Due Vagabondi: BERAT - CITY of a THOUSAND WINDOWS

From Struga, Macedonia, through Tirana and Durres (not by choice, but that's a story for another day) and down to south-central Albania to Berat. Three weeks and a few days in Albania looks like this on the map coming from North Macedonia

Google maps cannot find the street or the guest house we are in (The Iliad), but the host sent excellent directions and its easy, peasy (well, except for the slippery, shiny old cobblestones and the steep hill to get up with our packs). Vehicles can only go partway up this road until it becomes a narrow alley. Its a couple of km from the bus station to downtown and there seems to be only one bus to Centro, so we can't even get lost taking the bus. We say where we want to go and the driver's assistant gets us at the right time, walks us out to the street and points where we need to walk.

This is a good time to recommend the Iliad, the rooms here are bright and nice. The young family is great and helpful with what to see and do. The breakfasts are extraordinary and will keep you through the day.

On arrival at the guest house we are walked out onto the deck and its WOW!! How I would love to have a cell phone camera that does 360-degree photos.

Here lies the best view in all of Berat. We are in the Mangalem (or Muslim) neighbourhood up a bit from the foot of Castle Hill and the distinctive white Ottoman houses with their brown roofs and many windows that face us directly. We can see the Christian Orthodox neighbourhood of Gorica; the Osum River with its promenade and at least two of its bridges are in our line of sight; three of the mosques and the big Orthodox church downtown; the walls of the old fortified city and Kala Castle and so much more. The National Park of Mount Tomorr lies to the east.

The above photo is looking to part of the Mangalem neighbourhood where we are staying, while the photo below looks across the river to the Christian Orthodox neighbourhood.

Now you know whey Berat is known at the City of a Thousand Windows

The church in the photo above is on the mountain on the Christian Orthodox side, while the church in the photo below is below the castle, on the Mangalem side of the river. Neither church looks easy to get to.

Even though there are the two distinct neighbourhoods here, Berat is known for its religions co-existing in peace and friendship.

Of the seven mosques in or near Berat, we can see 3 from our deck. The large Lead mosque downtown, so-called as its dome is made of lead. The Bachelor's mosque right below us supposedly has beautiful paintings on its outside walls, but it's covered in cloth while undergoing renovation. The White Mosque, also below us is also being renovated.

We thought the building below was perhaps government as it's so grandiose and dominant, but we find out later its a hotel. It looks like the structure has been standing for a number of years and they are just getting around to constructing the interior.

Glowing Golden at sunset

We stroll over one day while downtown and a workman invites us in to look around. Everything is marble. It will be something when complete.

Immediately we sense a quietness in Berat. There are no big crowds of tourists, just a few folks here and there. Neither bars nor neighbours play loud music...its peaceful. A few more than 60,000 people live here.

Berat is a UNESCO World Heritage site as two of the seven codices of the Purple Codex of Berat are preserved here, historic manuscripts written from the 6th. to 18th. centuries. It is also one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. And it's filled with Ottoman-era houses.

At the foot of our street is a small cafe where we can get light traditional meals and very cold beer. A lovely young man speaking perfect English engages us in conversation. This restaurant belongs to his family. Later at the bus stop, the same young man, recognizing us comes over to greet us and give us a map of Albania. He is a student in a program called 'Smile Albania'. The students get hospitality and environmental education and are placed in areas where tourists come in: airports, bus stations etc. On asking, he reveals that he works two jobs to support his family.

We set aside a day to walk up to the Berat Castle. The castle walls surround and protect an old village that is very much alive and well. We like this old town better than any we've been in so far.

People who live here are very hardy. Cars can go up the road only so far and the rest is walking. The castle is about 2 km from the town where the grocery stores are. So shopping starts with walking down to town on a very steep road. If one has access to a car, there is still a lot of very steep cobblestone to get up to the village and many houses live up on the hill above the old village so narrow, cobble stairs have also to be negotiated.

This could be a good time to mention that the temperature is about 37 degrees and not a cloud in the sky or breeze every day we are here. There is no place to swim here. The river is quite shallow and kind of muddy. One or two people stand around in it, but no one swims.

A small portion of the steep road that can be driven

Villagers here have big gardens that grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. This man had a gorgeous display of snacks and preserves to sell to visitors and after each sale he carefully rearranges everything. He was also generous with taste tests. Everyone stresses that their food is organic.

A little further up from this stand we come to a church. A gentleman is busy carrying his wares out from a church where the fruit stays cool. It's hard to say if this church is used for worship today or not, but I have to share this most unusual podium. A villager must have carved it and donated it to the church at one time ... such a happy looking serpent!

Walking around the old village

Then to the Castle, which dates back 2,500 years. In addition to the castle itself are the amazing old stone houses of the village, there is a museum here, a large cistern, a mosque, numerous Christian orthodox churches. a lovely courtyard for relaxing and having a drink or light meal.

Ancient cistern

And the views are spectacular, different from the deck of the Iliad. Speaking of which, we can see the big deck of our accommodation from the castle. We leave our photos for the hosts to use in their advertising.

On the way down from the Castle and old village, we stop at the Ethnographic Museum. A young woman there is very willing to answer any and all questions that we have.

This lovely museum gives a real glimpse into everyday domestic life by presenting original objects in use.

In the photo below the top two are coolers for food storage hollowed out of stone. There was another so large that the camera couldn't capture it. The bottom left is a still.

The photo below is the luxurious Guest room. Guests were clearly special and honoured.

Another bedroom below

The weaving room, essential for the household, especially rugs to keep out the winter cold.

Random photos from the Ethnographic museum

One day while strolling around we come across a huge memorial and a gravesite with the marble caskets all above ground. It appears to be remembering communist fighters. We forgot to ask our hosts about it and i have been unable to find anything on the website about it. It's actually pretty big, maybe a hundred graves.

As the River Oslum divides the town, there are several bridges. They are pretty enough to warrant some photo space.

Berat was our first stop in Albania. We loved everything about this beautiful town. It's not to be missed if you are in the country. We move on to Gjirocaster and find that everything is much more expensive than in Berat.

On our last evening, we splurge on a roast lamb meal, with roast potatoes, grilled mixed veggies,a bottle of wine, dessert and raki. Wow, the works. We don't normally do that. It was delicious and inexpensive. For Paul's end-of-meal raki, it was served in a copper container, designed and built specifically by this family restaurant. The one-piece copper had an outer bowel and a smaller inner container for the raki glass. The water between the containers was frozen. All of this to serve ice-cold raki without diluting the liquor. Genius.