Discovering Durres (again)

Do you travel?
When I have a look like this, it's clear that I'm headed somewhere 😀

The only question is whether the trip is for business or pleasure(vacation)?

Although, if work is involved, on any trip, I try to see something new, which I haven't had the opportunity to see so far.

How many times has it happened to you that while visiting a desired destination, with a notebook in your hand (or notes in your mobile phone), following the map, you arrived in front of an attraction that was not available at that moment?
It often happened to me and my companions.

So we went to Szeged on November 1 one year (Catholic All Saints' Day), when nothing was working in the city.
We saw nothing but empty streets 🙂
But in later years we visited Szeged several times, and made up for that one mistake.

A "Must see" item in the notebook directed us past the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, where we were to see the Fontana del Nettuno, also known as "Il Biancone" (The Great White) with its colossal white marble statue of Neptune.
We walked around the Piazza della Signoria square, but all we saw of the fountain were protective nets, because the fountain was under reconstruction 🤬

In Prague, I took my friends to show them the famous astronomical clock in the old square.
I expected that "Pražský orloj" plays its melody and we see the faces of Catholic priests in the small windows.
But no, when we approached the old town hall we noticed a protective film over the clock.
The clock was under reconstruction that year🤬

It was the summer of 2022.
We chose Albania and the town of Golem, not far from the city of Durrës, a port city rich in history, as our summer vacation destination.
We came to Durrës for a few days, after returning to the hotel from the beach.
For Durrës, we had a list of churches, mosques,, streets and squares that we wanted to visit, and one of the items was the Venetian Tower.
You guessed it 😂 and tower was in the reconstruction phase...

And that's why at the beginning of May, when I looked at the landscape through this round window and photographed the clouds and mountain peaks, I made a plan in my head, how to go around Durres again and finally see the tower that I didn't see three years ago.

It was a business trip, the six of us were a team that was sent to Tirana, and since our hotel (with a beautiful garden, which I described in this post), was very close to Durres, I persuaded my colleagues to walk to Durres after we finished work.

The first evening we arrived a little later and we didn't know where we were going to have dinner, but they agreed to walk around the center and look for restaurants.

I didn't know where there were good restaurants, but I knew where the main square was, the big mosque, the amphitheatre, some interesting details, which I remember from my previous visit, as well as the street leading to the sea.

And at the end of that street, a tower.
This time, the tower was exposed and I could see it. Unfortunately, I did not manage to enter it this time either, because the working hours were over.

At least I saw tower 😃

And on the second day of our stay in Tirana, colleagues who were delighted with Durres, wanted to take a walk along the seashore, which I gladly accepted.
From the tower, we headed towards the sea, passed by the monument to the participants of World War II, and went out on the promenade. I came across previously known statues of world rock stars, Tina Tarnett, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Mick Jagger.

When, while walking, we reached the large concrete rampart, the walk came to an end.

Colleagues went to a nearby restaurant, and I took advantage of the moment and went to that rampart, climbed it and enjoyed the fantastic view.

The sea was cold and not suitable for swimming, and I had no bathing equipment, even if I dared to enter the cold water, so we "shake hands" until the next opportunity.

Next to the ramparts I came across a statue of a fisherman with a fishing rod.
A real statue in front of the fish restaurant we chose for dinner.

I went up to the terrace of the restaurant and the view I would describe as "priceless" made our dinner even more fantastic.

There was fish on the menu, and we had the opportunity to choose which fish we wanted to prepare. I already wrote, there were six of us, "Prepare everything for us" 😀

Cheers!

After an excellent dinner, I suggested to my colleagues that I take them to a pastry shop, which I had not skipped on any of my previous walks. They agreed and did not show themselves. The cakes are still perfect.

And when we were done with the "sweet sin", we went through the remains of the fortress and one gate, passed another monument to the partisans with cannons and of course, again came across on the tower.

The mission I had, "To see something new", in addition to the tower, also included a concrete rampart with a phenomenal view, so my trip and visit to Durrës lived up to my expectations.
If I find myself in Durrës again, I'll have to try a little harder to find something new, but I'm sure the ancient city has more to offer...

Thank you for stopping by my post and I hope you enjoyed the photos and the story I shared with you

All photos are my property, taken with a mobile phone