Berat: Always a good choice.
The ride to Berat was billed at 2 hours, though with stopping and picking up every straggler on the side of the road, it strung a little past 3 hours in total. Luckily, I had some great company for the ride.
Lili, yes it’s usually a girls name, and his friend Orgust spoke English quite well, and entertained me with stories of life in Albania and Berat on the drive down. Before I knew it, I was being given phone numbers, ideas on places to stay, and invitations to come see the locals in action.
Stepping off the bus in Berat, you may think the center of town looks a little unattractive. That’s because it is. This town truly has some beautiful scenes, but you need to do a little climbing to get there. The same holds true for one of my favorite hostels, Berat Backpackers; walk over the bridge from La Palma, past Antigoni, and down a winding road.
Scotty from Newcastle has spent the last 3 years in Albania while he purchased and maintained his hostel. Scotty now lives nextdoor to Berat Backpackers and has a blast with his hostel, while everyone who visits has a blast hanging with Scotty. It’s a good relationship.
The whole ride down, Lili had been telling me about his friend Scotty from Newcastle. When I connected the dots, that he was in fact speaking of Scotty that owned the hostel, I mentioned his name to Scotty who promptly assured me that he had no idea of whom I was speaking.
The social life in a town like Berat is limited, and largely centered around Berat Backpackers unless you are a local. If you are a local, then you most likely go out every night for the Jiro.
The Jiro is something that I have only encountered in Albania. There is a main street where all the locals from the city go every evening after work or dinner, around 7 p.m. until 9 or 10 p.m. and everyone simply walks up and down the street.
Yes, that’s it.
Occasionally, people stop and talk to one another. The young gentlemen I was walking with made sure to inform me of the details surrounding every eligible young lady in town; things like “She is on my facebook page,” “She is a classmate of a girl I went to school with,” and “I talked to her last week.” It was refreshingly innocent and such a break from the rest of the world. An Albanian Jiro is definitely worth trying out if you are in town.
Above Berat on the hill opposite Scotty is a huge castle. It’s not necessarily tall or overly fortified, but it is expansive, and it is one of the few remaining castles in Europe that still has a population; people still live and work within the castle walls. It’s a short hike and the light at sunset can really give you something to “ooh” and “aah” at.
Ultimately, the castle held less draw for me than listening to the stories of the locals in the street and the travelers in the hostel, and the moustache cat.
One of the fun parts about Berat Backpackers was that I kept running into people I had seen in a number of other cities and countries across the Balkans!
Berat Backpackers is clean, efficient, fun, and reliable. I recommend it, and Scotty, to anyone rocking through the Balkans. You will dig it. Eventually, you will need to leave. Scotty and his staff can help you get to just about anywhere with ease, but if you need to head back to Tirana, just wander back down to the main square and jump on a bus with a Tirana sign in the window.
A mistake I keep making; settle the fare before you get on. Some of the buses will have the fare listed in the window. Some will not. I wound up paying the gringo tax on the way back and paid 400 leva instead of the 250 leva I might otherwise have paid; a total of about $1.50 extra. Buses leave at least every hour, so just show up.
Next Stop: Shkodra