Ciao Roma!

November 1-4, 2018

Time got away from me while we were in Rome for our four day weekend so I didn't write a blog post, but we took some amazing photos and saw sights, sights and more sights. We really touristed hard, so I wanted to do a post through pictures. Here goes:

 waited in line outside this castle for an obnoxiously long time but... there were line beers AND American tourists in front of us who we chatted with so it wasn't so bad.

  mmmmm lunch. we stopped at a super tiny cafe and enjoyed a delicious homemade sammy and some gnocchi.

museums, museums, museums.

 shared a prayer with The Pope on Sunday. NBD.

 our adorable accommodation.

 Yes, I made all of those things. Mark and I did a fantastic cooking class and made so many delicious dishes!

 We went on a fabulous food tour where we tried tons of delicious dishes paired with wine.

Trevi Fountain. Make a wish and toss a coin over your shoulder.

Bye for now, Rome!

Buses, Buses, Buses to Berat

June 7-9, 2019

Mark and I left Friday afternoon for Berat, Albania, for a river rafting trip with friends. It consisted of me taking the orange TEG bus in order to get to the white Wilson bus where I met Mark. We boarded the white bus together but after 30 minutes of sitting in traffic got out and walked the rest of the way to Eagle Square. There we boarded the bus that would take us to Berat. After two hours, we transferred from the Tirana bus to the local city bus that dropped us about 5 minutes from our hotel. Woo. What a trip!

Needless to say we were ready for a cold one by the time we arrived so we hurried in to drop our stuff. We were staying with Callie and Andrew, who had arrived before us and had already checked in. Mark and I had a good laugh when we entered the room because the layout was as follows: 1 twin bed on the left side of the room, 1 twin bed on the right side of the room, and 1 double bed in between the two. Our group had booked the hotel solid so there weren't any other room configurations so this would have to do. Mark and I headed to meet Callie and Andrew along the main strip in Berat. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We sat outside and enjoyed beers and pizza while we joked about who would be sleeping in which beds. My personal favorite was Mark and Andrew sharing the middle bed so Callie and I could each have our own. We walked back to the hotel and climbed to the roof where there were a lot of tables and chairs stacked in the corner. A group of 12 of us unstacked them and had a few beers before heading to bed. The next morning we were up early so we could have breakfast on the terrace before being picked up by the rafting company. The 18 of us packed into a furgon and we were on our way. The roads through the mountains wound on and on and quite a few of us weren't feeling so hot. After about 2 hours of driving we finally arrived at the boat house. It was literally a small glass enclosure, big enough for gear storage and a few toilets. We were all hoarded inside and then given wetsuits, jackets to wear over the suits, and life vests to wear over the jackets. To top it all off we were each given a helmet.

Did
I mention it was 92 degrees Fahrenheit and there wasn't a cloud in the sky? There were definitely some murmurings regarding whether or not we HAD to wear this gear. Then, we all got back in the furgon, gear and all, to drive to the rapids. Thank god this ride was short or I think there would have been a few heat casualties. We exited the furgon and were so excited to see the water... but it was just a tease. We had to stand onshore to receive our rafting instructions and safety briefing.

 By the time we were finally allowed to get in the rafts we all took turns sitting on the edge dunking our heads under the water to cool off. Callie, Andrew, Mark, myself, Kevin and Szoey were in a boat together. Our guide was a huge albanian man who was very friendly. As we rowed he pointed out the beautiful scenery surrounding us and usually added funny names to it. I was a little nervous since I'd never been rafting before but this was a perfect intro. We were told that the rapids were a class 3 but many of the people who'd been rafting before said that these waves were tame in comparison to previous trips. I had a really enjoyable time and never once felt like I was going to fall out of the boat.

Berat River Rafting Video

After we paddled the 12km we had sandwiches and apples on the shore. Being onshore for 30 minutes after getting out of the boats was more than enough time for Mark to burn his shoulders. (We didn't put sunscreen on because our entire bodies were covered by the gear. Little did we know we'd be getting out onshore and shedding it all before heading back.) Once we arrived back at the small glass enclosure we grabbed our things and braced ourselves for our two hour ride back. All in all it was a great day and I really enjoyed my first rafting experience. Once we arrived back in town we bummed around a bit-- we cooled off with iced coffees and ice creams and then picked up some fruit to munch on. My sunglasses were bent beyond repair so I stopped for a new pair that Mark helped me fit to my face. After showering at the hotel we headed up to the roof where we played cards and dominoes with everyone before dinner. Mark, Callie, Andrew, Ian, Mira and I had made a reservation at Lilli's, a local restaurant that's received over 200 rave reviews. We definitely weren't disappointed. Lilli and his wife run the restaurant out of their home--- the 4 tables that they have are located on their back patio and surrounded by rock walls. Lilli takes all of the orders and delivers all of the food while his wife cooks. The menu is small but AMAZING. Everything is made from scratch. We ordered one of everything and weren't disappointed by a single dish. Even dishes we'd already tried didn't compare to the way that Lilli made his. He also brought us wine and raki which were both made by his father. I'm not a fan of raki but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. It was a truly lovely evening and I'm so glad we got to meet Lilli while spending time at his home and enjoying some of his wife's cuisine, that you could tell was made from the heart.

 Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast on the terrace before heading to the bus station for our long journey of buses back home. It was an awesome weekend away!

A Weekend in Tirana? Yes, Please!

May 31, 2019-June 2, 2019

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. 😋