Dries Buytaert

Albania

Traveling through Albania: hiking the pass from Theth to Valbona, spending a couple of days around Berat, wandering the cobbled streets of Gjirokastër and ending on the coast in Sarandë.

A hiker holds a pole flying the Albanian flag at a mountain pass, with jagged peaks behind him.
Stan holds the Albanian flag at the summit of the Theth to Valbona Pass.
A hiker with a backpack stands on a rocky peak with arms outstretched, facing a vast range of green and gray mountains.
Stan looks out across the Albanian Alps while hiking the trail between Theth and Valbona.
A small stone church with a wooden shingle roof and cross-topped steeple set against rugged mountains.
Kisha e Thethit, the small church at the heart of Theth.
Woman in a red dress and sunglasses holding up a glass of red wine at an outdoor restaurant during golden hour.
We had a great dinner at a family-run restaurant in the hills near Berat. They made their own wine and cheese, raised their own chickens, and grew their own vegetables.
Tourists stroll and sit at cafes on a cobblestone street lined with shops in an old town.
Gjirokastër's UNESCO-listed historic center is known for its cobbled streets and Ottoman-era stone houses.
A young man in a soccer jersey rests his head on his hand and looks to the side.
Wooden beehives in green and yellow on a dry grassy hillside.
One day, I'd love to have a few beehives of my own.
A man leaps off a wooden dock into the ocean as a woman in sunglasses swims nearby watching.
Stan does a backflip off the dock while Vanessa watches from the water.
Numbered gondolas of a Ferris wheel against a muted teal sky, with the metal spoke framework visible.
Early in the evening, the Ferris wheel was already turning, but no one had arrived yet. Nights tend to start later in Albania.