Oh my gawd I'm 30. WHAT? To celebrate, I organized a weekend away in Korca with my closest friends. There were 9 of us, and it was a 3 hour drive, so we rented two cars and were out of Tirana a little before 11. We met at 10am, but unfortunately the car rental agency had moved down the street without informing us (Oh Albania!) and double unfortunately there was no agent present when we arrived (Oh Albania!) so we had to call our contact and wait for him to turn up. Triple unfortunately the car was running on fumes. We drove a few minutes in the opposite direction to the closest gas station, unfortunately there was no diesel, petrol only. 😢I got on the highway and even though I was pressing as hard as I could on the gas, the speedometer only reached 40 km/hr. I was coasting in the right with my flashers on hoping and praying that I'd make it to the next gas station. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when we finally filled up. Now our road trip could really begin! We enjoyed the beauty of the mountains for the next three hours, and arrived in Korca ready for some fun.
Our apartment was super cute, with three rooms, five large beds and two pull out couches, which left more than enough sleeping space for nine. There was one heating/cooling unit in the main area, and a wood burning stove in one of the bedrooms. We popped one bottle for a champagne toast before heading out to see the city.
We walked to the brewery, Birra Korca, which was established in 1928 and is home to the first beer brewed in Albania. Unfortunately we missed the last brewery tour of the day, but were still able to snag a seat in a booth and sample some Albanian brews.
After, we walked to Find Four, a local restaurant with delicious house wine, yummy apps and munch-tastic mains. Everyone sang to me over dessert.
After, we taxied back to the apartment for games, games, games. We all congregated in the living room, pushed the couches and chairs together in a fort like type of way, and played jackboxtv and fishbowl. Later in the evening, the power went out, so we reverted to conjuring the dead with bloody mary and tried our fingers at light as a feather, stiff as a board. It gave us all a good laugh. Even though the apartment was colder than cold (one heater does nothing when the power's out and a wood burning stove tucked in the corner of a bedroom only radiates so much warmth!), we still had tons of fun. I fell asleep staring at the most gorgeous view of snow covered mountains in the distance.
On Sunday morning, after receiving an unexpected birthday gift from my colleagues, the apartment owner brought us a delicious breakfast of boiled eggs, petulas (fried dough with sugar or honey), byrek, cheese and fruit. We ate our fill and then we were off to the main square, where we enjoyed a coffee while basking in the sunshine. The nine of us said our goodbyes and parted ways to explore the town.
Mark and I stopped in a stone carver's studio and then continued on into a bell maker's shop. Both men were still working at their craft the same way men would have years and years ago.
After exploring the square, we continued on to see a mosque, greek orthodox church, and the first independent school ever built in Albania.
All our walking made us hungry, so we stopped at a local spot with chickens on the spit. The five of us got a whole chicken, french fries, tzatziki, salad and bread, in addition to drinks, for three dollars per person. Talk about a scrumptious, filling feast.
We were ready to head back, but not without stopping along the side of the road for some fresh homemade mountain tea and honey. A lovely old woman and her grandson talked with us and explained the differences between the raw honey and the refined honey. The refined honey looks like the golden ooey, gooey goodness that we see in the supermarket (her jars even came with the honeycombs in them), while the raw honey looks like a jar of crisco. The raw honey has all of the vitamins and nutrients however, so it's actually the most healthy for you. I decided to try the raw and have not been disappointed. It's delicious in oatmeal and tea, and on breads. The old woman and her grandson took us to see the bee hives and the chickens, and saw us off with tons of apples for the road. It was a wonderful afternoon and a great end to my birthday or so I thought...
On Monday I woke up to an apartment filled with birthday signs and a husband making breakfast. It took everything I had not to call in sick so that I could enjoy my breakfast in bed. I'm glad I didn't though, because at school the primary students and staff sang happy birthday to me in the cafeteria and gifted me with some delicious sweet treats and even a few birthday cards.
After school, Mark, Erin, Lindsey, Christian and I went to Kino, a movie theatre themed bar, for a cocktail. Mark and I continued on to HaBurger, a super delicious hamburger joint on the far side of town. I was blown away by their burgers and couldn't believe we hadn't been there before. Note to self: we will be back. I couldn't have asked for a better way to transition into my next decade, and am so thankful for the friends and family, near and far, who wished me well or celebrated with me in person. I can't wait to see what 30 brings!
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