Albania’s Remote Northern Mountain Region

The amazing view from the top of the ridge, looking back toward ValboneĢˆ Valley.
The amazing view from the top of the ridge, looking back toward ValboneĢˆ Valley.

Changes and Tradition in Northern Albania: Saved while hitchhiking

By Michal Kranz

Pedestrians on KoleĢˆ Idromeno Street in ShkodeĢˆr at night, with Ebu Bekr Mosque in the background
Pedestrians on KoleĢˆ Idromeno Street in ShkodeĢˆr at night, with Ebu Bekr Mosque in the background.

The sun had set behind the hills overlooking the river Bojana, and its slow-flowing waters reflected the purple sky above.

The imposing Rozafa Castle crowned a hill to my left, and below it, stray cats and dogs scavenged for food amidst piles of garbage.

Small, ramshackle, houses lined the dusty road leading up to the castle, and every so often a child would come riding down the hill on a bike, sometimes barefoot.

A Wandering Horse

Across the street, a horse, unbridled, wandered between an overgrown front yard and a neighboring gas station.

Well, here I am, I thought as I walked along the main thoroughfare leading into the city of Shkodƫr. This is Albania.

I was supposed to get here by car, but the taxi driver in Montenegro who had promised me that he would drive me to the city got cold feet.

One of the family kittens eyes my tea with interest in Arben's mountain guesthouse in ValboneĢˆ.
One of the family kittens eyes my tea with interest in Arben’s mountain guesthouse in ValboneĢˆ.

Cows and Goats and No Go

With a line of cars stretching for half a kilometer toward the border crossing and cows and goats being led through customs, he refused to go any further, yet insisted that I pay him the previously agreed upon price in full anyway.

After a bit of haggling, I reluctantly marched through customs control, and after realizing that there was no public transportation to be seen on the other side, I sat down, stuck out my hitchhikerā€™s thumb, and waited.

Two rides later, darkness was setting in, but I still needed one more ride to get into the center of the city. I was beginning to get worried. Passers-by were giving me strange looks, and the scavenging dogs were starting to growl at me.

Then, a boy no older than twelve rode up to me on his bike from the direction of the castle, stopped, and with an obvious look of concern on his face, started asking me questions in Albanian.

Sharp peaks line the road leading into ValboneĢˆ Valley in the Albanian Alps.
Sharp peaks line the road leading into ValboneĢˆ Valley in the Albanian Alps. Michal Kranz photos.

I could tell by his hand gestures that he was asking me what I was doing. ā€œCar,ā€ I told him, motioning down the road with my thumb. ā€œCar to ShkodĆ«r.ā€ The boyā€™s brow furrowed. He looked me up and down, stared at me as if I had just fallen out of the sky, and pedaled away on his bike shaking his head.

My stomach dropped. For the first time on my trip through the Balkans, I genuinely felt like I should not be where I was. What was I, a young, eager American right out of college, doing in this obscure corner of Europe? Had I made a terrible mistake?

A Young Albanian to the Rescue

Then, to my amazement, a red car pulled up beside me. It was blasting aggressive techno and sputtering as it decelerated. Through the window, I could see a young Albanian man no older than thirty who looked like he had just stepped out of a nightclub. His smile was wider than the spoiler on the back of his car. ā€œLetā€™s go!ā€ he said in English as he motioned towards his car.

KoleĢˆ Idromeno Street, the main pedestrian drag, in ShkodeĢˆr, with Ebu Bekr Mosque in the background.
KoleĢˆ Idromeno Street, the main pedestrian drag, in ShkodeĢˆr, with Ebu Bekr Mosque in the background.

Immensely relieved, I sprinted the ten feet toward his door, threw my things in, and jumped in myself.

As we sped away, I knew that everything would be alright and that my previous paranoia had been unfounded. My adventure would wind on.

History and aspirations

My club-hopping friend dropped me off near the center of Shkodƫr, in an area where modern storefronts mixed with more traditional street stands along pedestrian-only walkways.

The central district was bustling with young people who had congregated in front of important civic buildings to watch coverage of the Albanian parliamentary elections.

But more often than not though, many were more concerned with flirting, drinking, and socializing than with the political developments being projected onto screens in front of them. As I walked further I passed several churches and mosques on my way to my hostel, and curiously, each one looked brand new.

End of Repression

Much later I found out that this was due to Albaniaā€™s fraught 20th-centuryĀ history ā€“ after World War II, the country had endured one of the most repressive communist regimes in Europe under the thumb of dictator Enver Hoxha, whoā€™s extreme anti-religious ideology had led to the destruction of many religious buildings in Albania during the Cold War.

However, even after the fall of Hoxhaism, the country had an especially difficult time transitioning to a market economy in the 1990s, and is still a nation in flux ā€“ its political and economic environment remains fraught with corruption, and most who attain a higher level of education leave the country.

Theth's main Catholic church, surrounded by grazing sheep.
Theth’s main Catholic church, surrounded by grazing sheep.

ShkodĆ«r itself is the northernmost major city in Albania, and lies in what Iā€™ve been told anecdotally is the poorest part of the country.

It is, however, an ancient city that was first settled by the ancient Illyrians, the ancestors of modern Albanians, and went on to become an important Roman and Ottoman outpost.

The Rozafa Castle that I passed on my way into town serves as an impressive testament to this long history, as do the cobblestone streets and idiosyncratic houses in the city center.

However, the cityā€™s centerpiece, the Ebu Bekr Mosque, was entirely renovated and restored in the ’90s and stands in sharp contrast to its timeworn surroundings.

Into the Albanian Alps

The hilltop Rozafa Castle stands in sharp contrast to the unpolished outskirts of ShkodeĢˆr below
The hilltop Rozafa Castle stands in sharp contrast to the unpolished outskirts of ShkodeĢˆr below.

Unfortunately, I did not have much time to spend in Shkodƫr and got up bright and early the next morning to embark on my next destination: a trip into the mountains.

Whenever I travel internationally, I like to get my dose of nature in wherever I can.

And in Albania, the pickings are plentiful. After taking a minibus to Lake Koman, a reservoir in the Albanian hinterlands, my group took a ferry through the glorious, white limestone canyons that the lake waters flow through.

To Valbonƫ

I got on another minibus on the other side of the lake, and departed for the village of ValbonĆ«, hidden deep amid Albaniaā€™s mountain passes.

Before long, I found myself in the midst of the stunning Albanian Alps, also known as the Accursed Mountains, which areĀ named so not without reason. Although this patch of mountains that sits along the borders of Albania, Montenegro, and Kosovo is not particularly tall by European standards (around 8,000 feet on average), they are stunningly steep and rugged.

Intimidating Spires

The fairytale-like Blue Eye near Grunas, south of Theth.
The fairytale-like Blue Eye near Grunas, south of Theth.

Intimidating spires and ridges tower over both sides the road into Valbonƫ, with pines and cypresses clinging to whatever surfaces they can find. I caught glimpses of the stream flowing through the valley to our right, its waters a brilliant turquoise color.

I was traveling with Claudio, a quirky Uruguayan software engineer whom I met back at the hostel in Shkodƫr, and both of us had arrived in northern Albania from opposite sides of the Balkans.

My hiking partner Claudio Perrone as we worked our way upward.
My hiking partner Claudio Perrone as we worked our way upward.

Our driver was a ValbonĆ« native named Arben, and once we reached the end of the road, he offered us a stay at his home and guesthouse for 20 euros a night ā€“ homemade breakfast, lunch, and dinner included.

That night, we ate a freshly-caught fish dinner outside with Arbenā€™s family of four on the half-finished patio as crickets chirped all around us.

Arbenā€™s wife spoke better English than he did, and we soon got to talking about life in the mountains, Albanian culture, and eventually the countryā€™s place in Europe and the world.

When I brought up the parliamentary elections in Albania, Arbenā€™s wife sighed in dismay. ā€œLetā€™s not talk about thisā€¦ā€ she saidĀ wistfully. ā€œTalking about politics makes me sad. I like to keep my mind right here instead.ā€

Old mills in the center of Theth, with the Albanian Alps in the background.
Old mills in the center of Theth, with the Albanian Alps in the background.

It was hard to challenge her point of view ā€“ the mountains provided a buffer of tranquility that the trials of the outside world could barely touch.

Over the hills and far away

Perhaps the most scenic playground I have ever seen. Located at the start of the ValboneĢˆ Pass hiking trail in Rrogam, near ValboneĢˆ.
Perhaps the most scenic playground I have ever seen. Located at the start of the ValboneĢˆ Pass hiking trail in Rrogam, near ValboneĢˆ.

The next day, Claudio and I left the warmth of Arbenā€™s household and descended even deeper into this natural buffer.

Starting from the village of Rrogam where the paved road came to an end, we climbed up rock walls and limestone peaks that jutted out into the sky at ridiculous angles toward Valbonƫ Pass.

Our destination ā€“ the village of Theth, which was supposedly even more beautiful than ValbonĆ«.

After getting treated to unreal panoramic views over much of the jagged mountain range from the top of the pass, we descended into Theth, almost eight hours after leaving the valley on the other side.

Unlike ValbonĆ«, Theth was more than just a collection of houses ā€“ it was teeming with life. Children and their fathers shepherded sheep and cattle into pens and young men rode horses along the villageā€™s main gravel road.

A soccer game was underway on the grassy field next to Thethā€™s main church. And all of it lay in a narrow valley between several incredible mountain massifs that hemmed it in from the outside world.

Two Nights in Theth

Claudio and I spent two nights in Theth, hiking up to waterfalls and vistas further down the valley, pleasantly immersed in the serenity of this mountain refuge. Although pastoralism continues to flourish here, the main sources of revenue in Theth are tourists like us, for whom amenities here seem dirt cheap, but whose money goes a long way for locals.

Grunas Waterfall near Theth.
Grunas Waterfall near Theth.

Thatā€™s because these mountain valleys had remained inaccessible to mass transit for centuries, and although most Albanians including those in ValbonĆ« converted to Islam under the Ottoman Empire, Theth has remained Catholic due to its isolation.

No Paved Roads

To this day, no paved roads lead into the valley, giving people here a remarkable degree of self-determination and forcing them to be interdependent upon one another.

And even though things are hard in Albania, the tourist economy in Theth has caused everyoneā€™s boat to rise.

Rather than focusing on the troubles that continue to challenge Albanian society, the people of Theth and the Albanian Alps are content with enjoying the aesthetic and economic gifts their environment has brought them, just as they have for hundreds of years.

When the time came to leave Theth and head back to Shkodƫr, Claudio, I and other tourists boarded a bright orange minibus and headed up a steep gravel road.

The road climbed up a steep mountainside and included innumerable switchbacks, but the higher we got, the more of the beautiful Valley of Theth we could make out through the forest of beech trees.

Perception Changed

As I thought back to my somewhat tumultuous entrance into this country, I was amazed at how much my own perception of Albania had changed.

As we passed various abandoned lodges, an Albanian man behind me explained that many of them were efforts by the Albanian communist governments to build vacation resorts for workers.

He also pointed out an old communist hotel that had been built to house Party members vacationing in Theth ā€“ however this time around, when we drove by the old hotel, a big brown cow triumphantly sat amid its decaying wooden walls.

Uncaring, unbothered, and content, it sat staring at us from the ruins of a building that had been built by a regime that had ravaged the entire country. Like the people of Albanian, it too had proudly reclaimed its rightful place in the world ā€“ and was doing its best to make the most of it all.

Michal Kranz

 

 

Michal Kranz is a New York City-based journalist, history student, and traveler. He has written about politics, culture, music, and the environment, and is excited to use travel writing as yet another excuse to visit interesting places. Visit him onĀ Twitter

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