Caffeinated Across Albania: A Scenic Journey North
Albania Mission Trip Day 8
Friday, 12 July 2024
This morning, we held one last prayer and staff meeting to share a few thoughts and observations before everyone headed in different directions. During this meeting, Joe Bubar shared a touching story about his first trip to Albania over twenty years ago, and that on that trip, he collected these two almonds from a tree as mementos.
We then said goodbye to Violeta Veleciku as she was going to be traveling back to Gjilan, Kosovo with the church retreat guests.
There was also one last quick meeting with most of the adult guests to share information about checking out of the hotel, the trip home, and to say a final prayer.
Our first stop was just a brief 20 or so minutes up the road — a gorgeous spot overlooking the Adriatic Sea where we had to get espressos.
Shortly after this caffeine and sightseeing stop, we drove a little farther up the road to Fier where we had a traditional Albanian meal for lunch.
Just outside the front of the restaurant was this amazing olive tree completely loaded down with olives!
We then headed to Durrës where we dropped Esina Kurraj off at home before the rest of us pressed ahead to Shkodër and then on to Theth — our final destination for the night.
For this trip, our time in Shkodër was very brief — just an espresso stop — but we could not miss seeing the 4th century BC Shkodër Castle from the distance as it towers over the whole city.
As we departed this cafe, I saw this sign showing distances in kilometers:
Properly caffeinated once again, it was time to head into the Albanian Alps to Theth.
Our home for the night:
This is the Reconciliation Tower, which we will be visiting tomorrow:
After a very long day that started at the hotel in Tragjas, included stops in Vlorë, Durrës, Shkodër, and concluded now in Theth and the Albanian Alps, it was time to sit down for dinner around 8:30 pm.
When I looked at the above photo on my phone, I immediately realized I had an incredible shot of the local church and the moon just above the Bubar’s heads. Here is what I consider to be the best scenic photo I took on the entire trip:
Our dinners were absolutely amazing. I chose the locally made sausages.
And we had some amazing sides.
This was an amazing day that had us seeing nearly the entire length of Albania. To start at the beach in the south and to end in the alps of the north was truly incredible. When we did finally go to our room a little after 10 pm, we were ready for a good night’s sleep!
Tomorrow we will do a bit more sightseeing here in Theth before heading back to Durrës.
Your photos are amazing. The first caffeine pit stop’ scenery would have had me sitting there all day. Well except for loo trips. 😆