sooooo good. It was so fresh and so cold.

The other tourist was shocked, but I could tell he was tempted. After I got dressed, Dustin and I were walking away and he asked in broken English if it was dangerous and cold. I said it was cold, and it’s dangerous if he doesn’t get a good push over the land into the water and if he can’t swim. I convinced him to do it and told him I would film him on his phone. This was fun.

He ran up to the viewing point, we could hear him mumbling to himself the whole time. He climbed over the railing and started saying, “Oh my God, no. Oh. Oh. Oh my God. Wow. Whoa!” For almost 4 minutes he stood there and would almost go, then pull back closer to the rail. It was like we were watching him about to BASE jump for the first time – but it was only maybe 15 feet high. The trippy part is, you can see deep down into the spring and it’s so mysterious! I was starting to feel bad for they guy, and I didn’t want him to chicken out so I yelled up to him to wait so I can come up and show him where and how I jumped in. I gave his phone to Dustin to continue recording while I undressed again and ran up to the viewing point. I showed him the little piece of land he had to jump over and told him to pretend to jump out the the tree that was overhanging the spring. I climbed back up on the rail and leapt. Wheeee! This time, he climbed over the rail and counted to 3 and jumped! He was just as cold, but you could tell he was proud of himself for doing it! We cheered for him, got dressed, gave high fives, and went on our way!

Today we left Albania and crossed into the northern part of Greece. We’re not doing any site seeing here, as Greece is in the Schengen region, and we only have 10 days left in this current 180 day time frame to be in the Schengen. We’ll come back to Greece to do it right another time. We were happy to drive through the mountains in the northern part of the country, though. Next, we are headed to visit our friend, Chris, In Bulgaria! It will be fun to have a local guide tour us around the capitol city of Sofia over the next couple of days. My next post will hopefully highlight some of our time spent there! Thanks for reading!