Another country

First, we had breakfast in the restaurant, a quick meal, and then boarded the bus that was waiting at the bottom of the hill. It was about an hour’s journey to the port, where we entered the terminal for what turned out to be a speedy passport check. I’d never noticed that the European passport stamps have an image of the kind of transport being taken. Today, there was an image of a boat.

There was some waiting around outside before it was clear which vessel we were boarding. People on our tour were asked to stay in the downstairs cabin, which had a petroleum smell for part of the voyage, as the boat had been refuelled while we were waiting. It wasn’t very pleasant. There was a bit of admin to source tickets for the tour, which PY completed, but we mainly watched the coastline change from Greece to Albania.

There’s an hour’s difference in time zones between Corfu and Albania, so our hour-and-fifteen-minute journey appeared to have taken just 15 minutes if I was looking at the clock. The trip was smooth, and disembarkation was really easy: there was no Albanian passport check, just a wave of a boarding card, and we were out the gate. Turning left, we boarded the tour bus requiring the green tickets (English and French tours) and set off for the national park.

It’s a half-hour coach journey to the National Park of Butrint and about ten minutes to get into the park. We assumed tours turn up most days in the tourist season, but entry seemed chaotic. Maybe that was just our tour.

Once through, our guide started taking us on a stunning tour of the archaeological remains: the Greeks, Romans, Venetians, and Ottomans have all influenced the place since its founding, which happened, according to the stories, after the fall of Troy. That was possibly the only classical reference I really understood on the tour.

We started with a view of the chapel of the god Asclepius, which stands above a great amphitheatre that the Romans improved. There were Roman baths, a forum, villas, and a “baptistery” where a fantastic mosaic floor was discovered and then recovered to preserve it. They have a photo in the museum.

Further mosaic floors were found in the Christian church, some of which could be viewed in situ. Then, we climbed through Lion’s Gate to the museum to complete the circuit. We were there for about two hours but could have stayed for longer.

We had lunch on a terrace with an impressive view of the bay at Saranda. Afterwards, there was confusion between the tour operator and our guide about whether the next couple of hours needed to have a guided walk to the meeting point or not. It was concluded they didn’t, but then we all followed the guide anyway. We wandered Saranda for a while, but it’s a tourist seaside location like many others worldwide, and all we wanted to do was enjoy a drink with a sea view. So, we did.

On the return, we could use other decks on the boat, so there was no petrol smell, and it seemed a much busier sailing. The passport checks on arrival were much longer and more thorough than those on departure, and the minibus to take us back to our hotel only had three couples on it, and, it transpired, we were the first to be returned.

Thursday evening was the last night the hotel’s entertainment staff were on duty for the season, so they ran a bingo-style giveaway of any prizes they had not yet given away. Our bingo cards did not work for us. It seemed quiet in the bar, but we had another lovely evening.