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follow our journey on contre sens...(click on journey and have a look at the map!)
24th Dec: Namaste! XMAS PRESENT! After 5 days and 15 minutes of suspens, we finally have our visa to India, a single entry one instead of a double but it is better than a declined :)))
It was sunny and we walked 1:30, googlemaps predicted 1:10! When we went there, we were lucky as we saw an official ceremony! The Mausoleum is located in central part of Ankara
Sunday morning: 10 pm ... Let s go... 4 km between Göreme and Uçhisar. We went with Yuki from Japan, we met the day before. :))) İt was fun ! To visit Cappadocia either you need a car, to know a local to take you to some places. As we did not have either of them we decided to go on a tour! We were almost real tourists except that everyone in our group wanted to take a balloons flight, we did not. Too expensive: prices are between 80 to 120 € even during the hight season 150€!!!! The tour, the people and the guide were great! We visited amazing places such as: the underground city, İhlara valley and a monastery in a cave at Selime Cappadocia is dated back to the Persian times and means the land of the beautiful horses. Cappadoccia is a magic place, strange and beautiful on the same time. What could possibly lie behind the creation of such a landscape? - The eruption of 3 volcanoes 16 million years ago, the last eruption was 13 million years ago - The deposits of volcanoes ash, lava and basalt laid the foundations for today's landscape. Earthquakes and ongoing effects of erosion have contributed to form the valleys and the "fairy chimneys During three days we explored it. The first day we were under the charm of the landscape and we walked 6 hours in three different valleys: Zemi, Görkündere, the Rose and Red valley.
We did not stay long in Greece. We planned to do some wwoofings but our host had just cancelled it a week before arriving! We just decided to go to Athens and do not spend more time in the (expensive) EU! Sleepling in a dorm is question of to be lucky: that night we were absolutly not: a guy snored like hell and it was impossible to sleep even we tried to wake him up several times, it started rightafter. After a terrible night, we got up at 7:30 and we got ready for the day. As we did in Slovenia and Bosnia, we checked free tours and booked one, starting at 10:30 perfect, it was reschulded for 8:30. We were very exited about it. Before leaving we checked our email and to see whether we had any other notifications, we had one: the tour was cancelled. Keep calm !!! We searched for a new one but finally we signed up for the tour of the hostel. 6€ for 2 and half hours, starting at 10am. We had two hours to spend and we had a couple of missions to be completed. As world travellers, you have to do less common stuffs such as find an outdoor store. It is not easy in a country where outdoors activities are not as developped as in Germany or France. The equipment, we bought was supposed to be excellent but three items are not recommendable to buy: - Shoes : Five fingers vibram : smelly shoes after one day use - Microfibre towels : i.e. sea to summi, cocoons. After a few days, it smells like a sweating lion ! - Folded Water bottle, we know that the one we bought are sold in shops such Wal Mart int the US ! It seemed to be dead easy : check on google outdoors stores and google maps to get the directions. We managed the first part but when it comes to read googlemaps : we should have first taken a Greek course to be able to read googlemaps. Googlemaps is only in Greek, no way to change the language !!!! It took us ages but succeeded. We went there in the afternoon, it led us to nice areas… We still needed to search for a postoffice and a pharmacy. We became in one hour Greek experts readers, by the way with the help of two others maps. We easily found a postoffice. We just had to go down the road: we were looking for a yellow sign, street numbers are well hidden in Greece and reading boards is impossible. So we found a so called post office. At the first sight, it was the post office. Before entering, we were quite surprised as to enter the post office, you have a security system like in Brazil. On other odd thing, the ATM outside were blew up and we still could smell the burn, it was still hot. Employees were very busy and the atmosphere was a bit special, finally someone asked us what we needed and whether we had a bank account here. A bank account??? No, we just want to buy some stamps. The postoffice is very next door. It was so funny. Postoffice colours in Greece are blue with a bit of yellow!!! The pharmacy was not complicated to find and this time unkike Croatia I had the right medicine. About the ATM: we read in the news that 22 ATMs were blowed up the previous night as a protest against the economy measures. What a morning! Now we were ready to get our tour started, we could finally relax and enjoy Athens. It was already ten am. What we learned : - Write down any important information on paper - Get used to a language we cannot read ! Next time, we will explore Athens as it should be : going to Acropolis and museums. The capital has a lot to offer…
Better to show good pictures than 10000 words… Enjoy Saranda ! But we sometimes cannot take picture of everything : - Men spitting on the street, very common here - Cars parked on the side of the local motorways - Tombs along the road… - old women wearing black clothes tend to disappear with the new generations - no heater in houses even in the new buildings. Before houses were heated with a wooden stove, in saranda there is no one left. - Albania is a men society, we speak of Xhiro. Men standing outside and having a chat with mates or smoking cigarettes…On football match, men go to bars and watch it in the dark, no light is on. Women belong to the kitchen and are barely seen in cafes. Years ago, women could not smoke, it was only for men. - People get up early: life starts between 5 and 6 am but shops open at 9 am and closed at 12 am. Albanian have a three hours break and start working at 4 or 6pm til 9pm. - Some Men go fishing on a boat but paddle the other way round ?! it does work but it takes more time, the other who stay at the harbour fish only with a string, no need to have a fishing rod! - Plastic bags and garbage are hidden behind the hill or down the road where no one can see it but well it is very polluted... - On the way to Saranda, road signs are written in Albanish and Greek too, Saranda is located only two hours away from the Greek boarder Mother nature is great, isnt it? we really enjoyed the landscape, now this is your turn to find the faces!
The old city is inscribed on the World Heritage List as "a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, built by farmers of large estate. We visited the fortress, one of the largest in the Balkans.
There is evidence of a 7th century BC Iron Age settlement and a series of 5th -6th century AD walls suggesting reoccupation after the decline of the Roman Empire. By the end of the 13th century an imposing fortress has been constructed. From the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century Ottomans occupied Gjirokastra. They saw the growth of the city as an important administrative and commercial centre. The castle continued to be used as a garrison throughout the 19th century. In the late 20s, a prison was constructed and from 1944 to 1963, the communist regime used the gaol to incarcerate political opponents. In pictures: the fortress, the streets of the old town. Prehistoric 18000 years ago the landscape around Butrint was very different from today. See levels were much lower and Corfun was joined to the mainland, 9000 years ago the sea level rose, the hills around Butrint became small islands. The area has been occupied since the prehistoric time. Stone tools were discovered on these islands. Origins of Butrint: in a nutshell Butrint did not flourish as a settlement until the 8th century BC. Butrint was part of an important network of Mediterranean trade and culture i.e. Pottery from Corinth were found at the acropolis, oil from Spain, fine table wares from Tunisia and Asia Minor, wine from Italy, cooking pots from the Aegan. Butrint has been the site of a Greek colony, a Roman city (Caesar’s legacy). Following a period of prosperity under Byzantine administration, then a brief occupation by the Norman and the Venetians the city was abandoned in the late Middle Ages after marshes formed in the area. The Venetians even purchased Butrint Corfu to control trade and shipping along the Adriatic coast!, 15th century to 1912 From the 15th century, the Venetians were in a state of almost perpetual conflict with the Ottoman Empire. In 1797 Venice capitulated to Napoleon, whereupon Butrint promptly fell into the hands of the despote and became a part of the Ottoman empire until Albanian independence in 1912. Butrint is unique in that archaeology there mirrors the major political movements of the twentieth century, from monarchy and fascism to communism and democracy. There is a sense here that time travel is truly possible. The roman poet Virgil wrote that Aeneas saw a "Troy in miniature" there, Aenas visited Butrint after escaping from Troy. Lord Byron was in Albania too. There is a documentary “Scandelous Adventure of Lord Byron”, which set out to trace his journey throughout Albania on a horseback. Demography
The population of Albania is about 3.5 million inhabitants. 65% still live in the countryside. The number of male is greater than the females!!!! Language The Albanian language is the official language. Albanian is a successor of the Illyrian language. Albanian has influenced old and new and Greek, Latin, Slavic languages of the Balkans and Turkish. Illyrian is a group of Indo-European tribes in antiquity, who inhabited part of the western Balkans and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula. Religions Three religions co-exist in Albania: Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim, 60 % of the population is Muslim. As Albanians were atheist during 40 years, religion does not play a big role in their life. Mixed couples are very welcome! TOLERANCE! Monuments of Culture Albania is one of the most ancient countries with long history of civilization in the Balkan Peninsula. Albania is a country with very ancient civilizations: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetians, and Ottoman left their traces in the country. Flag The Flag of Albania is a red flag with a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center. The red stands for bravery, strength and valor, while the double-headed eagle represents the sovereign state of Albania located in the Balkans. The eagle was used for heraldic purposes in the late Middle Ages by a number of noble families in Albania and became the symbol of the Albanians. It is said that Skanderbeg used it, he led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire that resulted with the independence of Albania from 1443 to 1479. The flag changed with the regime, see below. The first picture shows the current flag dated 7th April 1992. The flag was adopted when Albania got its independance on 28th November 2014. click from 19:04 minutes ! TV Saranda interviewed us and ask us what we thought of the ceremeny of the independance day and the Saranda liberation ceremony! WWII It was on 28 & 29th November 2014... 5 partisans who liberated Saranda are still alive and stood proudly next to the vice mayor. The partisans were not only Albanians but Greek and even Turks. Like the day before, we experienced the same moment, as soon as every one left the cemetery flags and decorations were removed. In a couple of minutes it was as if no ceremony took place… As we were the last as TV Saranda, we were kindly asked to give an interviewed J We accepted but pausing in front of the camera with no preparation was quite a challenge. It was fun!!! Next step is Bollywood. We have one question: will Albanians consider the fall of communism as liberation? Once the Ottomans were defeated and when the independence was declared, Albanians applauded and seemed to be which very satisfied and proud. Living in a great power country, we have never experienced such a moment before which was compelling. At the end what stroke us the most was, the piece was hardly over that everyone stood up and left. Apparently this is normal… So we went with the flow! Travelling is great when you can take part in local and national events. In Saranda, we had the chance to undergo two events. On 28th November, it was the national bank holiday: the independence of Albania who occurred on 28th November 1912. The very next day, Saranda celebrated the Partisan liberation dated 29th November 1944. The first day, we went to the cultural center without knowing what we will see (theater piece, poetry, speech???), there was no advertising about it! Surprise J It was a representation about the diverse independence movements in Albania: representing Skanderberg in 15th century against the Ottomans, in 1912 again against the Ottomans and in 1944 against the Italians. Without speaking Albanian, we did understand most of the depicted events as we read the Albanian history before! Enjoy the views and the pictures! We are in Saranda ! It took us two hours to find the hostel!!! No one knew the Dolphin hostel but the Delphini hotel. The Dolphin hostel is located 20 m away from the bus stop!!! As we did not have access to internet the day before arriving, we had no clue!!!
Our job as volunteers consists in welcoming and dealing with customers, cleaning and waiting for Godot !!! Currently, customers are as rare as diamonds!!! We are in November! Beginning of 20th century, they were about 110 inhabitants and now it reached about 100 000 inhabitants. During the sommer, about 500 000 people come on holidays in Saranda… During the WWI, Italians occupied Saranda until 1920 part of the Italian Protectorate on southern Albania.Sarandë was again occupied by Italian forces in 1939 and was a strategic port during the Italian invasion of Greece. During this occupation, it was called "Porto Edda" in honor of the eldest daughter of Benito Mussolini. Sarandë is twinned with 12 cities: i.e.: Marseille (France), Ulcinj (MNE), Marmaris (Turkey). |
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