Day 4 - Drive and Ferry into the Albanian Alps

May 22

Wednesday, May 21

We were up and rolling by 6:00am to drive to catch a 9:00am ferry that would take us 2 1/2 hours up a dammed lake. The day was mostly rainy and overcast, but still the countryside was lovely as the hills became mountains the farther we went.

Fish farming

Jasmine by the roadside

and Figs!

A bar/restaurant rest stop for “second breakfast” at 8:00!

Across the street

Our small ferry accommodated several vehicles and maybe 100 people.

We went from point 1 to 2

After the ferry, we drove another hour or so to the Valbone Valley National Park, where we are staying two nights. Valbone is very isolated (see map above…we are near Montenegro and Kosovo) and has just in the last 10 years or so begun making itself into a tourist destination for hikers and adventurers. The infrastructure is not fully in place: the roads are paved (mostly), but guest houses and hotels are under construction, and there is only one line of electricity into the valley. It is not the busy season yet - in the summer it will be a bustling place!