Hilsen fra Jesper

I was on the trip together with two colleagues from our project in Tirana: Birthe from Denmark (Grontmij) and Breda from Ireland Ardenica Monastery is an Eastern Orthodox monastery, ten kilometers north of Fier, Albania, it is built by Byzantine Emperor, Andronikos II Palaiologos in 1282. The monastery is famous as the place where, in 1451, was celebrated the marriage of Skanderbeg, the national hero of Albania, with Andronika Arianiti. Our hotel in the Llgora Mountains had some deer on their lawn. Next stop: The castle in Porto Palermo Porto Palermo Castle is a castle near Himarë in southern Albania. It is situated in the bay of Porto Palermo, a few kilometres south of Himarë Saranda Venetian Tower in the ancient town Butrint Emys orbicularis, European pond turtle, Europæisk Sumpskildpadde Breda at the Greek later Roman amphitheatre in Butrint Emys orbicularis get-together View from our hotel room in Saranda towards Corfu In its Roman heydays the Butrinti town spread from the peninsula to the plains on the opposite side of the channel to the sea. And an aqueduct was built. On the picture some remains of the aqueduct The landscape Donkey The ferry over the Butrint Channel The ferry over the Butrint Channel View towards Corfu We hired a boat to sail us to the castle Next stop: The ancient Islamic town of Gjirokastra View from the Gjirokastra castle Next stop was Permet a charming old town in the southern part of Albania near the Greek Border. View from my hotel room towards the Vjose River. View of Permet from the mountains – Permet claims to be the birthplace of Albanian communism. We went to the hot springs at Benja at a tributary to the Vjose river. Bathing in one of the hot springs We made a short hike up the river gorge where we had to cross the river several times. A local group of environmentalist was cleaning and maintaining one of the pools with hot water. The local group of environmentalist explained that was cleaning necessary because when the locals had their picnics at the place they threw their garbage all around. In the afternoon we went to the Kosine Monastery The Kosine Monastery We could not get in the church, but also outside there were some nice religious paintings View from the Kosine Monastery Permet Church in Permet The Vjose River Lake Ohrid