Tuesday in Albania

We are so much better today! I forgot to mention that we overnighted in Shkodra - a charming town. The hotel is being renovated and updated, is situated at the end of a lovely walking mall and right across from a beautiful Mosque.(We were originally to have spent last night in Berati but with the delay we are trying to cram as much as possible into our 1 1/2 days in Albania) Albania is about 60% Muslim (a direct result of 500 years of Ottoman rule), 20% Albanian Orthodox, and 20% Catholic. There are a few minor religions (our guide knew about Adventists), but they don't really make an impact. Since Socialism and the forbidding of religion ended in 1992, people are open about religion but do not register a religion, as it was forbidden in the past and there is a natural distrust about sharing personal information. Politics still play a huge part in getting and keeping jobs, but religion less so.

Our day commenced with a visit to the Old City of Kruja, with shops, and ethnographic museum, and a museum to the national hero, Skenderbec (there are about 6 different spellings of his name!) , who kept the Ottomans at bay, until his death in the late 1400's. The interpreter at the ethnographic museum was a retired teacher, spoke excelllent English and gave one of the best and most efficient presentations of this whole trip - he was great! We shopped briefly but spent well, those who had exchanged money (I didn't have as much as I would have liked!) mostly on local weavings and carvings.

We then drove a couple of hours to the town of Berati where we hiked up a steep cobblestone road for 1 kilometer to another ethnographic museum, in an 19th century restored house and then up to Berati Castle, where there is an Albanian Orthodox church, the Church of the Sleeping Mary, that has an amazing collection of original icons, all maintained despite a ban on religion during the Cold War years. We then drove on another 3 hours to our destination for the night, Gjirokastra. We hiked up ANOTHER cobblestone hill for dinner, and finally were in bed by midnight.