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Syri i kalter is a natural spring believed to be fed by Ioanina lake in Greece. Divers have not yet been able to touch the end. The name is said to come from a sound engineer who worked for some years in the nearby hydropower station, and compared the spring with the blue eyes of his fiancée.

I’d been here once before three years prior and told my Kejda that I wanted to swim in it the next time. Of course, she thought that was crazy. We made it back late in the afternoon, on September 4, 2009. The sun was setting and the colors were not as brilliant as before, but the spot was still beautiful. I setup the gigapan and quickly stripped down to my shorts, standing on the shore line while my wife watched carefully the direction of the Gigapan robot. One her cue, I dove in and felt a cold shock the likes of which I’d never felt — and probably will avoid in the future. I started swimming furiously across the short distance, but my muscles had to work much harder than I expected and it seemed to take a while to get to the other side. Exhilerating but pretty scary too.

In order to get in this shot, I had to time it perfectly. I wasn’t sure the gigapan was going to capture me and was very pleased to see that it did.

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Nestled into the cliffs overlooking the Ionian Sea, Hotel Liro in Vlore, Albania is a rare experience. Offering balconies almost straight above the clear, cool, transparent Mediterranean waters. the hotel offers free use of kayaks, canoes, a pool, scuba, and various water sporting equipment. The restaurant and espresso bar are pricey by Albanian standards, which means, for only $15 a person, you can eat an excellent meal with two appetizers, a main course, and beer or wine. The private beach below is made up of smooth rocks, but I suggest aqua socks or sandals. What I love about the Ionian Sea is that just a few steps out from the shore and you are above your heads (a haven for cliff-divers). You can literally dive into the ocean from the shore.

Three years ago we stayed in Vlore at a hotel above the cliffs where Liro sites — we didn’t see even the hotel until after we had checked in at the other hotel. We vowed to stay at Liro on our next trip and this time we spent three days and nights and we loved every minute of it (September 1 to September 3).

Vlora beach in southwestern AlbaniaThe city of Vlora, known also as Vlonë, or Valona is located in the southwest of Albania, with a population of 61,300 inhabitants. It is in front of Karaburuni peninsula and Sazani Island, close to various sandy and rocky beaches and the scenic mountains. Vlora is Albania’s second largest port, having regular ferry boat connections with Italian ports of Bari and Brindisi. The city is rapidly expanding with massive hotel developments. The downtown coastal region is literally starting to look like Miami — I kid you not. Vlore and Hotel Liro is a must visit if you find yourself visiting Albania.

Taiwan Center

After a long day looking at churches and sites in the southeast of Albania, we worked our way back to Tirana in time to have a late dinner with Kejda’s cousin Dasara. We chose the Taiwan Center, even though we’d been there once already earlier in the week. The food is amazing and the prices are so reasonable, it is hard to believe.

When we finished our dinner, we walked back to the Mercedes (which had just been over 1000 kilos of some of the worst roads known to cars without any incident whatsoever) to discover a flat tire. That was cruel irony, given how tired we were.

We went home – got a couple hours sleep, and set out for the airport around 330AM in the middle of a quiet Tirana night. Kejda dropped me off (she would stay an extra couple of weeks with her family – I had to get back to work) and alone I set off back to New York, grateful for the experience, eager to return.

The Church of Ristoz - Mborje

Finding the Church of Ristoz, what the local population claimed was the “oldest church in the balkans,” was not easy. The people of Korce all seemed to offer generalized directions (”by the beer factory” or “up that way”) so it took a bit of time and a bit of walking to find it. The mountainside village, resting safely above Korce valley, was in the middle of road and pipe repairs so that the entire village roads were dug up and impassable by anything not resembling an army tank.

We were directed around a corner and managed to find the front gate but were disappointed to see the church door closed and no windows at all to peek in. We walked around back to find four teenage boys smoking and lazing around in the shade of a tree. They told us the guy who maintained the church wasn’t there at the moment. After a few minutes walking around the church clearly disappointed, one of boys asked if we “really needed to see it” and we said we had come from far just for this. He said okay and set off down the road to find the man who held the key. Ten minutes later, he returned key in hand, and unlocked the door and let us be.

The doors opened to a dark and mysterious three roomed church, intact with ancient christian murals painted on almost every wall. Sadly, we had no flashlight (if you are going to explore the castles and churches of Albania, a flashlight is a good idea) but still managed a few stunning photographs out of the dim light available only through the front door and cracks between the rocks that made up the walls. The church was not so easy to navigate, as there was scaffolding setup by whomever was working on the restoration.

Our exploration was cut a bit short by some locals who had marched up the hill to find the out of towners who had managed to block his car from leaving town.

Google Map

The drive from Pogradec to Korca was pretty uneventful, or so I am deducing because I do not remember anything from it. Once in Korca, I was shocked at how bare the city looked baked in the sun. And then I remembered that Korca is a city whose center is off-center. It’s full of beautiful houses and monuments which are hidden in narrow alleys and semidetached neighborhoods. I have lots family in Korca, but I’ve never paid attention to where they live, or the nice parts of the city that they’ve shown me because I’ve always passively followed people to places and I’ve never actually led the way. We found the city looking upside-down, or inside-out to be more accurate, because the municipality was redoing all the pipes across town.

People were cordial when asked for directions, but they had that implied sense of self-importance, typical of Korcars, who assume everyone should know where certain things in their city are, that’s why they gave us directions that were based on us knowing where major buildings or institutions were. Oh well, it’s the Korca way.

- Kejda