Hiking and eating near Remote Theth in Northern Albania's Balkan Mountains

 

Hiking

The Cave Walk Opposite the hotel

Our group went there for hiking. The manager helpfully led out group up to a cave which you can see from the hotel. The path is not marked and some got lost on the way down. The girls gave up and came back. They were scared as the path was not marked.

I turned back even earlier. I managed to find my way down. I kept going downhill, through gaps. Until one point where the path diverged. I tried left, but the beaten down part stopped after about five steps. Maybe they had tried that route and changed their mind. I tried the other right hand path, following where the long grass had been beaten down by ten pairs of feet.  My friend later, back at the hotel, said, 'look at the direction the beaten down grass is pointing'. 

With lack of phone coverage, it was a bit scary to be lost, and alone, on the hillside.  The best bit was when I heard traffic. Then I knew I was back at the road, and the hotel was right opposite.

The Bridge and Riverside Walk

There is one easy walk.   From 'the bridge' where you see a couple of restaurants. You can walk along ground level (albeit over lots of gravel and stones) alongside the tumbling waters of the rivulet. For some reason our group went across the fields via a pretty church. When it started raining, I turned back.

The Bridge Restaurants

Service was slow, sometimes completely absent in the small supermarket which sold mostly food and drink and a couple of cleaning items. The attendant disappeared when there was a power cut and the generator went off. 

The bigger restaurant on the right had a ring of dark water on two sides, containing live fish, presumably a mini fish farm from which we ate fresh fish  The meat which others ordered was tough, they said, and I agreed, three of us agreed.  The fish had a strange taste.

The other restaurant served pizza, which seemed the best option, although not local. The good thing was you could sit and wait for your friends, nobody hassling you to order food and drink.  The pizza place had no desserts.

The mini-supermarket shop had ice cream lollies on sticks from major manufacturers.

Some of the group, mainly men who were tall, fit, regular hikers throughout the year, did more strenuous hikes, for longer hours, such as five or six hours rather than 2 to four in total.

The Mountaintop Restaurant and Meadow Walk

Another 'easier' hike was up from the hotel's sister restaurant. They took us their on the hotel bus in the evening. 

The next day, I went with the group on the hike from this restaurant uphill, then across the meadow. I gave up half way uphill. 

But I walked around the pond below. You could sit comfortably in the restaurant to wait. Every now and then, a cloud or mist comes up obscuring everything.