Today we have had a very relaxed day starting with Colin having the most sumptuous breakfast ever! Each of the courses were served beautifully and tasted even better, I enjoyed my melon and hot water much to the dismay of the owner/manager who tried desperately to get me to eat something else, his final word to Colin were "I need a wife like this one"!
As we walked down to the castle, the hotel manager passed us and told us to visit an old merchants house down to our left as it was the best preserved one still in use in the country, it was certainly very insightful. We have over the years visited many 18th Century houses in many different countries but they have all had similarities which we have recognised from English houses of the time however visiting this one here in Albania was very different. The thing that most surprised me was the fact that the family rooms were quite small and plain whereas those for entertaining were highly decorated and in comparison quite luxurious. Descendants of the original family still reside in part of the building. On exit Colon paid the entrance fee (?) of 400 (4 Euros ) with a 500 note, the old man indicated that he had no change so gave us 2 bottles of water instead; looking around there was a lot of us carrying water!
We arrived at the castle and were approached by a young man asking if we would like a guide for 8 Euros, we decided to take up his offer and it was the best Euros we spent. The guide not only gave us so much information about the castle but also about Albanian history -historical, past and present.
The castle's history was fascinating about how the pashas throughout history capitulated to invading armies such as the Turks and Ottomans in order to retain their own power. At lot of the castle had been rebuilt as it suffered greatly in WW2. Inside the castle were cannons and a armoury museum which we didn't visit just looked at the tanks on exhibit in the main entrance.
What was of the most interest to us was the background information that our guide gave us about the time during communist rule for 46 years until 1991. When the communist rule started they acted the same as the Nazi party In Germany, in so much as they commandeered people's house to put in favoured families. Occasionally the rightful owner would be allowed to stay living in just one room irrespective of the number of people. When communism ceased in 1991,and up to now, people are arguing over who is the rightful owner of the houses and that is why we have seen so many derelict houses and houses in a state of disrepair because no one will spend money on a house which may be taken off them, it is also tricky to buy and sell property and land because of these ongoing disputes.
Our guide was studying archaeology in the local university but told us that he had already done 2 years studying as an agricultural engineer because the government decide what course you should do and it is very difficult to change. He also told us that his family were very prominent in the area generations ago. One of his ancestors provided the town with the first school in the region, other members of his family were also respected partisans however their politics did not help them when communism came in as they also suffered from losing properties and lands which they still have not been given back. When he discovered where we were staying he told us that there was already a hotel there and his family lands, which they had retained, surrounded it. When the current owner (whose occupation we could only guess at and couldn't possibly put down on paper) purchased the old hotel he wanted to buy the additional land at a pittance, the family refused and that is why there is a scruffy looking farm building backing immediately into the pristine hotel ground.
It was illuminating to hear this young man talk but also sad that he felt the only way he could be successful was to complete his education and then emigrate in order to have a better standard of living. He told us about a cousin of his who left to live in America and when he came back for a visit he was really fat, so he didn't want to go there! He also told us about a friend who went to Athens and then moved to Derby but after a few months moved back, we said we didn't blame him-sorry Lorna!
As we completed our tour we looked down into the town and Colin commented on the amount of rubbish that people just dump any where, we were astonished to hear that very few places in Albanian have a refuse collection service. This explains why we have seen huge rubbish piles on the outskirts of towns and the shanty towns that build up around them as the poorest people scavenge through refuse searching for things to resell or use.
We returned to the hotel to sit round the pool only to have a couple of rain showers!
We had a lovely romantic meal(!!) sat at a table for two on a balcony looking out towards the mountain, a beautiful end to our time in southern Albania.