Mark and I are finally together in Tirana for the weekend. We decided to celebrate by enjoying a beer at the lake while watching the sunset. After, we headed home and I made a delicious dinner of baked peppers filled with qofte (albanian meatballs), mozzarella cheese, spaghetti sauce flavored with basil and onions and my oh my were they tasty!
The next morning we rented a car and headed to Pellumbas for some exploring. When renting cars in Tirana, manual cars are always much, much cheaper and much more readily available. Since Pellumbas is only half an hour away by car we figured we'd get the manual and Mark would drive the whole way (I've never learned how to drive manual and I don't intend on starting in Albania!) Mark stalled the car twice just trying to pull away from the curb... Maybe we need the automatic after all... Once we got going Mark assured me that the stalls were because the gear shift was tilted and what he thought was first gear was really third. Right. Well, glad we got that all figured out. Before we knew it we were on the highway with the wind in our hair and the music in our ears. We made it to the base of the mountain and had to do a little climbing on narrow but navigable roads. We got stuck on one of the hills but after only a few attempts made our way up just fine. We arrived safely at the top and even though we'd only spent 30 minutes in the car I was ready to get out and stretch my legs. There were exactly 3 buildings in this area: a restaurant, a visitors' center and a restroom. All were maintained by the same gentleman. He rented us two helmets and a flood lamp, advised us to use the toilet and promised us a delicious lunch upon our return. While I was using the toilet I heard a little boy ask Mark if he needed a guide to the caves. Mark told him we didn't so I hurried out to set him straight. I had done some reading online before we started our adventure and all of the reviews said that the young guides were definitely necessary because the trail isn't well marked and the cave is quite large. Thank goodness the little boy didn't take no for an answer but rather started ushering us up the hill. He couldn't have been more than 12 and he was so darn cute. We walked up, higher and higher, along the side of the mountain. The sun was shining and we were privy to some beautiful views along the way.
As we walked we came across some cherry trees. The little boy said "40 minutes" and quickly ran up the embankment where the trees were. Next thing we knew he was towering above us in the trees, grabbing branches of cherries as he climbed. He came down with an armful and proudly handed them to me. They were the freshest, most delicious cherries I've ever eaten in my life.
We continued for about an hour until we made it to the cave.
The cave was cold, dark and wet. Before long there was no light visible from the outside and we were in total and complete darkness (We turned off all of our lights at one point--- it was eery!!) We kept exploring. There were hundreds of bats overhead, some hanging, while others took flight once they were illuminated by our lights.
We wentdeeper and deeper into the cave and it got muddier and muddier. I mean slippery wet sticky thick mud. My shoes were sticking and sliding. We were climbing over cave formations as we made our way through. We got to the point where both our guide and Mark had fallen and covered themselves in mud. I was not looking to add my name to that list so I kept saying "dalje, dalje" to the little boy, which means exit in albanian. One of two things resulted from this: either, the little boy did not realize I was trying to speak to him in albanian and figured I just kept repeating english words over and over again to him OR he was just as lost as we were. I was willing to try anything at this point so I started saying "mirupafshim" which means "bye" to try and get him to understand we wanted to leave the cave. We continued climbing and once we got part way up a formation he decided it wasn't correct and directed us back down. Now I was sure that we were lost but didn't know what to do to help. I figured we needed to just stick together and eventually we would make our way out. Then, my flood light went out. Thank goodness Mark had his camping flashlight with him or we would have been in total darkness. Thankfully we heard voices and made our way toward them. We found our path back to the entrance of the cave and made it out alive. I didn't fall, however when I was descending a large slope with a rope I slipped and scraped against the rocks causing my knuckles to bleed. I held on tight though and thankfully didn't fall into the mud that had already covered the clothes of my two companions. Boy what an adventure! We made our way back down the mountain, bloody and muddy, but content.
Once we made it to the bottom we sat at an outside table with a group of travelers from Holland. They were really nice which led to us exchanging stories while enjoying traditional albanian food and beers together. Mark and I were glad to have experienced Pellumbas but were ready to get back to Tirana before the rain set in. We hopped in the car and made it back with only one stall :) It was such a fun way to spend our Saturday!
On Sunday, I cleaned the apartment top to bottom while Mark made it his mission to fry homemade donuts. It was no easy task but by mid afternoon we had 36 donuts and 36 donut holes covered in lemon, vanilla or cherry icing and a clean apartment to eat them in. 😋
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