Backpacking in Berat | Albania

August 27 2020 | Tagged: The Balkans
Backpacking in Berat, the 'town of a thousand windows' and UNESCO world heritage site since 2008.
It's the last week in August. Daily temperatures are hitting 38.

Adapt or die!

Get up early. Get those all-important morning 'golden hour' photos, go back to the hostel for the free breakfast, spend some time processing your photos and stories, think about life and then go and hide in your AC room until much later.

Don't spend all the time watching NETFLIX, take a long nap and emerge at around 6 pm and get some evening 'golden hour' shots. Stay up until late cos it's the most pleasant part of the day.
​
Berat, probably the cutest place I've been to in a while:
The castle is best visited after 5 pm as the walk up is steep, much steeper than the 10%sign indicates:
Then take a small, badly maintained footpath off to the left:
At the lookout which you can see from town:
Gorica, the old part of Berat, where my hostel is as viewed from the lookout:
View to the East of the new town of Berat:
And to the West:
​​The ruins of the Red Mosque, from the 15th Century:
The ruins of the White Mosque, from the 15th/16th Century:
The Church of Saint Trinity, on my 2nd day:
I went up the castle on the 2nd day too. I wanted to try and get some 'closer' photos which involved scrambling down a hillside through the bushes:
Bird's-eye view of St Michael's Church:
You can see the point to where I scrambled down to:
​Other than the Kalaja, there are plenty of other 'things' that could be worth a moment of your attention:
​
The 18th Century Gorica Bridge. In this photo you can see the part of the hillside I scrambled down towards the small fortifications :
A couple of monuments:
I stayed at Maya Hostel, I chose it for the Air Con. There is a roof top bar next door, 360 Degrees, which is a good place to chill in the evening:

Berat - Getting there and away:


​I travelled to Berat from Durres. Buses leave from the main bus station in Durres.

I turned up at the bus station at 9.40 am, found the mini van and waited for the departure. 10:15, fare 400LEK, 1 hour 50.

Buses arrive at the main bus station in Berat, a 2.5km walk to town or a 30LEK bus ride.
After my stay in Berat, I took the 8 am bus to Saranda via Gjirokaster - which is where I am now - with the aim of producing 2 posts, thus bringing my monthly total to 11 😉