Mountains, flora and one lizard

After that exciting drive and ferry ride yesterday, we were a bit anxious because we had another adventurous journey up the mountain on an unmade road for nearly 6 km – in the end, although somewhat sweaty because I turned off the air-conditioning in order not to strain the poor car, we made it to our lovely guesthouse, hosted by a charming (I know I’m over-using the adjective but they really are!) young Albanian called Geri. He made light of the road saying that, even if the car tyres were ripped to shreds, it was better for people to be safe.

We are the only guests, attended to hand and foot by Geri and his cousin (established that this is his third cousin since everyone appears to be related). After an evening stroll with Geri who showed us his garden full of fruit trees and bushes (we finally worked out what ’like strawberries but with nothing inside when you pick them’ were), and a further walk involving an encounter with a small snake which Sue tried to convince me was a worm, we felt ready this morning for something more adventurous.

We wanted to show you a few of the stunning wildflowers we saw everywhere – zoom in and you’ll see the prolific insects too.

We walked up some way, past what Geri called the ‘village bar’, and followed his instructions to turn right and climb until we reached the open view some distance later.

And, following Tara’s appreciative comments about the video yesterday, here’s a taste of where we ended up. I think we have enough walkers amongst our followers to tempt them now to Albania! Sorry about the quality.