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After a perfect week in Italy, an adventurous journey, and a full day in Vlorë, it was time to hop on yet another bus (and one of many) to the famous town of Berat. You might have heard it by the name: the city of a thousand windows or seen the many Instagram pictures travel influencers posted of it. Greatly underestimating the time we would spend traveling from Vlorë to Berat, we ended up only having half a day in the city, while being completely exhausted. Our travel diaries of Albania can be summarized by the word ‘bus’, I guess, but it is still worthwhile telling the entire story, with all its ups and downs and from start to finish.
‘Bus’ Day from Vlorë to Berat
After our second night in Vlorë, we woke up bright and early to catch the 8PM bus to Berat. Still being a bigger control freak than I am now, I was very nervous about finding the right bus. Taking the bus in Albania is the only form of public transport besides taxis and can be a very confusing endeavor. Stations change all the time and there is no clear timetable to be found anywhere. We found it best practice to ask our hotel and the taxi drivers, as they know the place well. So, our taxi driver, whom we had met the day before and was super kind and chatty, picked us up after a quick and early breakfast to take us to the bus station.
The bus ended up being a minivan, which filled up quickly. However, when we did not leave after all the seats were full, we were wondering what we were waiting for. To our surprise, the driver pulled out some plastic stools and put them in the tiny isle for the late passengers to sit on. Even more surprising, these were elderly people, and they seemed not to mind. We looked at each other with wide eyes: this could end very badly if the driver had to brake suddenly. I pulled my seatbelt a little tighter, and we set out for Berat after the stools were filled.
Exploring Berat by Foot
After a couple of hours, we arrived at the city which is known for being a world heritage site. We saw many mosques, beautiful stone buildings, and a bare riverbed as we entered Berat. Instead of exploring straight away, we decided to check into our new Airbnb first. We had booked someone’s family home, and our hosts mother welcomed us kindly. The apartment was spacious, with a nice balcony where we could sit in the shade, and flowers everywhere. Although it was in the style of any grandmother’s home, it was lovely. We took a shower, chilled for a bit, drank some coffee, and ate some grapes which our host’s mom gave us, and then decided to hike up to the old town, as we only had one night here.
Berat is full of history: with a neatly preserved old town including myriad Byzantine churches and a citadel on top of a hill, there is so much to see. We saw the old fortress, the many traditional stone buildings, and had lunch within the city’s ancient walls. The food was traditional (lots of cheese and cream, so not very nice to take pictures of), and very delicious! It was hard to eat gluten-free in Albania however, with every restaurant just offering one or two GF dishes. Nevertheless, what I could eat, was delicious.
Although we could definitely see the beauty of the place, and took many pictures of what we thought was pretty, we were a little bit shocked by the state Berat was in. Maybe we were hard to impress due to our crazy traveling schedule, but lots of buildings and streets were in disarray, and there was trash everywhere we looked. On top of that, the scorching sun made the trash rot and smell badly.
While trash might actually be a huge issue there, we also did not really manage our expectations well. Before coming to Albania, we had seen many gorgeous Instagram photos and stories of the country and did not realize that social media often leaves out the ‘ugly’ parts of a place. While in the apparent ‘ugliness’ there usually is a story of politics, culture, and history, due to our lack of sleep and rest, it was hard to go look for it at the time. Whether it was insufficient funding by the government or the UN to keep the heritage site in proper shape, or bad tourist behavior (or both), it still reminds me that being a conscious traveler is so important. In this case, reading up on the context of the place and maybe even hiring a guide could have really elevated our time in Berat, and left us with a brighter feeling.
Where to Stay in Berat
Our stay at our Airbnb was wonderful though! Our hosts were so kind and made our stay worthwhile. While Instagram can be deceiving, the kindness of human hospitality certainly is not! After having a lovely evening cooking dinner in the very clean kitchen, and playing games on the balcony, we slept well. The next day, however, we had to get up early to catch a bus to our next destination (have I mentioned our crazy schedule yet?). Despite the early hour, our host’s mother had made a lovely breakfast for us with fresh tomatoes, cucumber, eggs, juice, coffee and, (the best saved for last) homemade grape marmalade! Needless to say, we had a wonderful start to our day.
If you are not the Airbnb type of person, however, there are many other great places to stay in Berat. Whether you like luxury, are a budget traveler, or like a little bit of both, you will find the right place as the city lives off tourism. Lots of places are in the Old Town, so there will always be plenty of options. If you love luxury and want a big hotel with swimming pool, spa and everything, you should check out Hotel Colombo. I’m not going to lie, I love a good sauna experience, but I know there are many people who prefer to stay in more budget friendly places. If so, the Amalia Hotel might be just what you need: it’s located in one of the older buildings, and the rooms have exposed stone walls, which will give you a true authentic feeling. But where will I be staying the next time I visit? Probably the mid-range Beratino Hotel. I mean, just look at their gorgeous balconies overlooking the river, and their charming, authentic rooms!
Final Thoughts
In the end we had too little time and too little energy to properly explore and enjoy Berat. The city had so much history and things to see, also in its surroundings, but we were just not up for it. We definitely have to come back to Albania one day, rent a car and make sure we have much more time to explore! Slow travel definitely trumps checking destinations off your list in this case. Next week, however, I will show you the last place we visited in Albania, where we finally got some rest from all the traveling. So, look out for next week’s blog or follow me on Instagram to catch the latest updates. Prefer to get monthly summaries and other bits and bobs? Then sign up to my newsletter and get a gluten-free world map for free!
