So it is finally my turn to have a go at this blog. Me is Jannie. I was meant to start writing yesterday, but a lot of things happened so that plan went out the window, and I now have two days of catching up to do.
I guess I better start with a small introduction to this journey just like Kristian did. This year's trip is something that I have been looking forward to since last summer. We left the Balkans last year, and like always I felt that I was far from finished exploring.. when it comes to travelling I can never get enough. Those of you who know me also know that I have spent a fair bit of my adult life travelling and that it is hands down my greatest passion in life. Family life, work and ordinary day to day grown up stuff is however preventing me from travelling as much as I would like to and so the yearly summer holiday are highlights in my life.
Since Saya (and Kristian I guess) came along, the way of travelling has also changed a bit.. there are more things to consider than when I used to travel alone. First of all the distance and time to the destinations is something we have decided to reduce meaning that we have mainly travelled in Europe. I guess it isn't something you necessarily have to do, but we feel that it wouldn't be fair on Saya to do 15 hours mammoth trips to lets say Asia until she is a bit older. That hasn't kept us from travelling with her since she was only 5 months old though. So far she has travelled to England (she has family there), backpacked in Israel and Palestine when she was 5 months old, Portugal at 7 months, Poland at 1 years old, The Balkans at 2 years old and now the Balkans again. Kristian mentioned a few times in his blog how well she is managing travelling and waiting - I guess part of the explanation lies in this. She really is good at travelling.. though I did wonder before going away this year how she would react this time as she is growing older and her needs are changing. So far she is doing great though. This year she is also able to understand more and able to explain herself better which makes things a lot easier.
Anyway.. so the distance to where we are travelling have been reduced, but there are other things that are different as well. More planning is needed, so that we don't risk being stuck somewhere in the middle of the night without accommodation and a small child at hand. Another thing is the heat.. this is a big issue in our little family. I LOVE the heat.. Kristian and Saya not so much. This means that we have to find hotels or flats with air con. This does bother me just a bit to be honest as it also reduces our possibilities of staying in small primitive villages etc with no hotels and smart flats. It also means that we have to stay out of the sun quite a lot (this also means that I go home looking almost as white as before we went away) and I don't really feel that I get the fullest out of it having been in the shade most of the holiday. The alternative however is a very grumpy and sweaty husband and child.. so I adjust. I guess I can't really complain though as I still get to go to hot countries and do what I love the most.
So yes.. planning is something that I used to do as I went along and plans could change a million times during a trip. Nowadays Kristian with his gadgets is the one spending most of the time planning. There are two reasons for this.. he is the type of person who generally has a massive need to have everything planned.. and planned well. The gadget thing is something he really like, so I think he finds enjoyment surfing around on the internet finding stuff - I am the old fashioned type of person who still swear to my out dated Lonely Planets guides and find it a little blasphemous to even have my mobile phone with me (though I do). Kristian like things to be in order and organized well.. Me, to cut it short as I guess you get the gist - I am a little bit more laid back when it comes to that. All in all I think we complement each other quite well and our journeys are pretty much still made up as we go along.
Like I started saying this trip is something I have been looking forward to since last year. I was really hoping last year that we would find the time to make it to Albania, but it became quite clear early on, that we had taken our mouths too full and that we wouldn't be able to see everything that we hoped for. Albania was therefore something that we missed out on.
Another reason is that I was feeling pretty run down and in desperate need of a holiday before we left. I have had a busy and pretty intense summer at work and our holiday this year was late in the year. This is both good and bad.. good because it means we can avoid the masses at peak holiday season and get cheaper tickets, not so good because you really just desperately need a holiday when everybody else have been away and have come back and there are still 3 weeks till you can go.
But here we are.. back at the Balkans and currently in Berat in central Albania.
To make a quick summary I best start with yesterday. We woke really early yesterday (at 6am) as Kristian had set his alarm wrong. He hadn't realized the night before that his phone was still on Danish time. I had gone to bed really early the night before as I had a really bad cold coming on probably due to spending two nights in the draft from the air cons and was hoping that I could somehow stop it by getting a good night's sleep. We were due to leave on the bus from Sarande to Berat at eight and wanted to get some breakfast before taking a taxi into the city center at 7.30. Saya was in good spirits from the beginning despite the early hours and getting to bed late the night before. Soon after we had gotten out of bed however, Kristians stomach started to cause him trouble ad he spent the next hour or so running back and forth to the toilet eating medicine to get rid of the bug.
Unfortunately nothing worked and it became apparent, that we wouldn't be able to get on the bus at 8 as planned. We therefore settled back in the room feeling a little annoyed and infuriated. Saya and I left Kristian in the room and went down to get some breakfast and when we returned a little later, Kristian's stomach seemed a bit better and I went down to the reception to ask how much a taxi to berat would cost us, as we coudn't see any other solution if we wanted to go to Berat that day. We both agreed that Sarande had had very little to offer and that we were more that ready to go and explore somewhere else. The taxi ended up costing us around 100 euro and it turned out that it was money well spent. Kristian continued to feel ill during the whole drive and the trip which would have taken us 5 or 6 hours by bus now ended up taking 4. Saya was giving some medicine against motion sickness and she managed to relax on the back seat with me. Unfortunately she didn't fall asleep properly till we were an hour away from Berat though, but at least she didn't feel sick.
We finally arrived at Berat and was dropped of near the flat that we had found through AirBnb. Kristian was feeling really ill at this time, so it was me who had to do the running up and down the mountain where ther flat was located with Saya, trolley, bags etc. My cold was getting really bad at this time, so it was bl... hard work . We finally managed to find the flat.. and what a flat!! It is situated on the mountain side and is not exactly a flat but a house.. it has views all over the city from a big beautiful terrace.. big spacious rooms and beautiful Khilim rugs and hand made lamps everywhere! I love this place and want to take all the interior back with me! Kristian has agreed that we will find a small rug somewhere in Albania to bring home with us for the hallway. I will work on the lamp part as well.
Kristian went to bed as soon as we had been handed the keys by a really lovely and very camp guy. Saya and I read some books, but soon Saya started complaining about stomach ache as well and I ended up leaving her with Kristian as I went to find some toiletpaper, bananas, local yogurt and water.
I stopped by the pharmacy on the way to get some stuff for diarrhea and this was a pretyy interesting experience as they spoke very little English and I had to get two different kinds of medicine.. where one was an odd little bottle where you had to follow instructions very carefully for it to work. The ladies in the pharmacy were very nice though and though I am not entirely certain what each of the medicines does, I am sure, that they are perfectly safe to use and does what I need them to do!
I got back and Saya started being sick all over the floor the minute I stepped in. We had to strip the bed, her of all her clothes, was the floor and the sheets and give her a bath. She did seem to feel a tiny bit better though, but spent the rest of the day in bed watching cartoons. She fell asleep really early which also meant that she woke several times during the night.. at times complaining about pains in her stomach, other times she was just feeling upset. None of us managed to get much sleep and as my cold was peeking at that time I really felt this night had no end and that there was no chance of me ever feeling fine again.
I did however feel a bit better when we finally woke this morning. I felt absolutely battered, but at least the cold seemed to on a retreat. Saya still complained a bit about her stomach, but seemed a lot better and kristian was back to normal luckily. I was up for a little while and then felt the need to lay down again to rest and Kristian and Saya realxed together in the living room with books and cartoons. The guy from yesterday came back while I was trying to sleep with a big bag of grapes. He said that he had forgotten to bring them yesterday, and had therefore come back today. He lives an hour away by car, so I really hope that he had to run some other errands as well in the city... but this little gesture demonstrates the kindness that we have experienced all over the Balkans so far.. the people really go out of their way here to be kind to you and make you feel welcome.
I woke after my nap feeling remarkably better and also very jittery to get out and see something. Saya however was in a pretty bad mood by now and it was under wild protests that we managed to get her out. As none of us had eaten much for a long time, lunch was first priority. After a walk back and forth with mo luck of finding a decent looking place to eat, we ended up having lunch at a pizza place. The food turned out to be quite nice though and Saya cheered up a little. 9 out of 10 times the cause of Saya's grumpiness is due to hunger! We decided to embark on the long and very steep climb up the Kala a big fortress on the top of the mountain. Saya walked some of the way, but in the end we had to put her in the chair as her need for a toilet became quite a pressing matter. That is one thing makes a change from last year as well.. last year we had half of our bags filled with nappies and this year we only have a few for night time use. However we always have to keep an eye out for toilets now as the need for one can arise very suddenly! Again.. there are good and not so good things about everything.
We made it to the top of the mountain - sweaty but happy. I felt very much alive again, and was reminded of how much I love travelling.The last few days have been ok, but we haven't really done much that we couldn't have done at home.. One of the best part about travelling is walking and sometimes getting lost - it is finding yourself on a big mountain or whatever in a foreign place and looking at something beautiful might it be a city from the top of a mountain or a sunset or a sunrise t what feel like the end of the world. You feel alive and lucky at these times.
We explores the fortress for a while with its beautiful views and then started the descend down the mountain to find some dinner.
We crossed the river and found a restaurant on the side of another mountain with some beautiful views of the town from the other side.
We asked the waiter to recommend us some food which he did and we ended up having enough food to serve an army! It was embarrassing! We didn't even make it through half of the food before feeling absolutely stuffed! The food consisted of mainly local cuisine and it was very tasty and meaty!
With two large beers it came to the total cost of 150kr.. extremely cheap!!
So far my impression of Albania and Berat is really good. People here are extremely friendly and everyone is smiling a greeting us wherever we go. Esp Saya's chair brings a smile out on people.. I guess most have never seen a carrier like that! Berat is a beautiful little town with a lot to offer and we definitely have a lot more exploring to do tomorrow.
We went back to the house after having stocked up on water and bananas and Saya was put to bed. While I was tucking her in the guy came back again. He had been worried about us ad he had tried to call on the house phone and noone answered it (it had run out of battery) so he had decided do come and see if everything was ok. Again I really hope that he had other errands in town and that he didn't drive an hour just to check if we were ok.
Kristian and him arranged for us all to meet tomorrow at 10am where he will take us by car to a winery. I am pretty excited - I love meeting local people and this guy speaks pretty good English, so hopefully he can provide us with lots of details about Albania.
Right I better stop here or I might go on for hours.. it is past midnight and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.
I guess I better start with a small introduction to this journey just like Kristian did. This year's trip is something that I have been looking forward to since last summer. We left the Balkans last year, and like always I felt that I was far from finished exploring.. when it comes to travelling I can never get enough. Those of you who know me also know that I have spent a fair bit of my adult life travelling and that it is hands down my greatest passion in life. Family life, work and ordinary day to day grown up stuff is however preventing me from travelling as much as I would like to and so the yearly summer holiday are highlights in my life.
Since Saya (and Kristian I guess) came along, the way of travelling has also changed a bit.. there are more things to consider than when I used to travel alone. First of all the distance and time to the destinations is something we have decided to reduce meaning that we have mainly travelled in Europe. I guess it isn't something you necessarily have to do, but we feel that it wouldn't be fair on Saya to do 15 hours mammoth trips to lets say Asia until she is a bit older. That hasn't kept us from travelling with her since she was only 5 months old though. So far she has travelled to England (she has family there), backpacked in Israel and Palestine when she was 5 months old, Portugal at 7 months, Poland at 1 years old, The Balkans at 2 years old and now the Balkans again. Kristian mentioned a few times in his blog how well she is managing travelling and waiting - I guess part of the explanation lies in this. She really is good at travelling.. though I did wonder before going away this year how she would react this time as she is growing older and her needs are changing. So far she is doing great though. This year she is also able to understand more and able to explain herself better which makes things a lot easier.
Anyway.. so the distance to where we are travelling have been reduced, but there are other things that are different as well. More planning is needed, so that we don't risk being stuck somewhere in the middle of the night without accommodation and a small child at hand. Another thing is the heat.. this is a big issue in our little family. I LOVE the heat.. Kristian and Saya not so much. This means that we have to find hotels or flats with air con. This does bother me just a bit to be honest as it also reduces our possibilities of staying in small primitive villages etc with no hotels and smart flats. It also means that we have to stay out of the sun quite a lot (this also means that I go home looking almost as white as before we went away) and I don't really feel that I get the fullest out of it having been in the shade most of the holiday. The alternative however is a very grumpy and sweaty husband and child.. so I adjust. I guess I can't really complain though as I still get to go to hot countries and do what I love the most.
So yes.. planning is something that I used to do as I went along and plans could change a million times during a trip. Nowadays Kristian with his gadgets is the one spending most of the time planning. There are two reasons for this.. he is the type of person who generally has a massive need to have everything planned.. and planned well. The gadget thing is something he really like, so I think he finds enjoyment surfing around on the internet finding stuff - I am the old fashioned type of person who still swear to my out dated Lonely Planets guides and find it a little blasphemous to even have my mobile phone with me (though I do). Kristian like things to be in order and organized well.. Me, to cut it short as I guess you get the gist - I am a little bit more laid back when it comes to that. All in all I think we complement each other quite well and our journeys are pretty much still made up as we go along.
Like I started saying this trip is something I have been looking forward to since last year. I was really hoping last year that we would find the time to make it to Albania, but it became quite clear early on, that we had taken our mouths too full and that we wouldn't be able to see everything that we hoped for. Albania was therefore something that we missed out on.
Another reason is that I was feeling pretty run down and in desperate need of a holiday before we left. I have had a busy and pretty intense summer at work and our holiday this year was late in the year. This is both good and bad.. good because it means we can avoid the masses at peak holiday season and get cheaper tickets, not so good because you really just desperately need a holiday when everybody else have been away and have come back and there are still 3 weeks till you can go.
But here we are.. back at the Balkans and currently in Berat in central Albania.
To make a quick summary I best start with yesterday. We woke really early yesterday (at 6am) as Kristian had set his alarm wrong. He hadn't realized the night before that his phone was still on Danish time. I had gone to bed really early the night before as I had a really bad cold coming on probably due to spending two nights in the draft from the air cons and was hoping that I could somehow stop it by getting a good night's sleep. We were due to leave on the bus from Sarande to Berat at eight and wanted to get some breakfast before taking a taxi into the city center at 7.30. Saya was in good spirits from the beginning despite the early hours and getting to bed late the night before. Soon after we had gotten out of bed however, Kristians stomach started to cause him trouble ad he spent the next hour or so running back and forth to the toilet eating medicine to get rid of the bug.
Unfortunately nothing worked and it became apparent, that we wouldn't be able to get on the bus at 8 as planned. We therefore settled back in the room feeling a little annoyed and infuriated. Saya and I left Kristian in the room and went down to get some breakfast and when we returned a little later, Kristian's stomach seemed a bit better and I went down to the reception to ask how much a taxi to berat would cost us, as we coudn't see any other solution if we wanted to go to Berat that day. We both agreed that Sarande had had very little to offer and that we were more that ready to go and explore somewhere else. The taxi ended up costing us around 100 euro and it turned out that it was money well spent. Kristian continued to feel ill during the whole drive and the trip which would have taken us 5 or 6 hours by bus now ended up taking 4. Saya was giving some medicine against motion sickness and she managed to relax on the back seat with me. Unfortunately she didn't fall asleep properly till we were an hour away from Berat though, but at least she didn't feel sick.
We finally arrived at Berat and was dropped of near the flat that we had found through AirBnb. Kristian was feeling really ill at this time, so it was me who had to do the running up and down the mountain where ther flat was located with Saya, trolley, bags etc. My cold was getting really bad at this time, so it was bl... hard work . We finally managed to find the flat.. and what a flat!! It is situated on the mountain side and is not exactly a flat but a house.. it has views all over the city from a big beautiful terrace.. big spacious rooms and beautiful Khilim rugs and hand made lamps everywhere! I love this place and want to take all the interior back with me! Kristian has agreed that we will find a small rug somewhere in Albania to bring home with us for the hallway. I will work on the lamp part as well.
Kristian went to bed as soon as we had been handed the keys by a really lovely and very camp guy. Saya and I read some books, but soon Saya started complaining about stomach ache as well and I ended up leaving her with Kristian as I went to find some toiletpaper, bananas, local yogurt and water.
I stopped by the pharmacy on the way to get some stuff for diarrhea and this was a pretyy interesting experience as they spoke very little English and I had to get two different kinds of medicine.. where one was an odd little bottle where you had to follow instructions very carefully for it to work. The ladies in the pharmacy were very nice though and though I am not entirely certain what each of the medicines does, I am sure, that they are perfectly safe to use and does what I need them to do!
I got back and Saya started being sick all over the floor the minute I stepped in. We had to strip the bed, her of all her clothes, was the floor and the sheets and give her a bath. She did seem to feel a tiny bit better though, but spent the rest of the day in bed watching cartoons. She fell asleep really early which also meant that she woke several times during the night.. at times complaining about pains in her stomach, other times she was just feeling upset. None of us managed to get much sleep and as my cold was peeking at that time I really felt this night had no end and that there was no chance of me ever feeling fine again.
I did however feel a bit better when we finally woke this morning. I felt absolutely battered, but at least the cold seemed to on a retreat. Saya still complained a bit about her stomach, but seemed a lot better and kristian was back to normal luckily. I was up for a little while and then felt the need to lay down again to rest and Kristian and Saya realxed together in the living room with books and cartoons. The guy from yesterday came back while I was trying to sleep with a big bag of grapes. He said that he had forgotten to bring them yesterday, and had therefore come back today. He lives an hour away by car, so I really hope that he had to run some other errands as well in the city... but this little gesture demonstrates the kindness that we have experienced all over the Balkans so far.. the people really go out of their way here to be kind to you and make you feel welcome.
I woke after my nap feeling remarkably better and also very jittery to get out and see something. Saya however was in a pretty bad mood by now and it was under wild protests that we managed to get her out. As none of us had eaten much for a long time, lunch was first priority. After a walk back and forth with mo luck of finding a decent looking place to eat, we ended up having lunch at a pizza place. The food turned out to be quite nice though and Saya cheered up a little. 9 out of 10 times the cause of Saya's grumpiness is due to hunger! We decided to embark on the long and very steep climb up the Kala a big fortress on the top of the mountain. Saya walked some of the way, but in the end we had to put her in the chair as her need for a toilet became quite a pressing matter. That is one thing makes a change from last year as well.. last year we had half of our bags filled with nappies and this year we only have a few for night time use. However we always have to keep an eye out for toilets now as the need for one can arise very suddenly! Again.. there are good and not so good things about everything.
We made it to the top of the mountain - sweaty but happy. I felt very much alive again, and was reminded of how much I love travelling.The last few days have been ok, but we haven't really done much that we couldn't have done at home.. One of the best part about travelling is walking and sometimes getting lost - it is finding yourself on a big mountain or whatever in a foreign place and looking at something beautiful might it be a city from the top of a mountain or a sunset or a sunrise t what feel like the end of the world. You feel alive and lucky at these times.
We explores the fortress for a while with its beautiful views and then started the descend down the mountain to find some dinner.
We crossed the river and found a restaurant on the side of another mountain with some beautiful views of the town from the other side.
We asked the waiter to recommend us some food which he did and we ended up having enough food to serve an army! It was embarrassing! We didn't even make it through half of the food before feeling absolutely stuffed! The food consisted of mainly local cuisine and it was very tasty and meaty!
With two large beers it came to the total cost of 150kr.. extremely cheap!!
So far my impression of Albania and Berat is really good. People here are extremely friendly and everyone is smiling a greeting us wherever we go. Esp Saya's chair brings a smile out on people.. I guess most have never seen a carrier like that! Berat is a beautiful little town with a lot to offer and we definitely have a lot more exploring to do tomorrow.
We went back to the house after having stocked up on water and bananas and Saya was put to bed. While I was tucking her in the guy came back again. He had been worried about us ad he had tried to call on the house phone and noone answered it (it had run out of battery) so he had decided do come and see if everything was ok. Again I really hope that he had other errands in town and that he didn't drive an hour just to check if we were ok.
Kristian and him arranged for us all to meet tomorrow at 10am where he will take us by car to a winery. I am pretty excited - I love meeting local people and this guy speaks pretty good English, so hopefully he can provide us with lots of details about Albania.
Right I better stop here or I might go on for hours.. it is past midnight and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.