Gjirokastër > Berat

Usual routine: morning walk then a 9am departure for Berat. It’s a 3 hour drive so we had our coffee pit stop along the way.

Ted bought us a treat for the bus… during Communism there were no sweets at all except these cookies sold on the streets. He hadn’t seen them in years until yesterday in a store.

12:30pm we arrived in Berat at the castle. Which isn’t really a castle but a citadel – walls around a high promontory within which are homes, churches, etc., all overlooking the surrounding area. We didn’t really see much; the entrance gate, an overlook, the museum, then a lingering lunch. It is the oldest continuously occupied community in Albania, 2,400 years.

After the castle we checked into our hotel, had 1.5 hours free time then at 5:45pm got the van back to the river in Berat. We walked the south bank, then had an hour to explore the north (city) side before our farewell dinner.

Our last dinner. In the morning we drive back to Tirana arriving around 11am where we get dropped off at our respective hotels and the tour will be finished!