Trips

Mon., 5/21/18 - Gjirokaster, Albania

We had a nice late start today, at 9:30, and then rode a short distance through more beautiful countryside to the town of Dhoksat for our home visit.

During communist times, farmers who were working on the farms pre-1991 were each given three sections of agricultural land - one A, one B, and one C. A land was very fertile (this is where he planted grapes), B was so-so (usually planted with fruit trees), and C was not very good and was used for livestock or a house. In 1992 clippings from existing grapevines were trimmed and planted and later better grapevines were grafted onto the trunk. Lenda, our host, makes his own wine and that was what we drank at lunch

Looks like a dairy cow	Hillside mosque
Grape vine	Local transport
Vineyard with vegetables planted between the rows	WWII bunkers
At Lenda's house, a beautiful three-story built in 2003, he showed us the steps in making cheese from a sheep (too fatty) and goat (too hard) blend of milk. We watched it boil in a large copper pot on an open campfire. It cooled, then he added rennet (a yeast powder) and let it sit for 45 minutes. Grandma Katerina then scooped it into cheese cloth to separate the curds from the whey. It would age for at least two days so we ate the cheese the previous OAT group had watched being made.	Lenda's house
Lenda's house	Lenda's house
Cheese making
	We went on a walk around the “block.” Most of the villagers have small vegetable gardens and eat whatever is ripe. Sheep walk along the roads and we tried not to step in the “poo.” The village school is closed and empty and many houses have owners who now live other places and the houses are deteriorating.
Village scenes	Pack animal
Village scenes	Village scenes
Village scenes	Village scenes
After our walk, we returned for lunch and were served 16 different dishes, all cooked in one stove and oven by Katerina. Everything was very good.
Local beer - pretty good and cheap	Interesting logo on the shoe
Nice decoration	Clouds
Back in Gjirokaster, we took a tour through a Cold War tunnel/bunker below the castle. There were event rooms for the Communist leader, the town mayor, and 200 other necessary officials. It was dark and dank and empty and pleasant to get out of.
Inside the Cold War Tunnel	Inside the Cold War Tunnel
Event room inside the Cold War Tunnel	Event room inside the Cold War Tunnel
Cerciz Topulli, an Albanian hero born in Gjirokastër	Around 5 PM we walked up the steep street to have Greek/Albanian/Turkish coffee and then have our coffee grounds read by an old lady. First the lady of the house showed us how they can roast raw coffee beans, then pound them into a fine grind. She made us the coffee with sugar or without. We drank the coffee and then turned the grounds remaining in the cup upside down on the saucer. The old lady “read” our fortunes in the cup. It took awhile but most of us have “good lives, worries in the past that have been worked out, and friends that help us take care of bad people or bad happenings.” The husband explained coffee readings were just a way of passing time at village coffee shops.
Coffee bean roaster	Roasting the coffee beans
Grinding the beans	Brewing the coffee
Pouring	Fortune telling
Mountains across the valley	More electrical spaghetti
Minaret	Marge and I ate up our cheese and crackers in our room. One huge meal a day and plentiful breakfasts are more than enough for us.

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