Albania Heritage

This tour takes in the hilly country south of Tirana and passes through three UNESCO sites. Here many main roads follow the valleys, often following the rolling rivers that have carved out huge gorges. Particularly the Vjosa Gorge, where huge rock walls and cirques dominate the horizon. Extensive plateaus around Lake Ohrid and Gjirokastra provide a patchwork landscape of fields, the remnants of the collective farms. Farmers tend individual cows or some sheep, they cut hay with scythes, stack it in mushroom-styled ricks and follow the idyllic rhythm of the seasons. Here the outstanding majority of farm crops are organic, as chemicals are just too expensive to use. We cycle from the mountains to the Ionian coast and follow a shady road through pine forests that snakes its way through fishing villages. We land at Saranda and make a side trip to the architectural ruins of Butrint, a UNESCO site. We spend our last night at the mountain 'museum' town of Berat, also known as the "Town of a Thousand Windows," due to its white-washed and wood Ottoman villas. The town is protected by 'mushroom' type blockhouses built for defence and legend has it that the architect sat inside one, took a direct hit from a tank round, survived, and was commissioned to build 38,000 more of them. We end our tour in the capital Tirana where you can enjoy the cafe culture.