Berat - a higlight

Not only is our accommodation today vastly superior to yesterday's, but Berat is a delight.  Lonely Planet describes it as a highlight of visiting Albania and it is very true.  It too has a rugged mountain setting as many of Albania's towns.  Both Berat and Gjirokastra are UNESCO-designated museum towns.  Albanians themselves consider Berat to be their country's most beautiful town.  We agree.

But first the journey here.  Berat is in central Albania and quite far from anywhere else.  We drove from Gjirokastra to Berat and it is quite a long and circuitous drive as the mountains get in the way of roads.  There is a shorter route but we were told it is a very windy road and more suitable to a 4WD than our little rental car.   The scenery was tremendous.

The Hotel Mangalemi is a gorgeous place inside two lovingly restored, sprawling Ottoman houses where all the rooms are beautifully furnished in traditional Berati style and the balconies give superb views.  Our balcony actually overlooks the internal courtyard which is as lovely view as we would wish for.

Ottoman houses have many windows, thus earning this town the name of "town of a thousand windows".

The terrace restaurant at the hotel serves great traditional food and is reputedly the best place to eat in town.  We are lucky to have managed to get two rooms here.  We have one more night in Albania and we contemplated staying on here but the hotel is booked out.

The path uphill to the castle.  It is a 900m STEEP uphill slog.  Built to protect the north-south trade routes, it is not a castle in the traditional sense but a thick stone wall and towers encircling the grounds which are filled with still inhabited Ottoman houses.  The old town is in the castle precinct and about 1,500 people live up here.  To think the residents, young and old have to face this every day of their lives is astonishing.

Looking down on the new town.  Note the ever-present mountains.