January 6-8: Berat & Sarande

January 6-7

We finished preparing for our trip to Greece by organizing the van, buying 3rd party insurance for our last few days in Albania (50 euro), and picked up two boxes that I had sent from the US. I was shocked by the taxes that we had to pay for this shipment— let’s just say it would have been better to buy the contents here.

January 8

Our first stop today was the city of Berat, which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 for its unique style of architecture. You can clearly see the influence from the Ottoman Empire. This beautiful city is surrounded by mountains and has the Osum River run through the center of it.  

From here, we took the long 3.5 hour drive to Sarande, which is a resort area on the Albanian Riviera.  We got delayed slightly when we filled up the van with diesel but the station only took cash.  After a couple of failed attempts, we found an ATM and were on our way.  We eventually pulled into our campsite at about 4:30 pm and enjoyed a spectacular sunset before watching the Pats play the Bills.