Old Town Vlorë

On Saturday a group of six entrepid explorers took a wonderful guided tour of Old Town Vlorë and the bazaar. It was led by our young expat friend Travis (age 32) who is a darling boy, with huge dimples…I want to adopt him!

Travis walks 10+ miles every day so he knows where everything is, and since he’s on a strict budget here, the locations of all the best and cheapest cafes and restaurants.

Interesting story he told….he befriended a street dog and somehow got distracted and left behind his bag with about $300 of Airpods and other electronics on the beach. He went back the next day and it was still there where he left it! I’ve heard others say they had similar experiences here in Albania. Would that happen in your town?

We walked to Old Town and Travis showed us some of the really old buildings

He took us to a really cool little coffeeshop, Committee Cafe, where we sat in an enclosed patio full of banana trees and other lush vegetation

In the ladies’ room was this weird hole in the floor, which I think was an ancient toilet. Thank goodness it also had a modern toilet (though it had no seat)

These are some of the pretty little shops in Old Town, though I guess most of them are only open in summer.

And some ancient artifacts, just laying around. Vlorë was founded in the 6th century BC!

We ended up walking through the bazaar area which goes along several streets but it was late and most were all packed up already.

So we headed back to our starting point and Travis took us to a little tiny restaurant where we got roasted pork sandwiches that came with French fries, a little salad and some yogurt-cucumber sauce for around $2! But it was all tucked into a pita together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen french fries in a sandwich! Travis ordered me (Miss Fussy Eater) a plate with just meat and salad. There had to be close to a pound of meat there, for around $4.25 US! Vincent got a huge tray of food for 600 lek, about $5.50 US!

RJ has a really accurate distance app and he said we walked 4.8 miles! I’m pretty sure I’ve never walked that far in my LIFE before, and I was really starting to wilt. For the last mile or so they kept telling me we were “almost there”, the big fat liars! But it was a really enjoyable day with a fun bunch, so it was well worth the mild shin splints and stiffness I’m experiencing today. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

I’m having so much fun here! But I am very happy to be spending all day today staying home reading and recovering from yesterday’s big hike. Tomorrow I take the bus to Tirana and stay overnight at a hotel near the airport and on Tuesday I take my $46 round trip flight to Bari, Italy, returning on Wednesday.

I saw this man walking his sheep on a leash right in the middle of the city! They stopped off at this tiny patch of grass for a snack.