This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
A week-long coastal cruise in the Balkans gives a great insight into the region. When cruising dazzles…
At the port of Dubrovnik, Croatia, the MV The Beauty of the Adriatic looks great. The ship is white. It is tapered. It’s mostly small, and we’re happy about that, especially in a city that not so long ago suffered from overtourism. If it has since adopted a policy that limits to 4,000 the number of cruise passengers it welcomes simultaneously inside its ramparts, it is certainly not The beautiful which will blow up its quota: dedicated to maritime navigation, this boat from CroisiEurope, a big name in river cruising on the Old Continent, has a maximum capacity of 197 passengers.
In this week at the beginning of May, we will be 113 on board. Departing from the Dalmatian coast, we will sail in the Adriatic Sea to our most distant destination, the Greek island of Corfu, in the Ionian Sea, then we will turn back towards Dubrovnik, making three stops in Albania and one in Montenegro. In all, we will travel 468 nautical miles, or 866 km or the equivalent of a Montreal–Rivière-du-Loup round trip. Maritime microtourism in fashion slow, you say? Perfectly, a seven-day cruise in the Caribbean aboard an ocean liner that can cover two to three times that distance!
See or do?
You can’t see anything on a boat, that’s well known… “Oh no, that’s not true: they choose us precisely for the richness of our excursions! protests Axel Araszkiewicz, in charge of external relations for CroisiEurope.
These excursions are of two types. The classics focus on the major attractions, the dynamics offer bike rides or, as in this case, hikes – a desirable option if only because of the feasts we are served on board on a daily basis. ! The choice is difficult… The beauty of the panoramas makes you want to linger there on foot, but at the same time, the historical and cultural stature of the countries where we disembark is such that it piques curiosity.
Personally, I’d rather come back for the hike, because the intertwined destinies of Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia deliver a fascinating story that has nothing to envy to the Iron Throne, the HBO series that made the fortune of Dubrovnik. From site to site, and this is the interest of a stay focusing on a single region, we find the protagonists: the Ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Venetians, the Austro-Hungarians, the Ottomans or dictators, Enver Hoxha in Albania and Josip Tito in ex-Yugoslavia, Montenegro being the last territory to break away.
Precisely excluding the Ancient Greeks and company, tourism has been developing for less than a decade in Albania, which makes it a “new” destination. Agree, the coast of Saranda, the main resort of the country, is concreted. Yes, in Durrës, it feels like a pre-UNESCO Old Havana, unrestored. But the hinterland is stunning and the water in the creeks is green with envy.
Fig and bonhomie tart
On the way to the Apollonia archaeological park, we descend from the mountains (they make up 75% of Albanian territory) and cross a fertile valley with ageless olive groves. Between sea, lake and lagoon, Butrint National Park, one of the most beautiful archaeological sites in the Balkans, it is claimed, is a sight to behold. We explore the well-preserved remains of a city that was founded after the Trojan War by Hélénos and where Eugène Delacroix laid down his easel for a long time.
On the way to Tirana, the changing capital, we are rather able to assess the consequences of the harshest of European dictatorships in the second half of the 20th century.e century: a huge lag behind neighboring countries, in all respects. For Enver Hoxha, the founder of the Communist Party of Albania, what was written after Zola did not exist, and despite a fleet where the robust Mercedes, adapted to the terrain, is still very present, “we were the poorest [du bloc de l’Est], and we didn’t know it! said guide Poli Ikonomidhi.
Between two cultivated plots, here, the giant sign of a New York Hotel to be built, there, a concrete factory. Further on, a pseudo-castle and its pond, which is looking for a vocation. The urban anarchy of the cities has repercussions on the rural world. But now, at a bend in the road, a herd of sheep appears and on the horizon appears a cluster of Ottoman houses embedded in the mountains, which “redeem” these bits of landscape evoking the chaos of the Chinese countryside.
Sublime cities, Gjirokastër and Berat are proud of these traditional dwellings. With its many stones, Gjirokastër looks like a silver citadel, while Berat is nicknamed “the city of a thousand windows”.
On the heights of Mangalem, the district of Berat with its old streets, I find myself in the flowery courtyard of a grandmother. If I decline the slice of fig pie that she offers me spontaneously, I still taste this ingredient of tourism that the industry devalues by brandishing it to the wind, to the point where I hesitate even to write here: the authenticity of the welcome. Faleminderit, thank you, Marusha. I do believe we will meet again…
Our collaborator Carolyne Parent was the guest of CroisiEurope.