Girokaster & Butrint, World Heritage Sites, Albania

During my trip to southern Albania in Oct 2018, I went to 2 World Heritage Sites. The first was Gjirokastër (Gjirokastra ), described by UNESCO as "a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, built by farmers of large estate". It is a joint site with Berat, see UNECSO page.

The town is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and the Drino River, at 300 m asl. The town features a series of outstanding two-story houses which were developed in the 17th century. The town also has a bazaar, an 18th-century mosque and two churches of the same period.

The town is nicknamed the "silver city" due to the colour of the roof tiles etc after rain. This photo was taken with no rain -

Many of the houses in the centre are tourist shops

The city is overlooked by Gjirokastër Fortress, where the Gjirokastër National Folklore Festival is held every five years.

Inside the fort is a museum of artillery

There is also a small bektashi shrine, with the grave of Baba Sanxhaktari. I wrote about the bektashi in an earlier blog on Albania. Girokaster was an important centre for the Bektashi.

Girokaster is the birthplace of former Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha and notable writer Ismail Kadare.

The mosque is also an important feature on the World Heritage listing, but this is currently undergoing renovation -

The 2nd World Heritage site we visited was the National Park of Butrint. See UNESCO listing for Butrint. "Inhabited since prehistoric times, Butrint has been the site of a Greek colony, a Roman city and a bishopric. Following a period of prosperity under Byzantine administration, then a brief occupation by the Venetians, the city was abandoned in the late Middle Ages after marshes formed in the area. The present archaeological site is a repository of ruins representing each period in the city’s development."

It is also a RAMSAR wetlands site. It is important for flora and fauna.

The park is south of Sarande and Ksamil which are both busy tourist area. The national park border marks the end of the built up area. The park lies on a "peninsula" between a large lake and the Ionian sea, with a canal connecting the two. The lake -

and the Vivari canal looking towards the sea

A chain ferry goes across the canal to a fortress

The site has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The Greeks were there in the late 7th century BC, when the city (called Buthros) was surrounded by fortifications.

Later the Romans occupied and developed the city. After this was a Christian period when many religious structures were built by the Christians.
A mix of stone walls from the different ages -

The Slavs came to the Balkans in the 7th century. Next was the era of the Epirus despotate (after the taking of Constantinople by the Crusades in 1204), which meant a lot of problems for the city. This was followed by the Byzantine administration (Epirus). The Venetians occupied for a short period in the late 14th century. The Ottoman administration was threatened by the marshes that formed around the lake, and the city was abandoned by the population.

There are various small ponds amongst the ruins and water is a constant problem for the preservation of the site. Important mosaics are covered with thick layers of sand to protect them from the elements.

The ancient theatre was constructed in the 3rd century, then was rearranged in Roman style. Our group in the amphitheatre -

A well, note the rope grooves in the wall

The Great Basilica, built in the early Christian period in the 6th c. -

The lake is used by mussel farmers

Avenue of eucalyptus

Albania polyphony, tv, and bektashi

During my visit to Albania in Oct 2018, we had a few cultural events.

Firstly, we were on Albanian TV! Whilst in Vlore, which is the old capital, we went to the National Museum of Independence. This museum "reflects the stern struggle оf the Albanian’s fоr freedom аnd independence, the events thаt brought аbоut the raising оf the flag оn the 28th November l912, when Albania wаs proclaimed аn independent state.". When we arrived there was a film crew outside and they interviewed our English tour guide Jill, and then filmed us as we entered the museum.

This was shown on Albanian TV the next day, on Real RTV Vlore channel,  "Turista ende në Vlorë!" "Foreign tourists visit Vlora! Vlora in perennial tourism! The RTV youtube link and also the FaceBook link.

A couple of days later we met the lead lady polyphonic singer of Himares. Iso-polyphonic singing in southern Albania have between 1 and 7 singers. Albanian folk iso-polyphony is on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list. The lady, Katina Beleri, had been scheduled to sing for us in the old fort of Himare, but unfortunately for us she had to go to mainland Greece. To make up for this, she very kindly agreed to give us an impromptu performance in the restaurant when we were having dinner on evening. After singing a couple of solos, she then invited some of the group to act as the back singers -

A youtube performance of the Himare group.

Information on the Albanian Iso Polyphony on UNESCO multimedia archives.

We stayed in Himare a couple of days, and it had been planned for us to visit a school. But for some reason we were not allowed to go. As we travelled south, we stopped at Borsh. Whilst we were having a coffee, our guide Viktor managed to get permission to visit the school in Borsh. Firstly we spoke to some students in the corridor. They were amazingly confident in speaking to us and spoke very good English - they are taught English by an Albanian teacher and also have a volunteer teacher from England.

The lady in the white coat is another teacher but spoke no English at all. Note the painting of Mother Teresa on the wall, she was an Albanian - Indian and was born in (the modern day) Skopje which is now the capital of Macedonia. The 2 girls on the right were particularly confident in their English. We then went into a classroom where they were studying science

When we were in Vlore to drove up to the top of the hill overlooking the town and there are great views. We also went to the Bektashi 'temple'. At first the dervish wasn't too happy about our arrival and didn't want to let us in, but after a while he disappeared and changed into his dervish clothes and agreed to talk to us. He said the main baba is away, so he was left in charge. Bektashi is a form of Islam. Albania has no official religion, 2.09% of the population are Bektashi Muslims. The Bektashi order is a Sufi dervish order. They eat pork and drink alcohol, but the baba doesn't marry. The Bektashi don't venerate Mohamed, but Ali, his cousin.

 The Bektashi symbol -

 A dervish grave

Bektashi Order on Wikipedia.

Alpacas and fox at Hornimans

Went to Hornimans today and there was a fox inside the alpaca's paddock. The black alpaca, Peep, the mother of the brown one, kept chasing the fox, but the fox made no attempt to leave. It might have been after the food buckets that were at the top of the paddock.

The brown alpaca, Poppy, is the daughter, and she wasn't bothered by the fox. The sheep just looked on. The keepers were watching and laughing, like the rest of us. Wish I had taken a video.

See more on the mother and daughter alpacas on the Hornimans blog.

Corfu 2018

Corfu, my 3rd Greek island, having been to Crete in 2014 and Zakynthos in 2015.Corfu is the most northerly of the Ionian islands, whereas Zakynthos is the southernmost. Corfu lies alongside the western coasts of Albania and mainland Greece.

I stayed in Benitses on the east coast, south of Corfu town. Apparently Benitses was the party place for Brits in the 1980s but now is a quiet village and with more Russian and Eastern Europeans than Brits. There are several old abandoned buildings that used to be bars and discos from the busy times.

The beach is shingly rather than sand. There are lots of umbrellas and sun chairs, they are free as long as you buy a drink or something from the respective cafe. The sea was really clear. Although it was late Sept I found the water rather chilly for my liking and only ventured in a couple of times.

looking to the Greek mainland at sunset

sunrise over the Greek mainland

Immediately behind the village is a range of hills. I went up into the hills on a couple of occasions, when looking for the aqueduct and water tunnels. There are lots of olive trees on the island -

View of Benitses marina and looking towards Corfu town -

Benitses village -

Old Corfu Town is a World Heritage Site and dates back to the 8th century BC. There are 3 forts and a lot of Venetian influence.

Old fort and new fort -

The world's largest yacht, owned by a Russian and said to be worth £400 million -

Since childhood I have been a fan of Gerald Durrell and still have many of his books, so I was particularly keen to see the memorial garden to him and his brother Lawrence. They lived in Corfu from 1935-39.

National Gallery

1699 well

On the northwest corner of the island is the Canal d'Amour at Sidari -

See more on the Benitses water tunnels and Roman baths.

Wimbledon windmill

In 2017 I visited Shirley windmill and decided I would visit the other 3 remaining windmills in London. It took me just over a year to go to my second windmill, Wimbledon. Wimbledon is a suburb in southwest London and the mill is situated on Wimbledon Common. As a child I used to go ice skating on the frozen King's Mere pond on the common.

Wimbledon Windmill Museum is open on Sat and Sun from March - October. The mill opened in 1817 and had its bicentenary in 2017 and to celebrate this, admission is free.

The mill had a relatively short working life as it closed in 1864 and became accommodation for 6 families. It is a tower mill, like the one at Shirley.

Inside on the ground floor is an exhibit of many different tools and artefacts

and info on the development of windmills. There is an interesting display of working models of different types of windmill, including this Wimbledon mill -

Wimbledon mill

Upstairs are further displays explaining how the mill worked. and how grain was milled to produce flour. There is a small room preserved as it would have been in 1870.

A steep staircase goes up to the next level in the tower and you can look directly up to the top workings of the mill, and see the large cast iron brakewheel. This wheel used to turn the shaft that ran down the centre of the mill to the large spur wheel on the ground floor.

The sails have been fully restored and are occasionally run on windy days.

See more on the Wimbledon Windmill page.

Also my visit to Brixton Windmill in 2019.