People often ask me which has been my favourite place that we’ve visited. I never really know how to answer. I don’t want to sound blasé or ungrateful for the life we’re fortunate enough to be living, because I’m neither. We’ve been lucky enough to see and stay in some truly beautiful places, far too many to mention. But the longer we travel, the more I realise it’s the people we meet who bring those places back into focus.
The swimming has been great here. We head down early every morning and, apart from the swimmers, there are always the fishermen. Some stand patiently with rods and reels, while the more interesting ones, at least to me, stand on the sandbar with large nets draped over their shoulders, expertly casting them into the sea. Each is completely absorbed in their own pursuit.
We’ve found Albanians to be a little guarded when you first meet them, but once you get to know them they soon open up.
I first got chatting to Mendu after coming in from a swim. He wanted a few tips on improving his front crawl, which, to be honest, wasn’t bad at all. I simply told him to relax a little more in the water. Before long we had moved on to fishing, a subject he was far more knowledgeable and enthusiastic about than I could ever hope to be.
Mendu and his wife, Barbara, are Albanians who now live in Belgium but return home for a few months each year. It wasn’t long before we were putting the world to rights. Rachel and Barbara got on like a house on fire.
The couple were thinking about making some changes to their holiday apartment, so I mentioned that they were welcome to come and have a look at ours for a few ideas. They said they would pop in for fifteen minutes.
Rachel has always been our social secretary, and I generally do as I’m told. So she sent me off to buy a good bottle of Albanian wine while she went to ask our barista what an Albanian host would typically serve to welcome guests for an evening drink.
Mendu also arrived bearing a gift, an interesting piece of driftwood that he had transformed into a small work of art. It now has a place amongst the few possessions we still keep.
After a quick drink, our guests, both proud Albanians, suggested showing us a little more of the area.
Our first stop was Lekuresi Castle, high above Sarandë, where the views across the Ionian Sea were spectacular. Straight ahead lay Corfu, to the left Lake Butrint, Sarande and Ksamil, and to the right the Corfu Strait stretching into the distance.
The restaurant at the castle, we were told, was nothing special, so instead they suggested driving on to Ksamil. We had passed through it before but never stopped to see the famous stretch of coastline that appears in almost every Albanian holiday brochure.
After parking the car, they led us to one of their favourite restaurants. Fifteen years earlier they had been the restaurant’s very first customers. The food was excellent and the setting was every bit as special.
During the day, Ksamil has a relaxed, upmarket feel, a little like Ibiza. By night it transforms into a lively party town. Given the chance, I think Barbara and Rachel would happily have danced until the early hours, had it not been for their two ageing husbands.
The fifteen minute visit turned into a wonderful evening with new friends, all because of a chance conversation after an early morning swim.
Dream Chasers 