Nicole & I decided to go to Berat, Albania for a quick getaway after Easter. We left Monday and took the long way home on Wednesday. (In our defense, we didn’t know it was the super long way home…) The only thing better than adventuring with a friend is adventuring with your friends! So Nicole & I were happy when we found out Corey & Jacob would be able to come with us!
We arrived in Berat after a fairly short & uneventful 2 hour bus ride from Durres.
After we checked into the hotel, we decided to head up to the castle which was at the top of a long & steep road. The castle was a great place for exploring!
We found lots of things to do to keep us busy.
We took pictures (and schemed)…
We picked noses…
We fired cannons…
We climbed to the top of really tall towers…
We climbed walls…
We climbed statues…
A good and bad thing about Albania is that nothing is really off limits. This is bad for preservation purposes I’m sure but it’s good for adventuring!
It was a beautiful day and we got to see some pretty views of the city below!
Later that evening we set out to explore the rest of the city.
We made sure to keep our eyes open for some fun adventures!
The next day, we were set to go rafting! We were originally supposed to go to the Osumi Canyons but because it had been raining, the water levels were too high. We ended up rafting on the section of the Osumi river that [eventually] runs through the city, where we ended.
Nicole, Corey, Jacob & I before we set out on our rafting adventure!
left: our crew on the left, leaders in red, right: a team practicing
Even though it was rainy, we still had fun!
Even though we had to paddle hard at times. it was still fun!
10 miles later, we ended under this bridge in the city.
We made it!
Needless to say, after climbing everything the day before followed by rafting, some of us were pretty tired [and sore].
And by some, I mean all.
The next morning, we decided to go to an art museum before we left. We went to the front of the building and the men outside had no clue what we were talking about. But we had seen the sign on the side of the building. We decided to walk around to see if there was another entrance to the building.
Sure enough there was…leading up to the second floor. How random that the men didn’t know what we were talking about?!?
It was a small museum with recent artists, so it said. But the 3 rooms were filled with paintings by the same man. It was still interesting to see nonetheless.
(really, we were more interested than we look!)
Then we decided to take a bus back to Tirana for one last hoorah and go to the Stephen Center where they have good American food (and Chinese & Mexican). So instead of heading back to Durres, we headed for Tirana thinking instead of a 2 hour trip it might be 2.5 hours.
It got off to a rocky start when someone broke the curtains. And after unsuccessfully fixing them, he fled the scene of the crime and sat across the aisle from them! Not too smart…
Don’t worry. Eventually they got fixed and we were off!
Almost 4 hours later, we arrived in Tirana. We unknowingly took the scenic route so the bus could pick up more people. But eventually, we did make it to the Stephen Center a delicious meal, we all treated ourselves to dessert.
It was the perfect end to a perfect vacation full of adventures!