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Saranda, Albania


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A recent discussion here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2512834&highlight=Saranda

 

Until recently Sarande was on relatively few itineraries. Now it provides a convenient "outside EU" port for some cruises. The best bet for my interests was visiting Butrint, a Roman/Byzantine site as described in the above thread.

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We have just booked on the Oosterdam for a 12 night cruise that includes a port stop in Saranda.

 

Any HAL cruisers have experience with this port?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I have not been to Saranda, but we made a port call at the Albanian port of Durres recently. We took a tour to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Berat: A City of a Thousand Windows. Our guide, Dr. Ols Lafe, was one of the most knowledgeable and interesting guides that we ever had on any shore excursion. Dr. Lafe is an Archaeologist and has served as the Director of Cultural Heritage and President of the Republic Advisor on Cultural Heritage for the Albanian government. He was recently named as Dean of Archaeology for the University of Tirana in Albania. He works part time as a national tour guide and lecturer. I highly recommend this gentleman. I suggest contacting him regarding tours from the port of Saranda. His email address is olslafe@gmail.com and his telephone number is +355 662016160

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Just as a note to the above, Tirana is more than 5 hours by car from Saranda, so I'm not sure a guide would be willing to travel that far (but who knows?).

 

Yes, you are correct. Dr. Lafe would not travel to Saranda, however, he was responsible for issuing license to private guides as part of his government service, so he knows most of the guides in the country and provide suggestions for places to visit at any of the Albanian ports.

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We were in Sarande this summer with Cunard, as a replacement stop for Turkey.

WE liked it and had a lovely time.

Our table mate's hated it.

Both parties used ship organised tours. Convenient and not expensive.

We did a "Butrint national park tour". Nice. A bit like "Ephesus lite". Lovely castle on a hill at the end. Plenty of time to enjoy the quite pleasant town afterwards. A good, long stretch of clean looking beach with loads of restaurants, bars, cafes and a strip joint or two. Basically catering for the whole family...

A few non aggressive beggars along the promenade.

Our table mate's bird watching tour was apparently a disaster, with nothing to watch and a desperate guide pointing out pigeons and sea gulls.

"Knowing " Albania only from their soccer team slaughtering Austria (but who isn't) and watching Liam Neeson movies I was expecting drug dealers and child sex slaves on every corner and was considering packing my Glock, but turns out Serande was pleasantly sleepy and only slightly louche.

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Some people have preconceived notions about Albania that date to the communist era. Until 1990, after the fall of Communism in Albania, the country was one of the world's most isolated and controlled countries, and installation and maintenance of a modern system of international and domestic telecommunications was precluded. Callers previously needed operator assistance even to make domestic long-distance calls.

 

Following the collapse of the communist regime in Albania, the transportation has undergone significant changes in the past two decades, vastly modernizing the country's infrastructure. Improvements to the road infrastructure, urban transport, and air travel have all led to a vast improvement in transportation. Internet in Albania is fast and inexpensive incomparison to the rest of Europe. The transition from a socialist planned economy to a capitalist mixed economy has been largely successful.

 

Albania has a developing mixed economy that is classed as a upper-middle income economy by the World Bank. With 14.7% in 2016, Albania has the 4th lowest unemployment rate in the Balkans. The busiest and largest seaport in Albania is the Port of Durres. As of 2014, the port ranks as one of the largest passenger ports on the Adriatic Sea, with annual passenger volume of approximately 1.5 million.

 

Despite its small size, Albania is dominated by mountainous or high terrain, with a wide variety of natural features including valleys, plains, canyons and caves. The climate on the coasts is typically Mediterranean, while in the highlands it is Continental. In both the western lowlands and the inner highlands, the weather varies from north to south. The lowlands have mild winters, averaging about 7°C (45 °F), while summer temperatures average 24 °C (75 °F). Inland conditions vary depending on elevation, but the higher areas above 1,524 meters (5,000feet) in the northern and central highlands are rather cold and frequently snowy in winter; here cold conditions with snow may linger into spring.

 

Due to itslong history, Albania is home to many valuable cultural and historical landmarks. From the classical to the modern period, major cities in the country have evolved from within the castle to include dwellings, religious, and commercial structures, with constant redesigning of town squares and evolution of building techniques.

 

I predict that tourism will continue to increase as more people discover some of the interesting sites that Albania has to offer cruise passengers. A shore excursion to Berat from the Port of Durres is wonderful.

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  • 8 months later...

I wanted to update an earlier post about shore excursions in Albania. I received the following message from a guide we used there a couple of years ago, who wanted to update me on additional excursions that he now offers. I continue to highly recommend his services.

 

Here is the information:

 

Dear Ron,

Just wanted to say hi. Wish you are all doing well!

On a side note, I have been receiving growing interest from clients reading your comments on Cruise Criticand have been tailoring tours for them in Saranda lately (Oosterdam and MSCPoesia use it as a port of call).

Saranda seems to be receiving a large number of visitors and I have been now more often organizing tailor-made tours at Butrint and Gjirokaster both UNESCO sites. Some clients prefer to spend time by the beach area of Ksamil near Butrint, thus countless of possibilities to get to know southern Albania!

Thank you again forposting these nice comments on Albania and the video on Berat.

My best regards,

Ols

Dr. Ols Lafe

Archaeologist

National Tour Guide

Mobile. +355 67 6303000

Email. olslafe@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Our family just returned from a cruise on the HAL Oosterdam, which included a stop in Sarande. I found an excellent guide, Edvin X, through Tours by Locals. We chose to visit Butrint and Lëkurësi Castle, but I also mentioned to Edi that we really enjoy meeting locals to learn more about their customs and culture. Based on my request, he arranged a visit to his grandma’s house in the countryside and it was one of the highlights of our entire trip. We enjoyed food, drink and conversation with his lovely family and I’m certain that no one else on our ship learned more about Albania than we did. Edvin’s English is excellent, our van was clean (and cool!) and he was a wonderful host. Don’t make the mistake of booking the ship’s tour or skipping a tour entirely to walk along the Sarande waterfront; if you’re only going to spend one day of your life in Albania, spend it with Edi. He can be reached through Tours by Locals at: https://www.toursbylocals.com/SarandeTours

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