Albania

Albania! A tiny country on the Adriatic coast, south of Montenegro and north of Greece. Albania is a country that was under Communist rule and closed to the outside world (nearly like North Korea) until 1991. The dictator Hoxha had died in the mid-80s and by 1991 it had converted to democracy and gradually opened itself to the outside world.

Today we docked in the town of Saranda and drove to the ancient Roman ruins at Butrint. In the picture above you can see, if you squint, row upon row of apartment complexes, built without any planning, and despoiling a beautiful seaside town.

Another interesting thing is to see the pillboxes that Hoxha had built to defend the country from invasion from the West, certain that he was that the outside world was going to invade.

Butrint is a small place south of Saranda that is the site of an amazingly well preserved ancient Roman site, actually built atop an even more ancient Hellenic city. Here's a view of the Roman amphitheater, an expansion of the Greek theater, and remarkably well preserved.

The seats are marble and granite and our group looks like it is ready for a performance!

We also saw an ancient Basillica (church) whose walls are still intact.

Buried under the sand is the original mosaic floor.

We now have a day at sea tomorrow as we sail around the boot of Italy on our way to the tiny island republic of Malta.

 

Posted with Blogsy