Paragliding, canyoning, beach, impossibly blue water, Mom's delicious food
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There was not time to be jet lagged because we had things to do today. The weather and wind cooperated, so we grabbed some breakfast at a bakery on the beach and then headed to meet the paragliding folks. Because, why not go paragliding on your 1st morning in Albania? Plus, today we got proof that Kara and Dan were on a beach during a vacation - unheard-of.
Check out the color of that water - it really is that blue!
A delicious breakfast from a bakery on the beach.
A bakery on the beach
The paragliding launch spot
One of our pilots using some flagging tape at the end of a stick to figure out the wind - very high tech.
Setting up the paragliders
We did introductions with our pilots, set up the gear, waited for the right wind and figured out who would fly with whom - they divided up our weight, so I went with the bigger pilot named Guisne. I was told that all I had to do was run when I was told to run and then hold the camera. That sounded easy. So, I was excited, but not nervous. Mid-flight, Guisne asked me if I liked adrenaline to which I responded "yes". Next thing I new, we were doing all of these acrobatics in the air. Holy crap - that was fun!
During the "acrobatics" I may have been whooping a lot...
You can see Dan behind me in this shot.
After a smooth landing on the beach, safely back on terra firma.
After an exciting morning of dropping from the sky, we decided that we hadn't met our adrenaline quota for the day. So, we zipped back to our room, gathered our canyoning gear and headed out to Gilpe Canyon. We had no idea what to expect, as the guide book was quite vague about this canyon. Most people do the 30 minute hike out to the beach on a double track "road", but we descended the canyon to reach the beach.
Our lodging in Dhermi
Acma: a yummy bagel type bread with veggies and cream cheese inside
We had a little trouble finding the entrance to the canyon and after battling lots of prickers and stabby things, we ended up dropping in via this culvert. We were a little bummed that the canyon was almost totally dry.
There were lots of cool chock stones in this canyon
Check out the cool chock stones all piled up
It was a fun, but hot canyon. There were some beautiful walls and fun rappels. Some of the handlines were a bit sketchy and some of the starts of the rappels were awkward (nerve wracking). The most unique thing about this canyon was that were exited to thumping techno music echoing through the canyon. Apparently, there was a festival happening at Gilpe Beach. The water looked and felt beyond dreamy after hours of being drenched in sweat in the canyon.
We did look pretty badass (or weird) reaching the beach in our canyoning gear while everyone else had on thong bikinis
Gilpe Beach at the mouth of the canyon
After cooling off in the sea, we hiked our canyoning gear out the 30 minutes to the parking lot where we found a taxi who took us to where we had left our car. By then, we were hot and sweaty again. There was a small town nearby called Vuno with a restaurant on Google Maps that said "top rated" so we decided to go there as it was already after 7:00. We found Mom's Food which had 3 tables outside. We walked in the door right into Mom's (Luisa) Kitchen. She said that there was 1 table available if we could eat in less than 45min because there was another group arriving at 8:00. We got stuffed peppers, stuffed eggplant, and a Greek Salad. Oh my gosh - the food was mouthwateringly delicious. Plus, there were 2 pups that sat with us while we ate.
The small town of Vuno
Mom's Food had 3 tables
At Mom's Food, you walk right through this door and into her kitchen.
It was a small kitchen, but that didn't stop her from cranking out delicious food.
Stuffed peppers, stuffed eggplant, Greek salad and tzaziki
What a beautiful setting!
The 2 pups that sat near us.
The puppy near Dan is just waiting for him to drop something.
This little guy made me miss Ernie.
The 2 guys made me miss Luca and Ernie.
Mom (Luisa) at work in her kitchen
The town of Dhermi
Gelato!
We capped off our day with gelato on the beach.
Dhermi in the evening
Well, that was a wicked full day. Time to recharge with some slammin' sleep because the plan is to hike 1st thing in the morning the 2nd highest mountain in the Albanian Riviera.
Last year, Dan bought a book about canyoning in Albania, so that's how we ended up deciding to go adventure there. I read about the beautiful mountains, but what tipped the scales in Albania's direction was what I read about the food - it's kind of a mix of Greek, Italian, Turkish, and more. And with a mountain range named the "Accursed Mountains", we kind of HAD to check it out. Before we left, we had to get our ducks in a row, including creating our "geriatric garden" (raised beds) and putting the plants in the garden, getting and training a puppy, packing a lot of gear, wrapping up things things at school for my work and putting together the master spreadsheet for our trip. And before we knew it, it was time to depart. It was a long travel day, but we finally made it to Dhermi, Albania. We said goodbye to our pups, Maya and James and then headed off to catch the Concord Coach with a quick stop to get the salads that we always get for flights at Market...
Dan thought it was a good idea to do Benjes Canyon today despite the fact that it is a more technical canyon and very few people even do canyoning in Albania. So, I was a little anxious the night before thinking that we might die in a canyon in Albania. I am writing this blog now, so we obviously didn't die - yay. The morning started off well with a yummy breakfast in the garden of our guesthouse. Then we packed up our gear and headed off to find Benjes Canyon. We had to go several kilometers on a dirt road which would have made our rental car company very unhappy. We drove very carefully though. Breakfast in the garden of our guesthouse Our guesthouse There were even little pizza fritta - just like I learned how to make from my Italian mom and Nana We parked at a church that was tricky to drive to. The approach to the canyon was about an hour of hiking in the hot sun on a faint trail. It seems like we have spent a lot of time sweating since we have been in Albania. Eventually, we...
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