sometimes all I want to do is lie there on the sofa (sunbed)

 

Not quite the story of today, but turned out more in that vein than was expected as we allowed ourselves to immerse in the privacy, luxury and adriatic ambience of the Buze Hotel.  At times it felt like we have the whole place to ourselves, there are definitely people around, but keeping themselves to themselves, our journeys all not colliding with plenty of space given. The tone set at breakfast which runs from 8 until 11, that in itself feels like an encouragement to meander your way through the day.  Only a couple of people there when we went down to the patio for around 8.20 and perhaps one or two more appeared in the time we had left.

The approach to breakfast so laid back, they give you a menu, and you pick all the things you want, and they then lay it all across the table as a personalised banquet. Coffee continues to be taken black with a sugar which really isn't my normal approach but is the me in Albania!  In terms of our smorgasbord, the key albanian twist were donuts with honey and jam, thought they may be a bit deep fried and stodgy, but none left at the end, so that clearly wasn't the case. Feta, sausages, salad, fruit all fresh, juicy and energising for the day ahead.

Which in itself did have a plan, involving buses and bikes.  It only got as far as the bus bit and that was questionable at one point. The more popular resort Ksamil  is worth a visit we were told, and an hourly bus would take you the 6 miles down the coast.  After a bit of a wait one did turn up, and it would appear word had got around as half of Saranda crammed on, blood, sweat and tears for 40 minutes of teeth gritting to get to the resort.  Which turned out to be a lot busier, tackier and less refined than the one we had left.

That in itself was only part of the misstep, as I thought we could then hire bikes to take the further 3 miles to a much vaunted national park. Lack of bike hire and roads that would not have appealed to Chrissi wrote that one off, so was time to take stock and pivot.  Found a beach side bar to muse over a cold chocolate, and made the right decision to cut our losses, and head back to our home of luxury. A few shots of the famous 4 islets (we only saw 3), man made hand, and the millions of water sports (and people) on the turquoise sea. The secret was out about 10 years ago according to the Lonely Planet, the new secret is to avoid unless you have a top beachside resort booked.

Waited around 40 mins for the 20 minute bus home and immediately made our way down to our own private beach. Beautifully secluded, a little choppy, but made a splash, it really does feel like our own place!  I have to keep a modicum of fitness up on this trip so forced myself on another 5k run along the roads we took the bus earlier, it really is not a place to do much running, avoiding people, cars, and uneven pavements, little and often is the best I can achieve here. The joy of being able to throw yourself into the private pool afterwards though is not to be sniffed at, and some poolside chilling and reading to follow.

Tonights Balkan Balcony Buze a North Macedonian number CKONCKO a little more watery than last nights Kosovan effort so going in at second place.  Not sure where I go from here but do have some Albanian wine as a fallback, although we did have some of that tonight too.

Following on from the balcony experience which is a good experience, we took our evening constitutional in search of good food and company.  We found a little cocktail bar just down from the hotel to catch the tail end of the sunset, and enjoy a cuba libre and margarita. Randomly seated next to a couple of welshies, not too many from the UK around here, so that almost felt like a co-incidence. Goggs though so still a fair bit of distance, but nice to share a few travel tales and home tales before going our separate ways. They went up the hill to paradise, we went down the hill into Saranda tack, but felt it had to be looked at.  I would note it is free of the british package crowd at the moment, but won't be long with a new airport opening up in next few months.

I think we have successfully managed to get all the holiday tat out of the way in one day, or at least I sincerely hope so. The quayside in Saranda by night as garish as any other mediterranean or british holiday resort, and the restaurant prices inflated for probably poorer quality food than just a stones throw away. We briefly drunk it in, cut our losses for the second time today, paid for some overpriced gyros and called it quits.  Fair to say we now very much have our bearings and pretty clear how we want the next 3 days here to go, and what to avoid.