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We decided to go visit Lezha [Lezhë], and find a hike to the mountains, in order to find a nice panoramic view of the area. We started to walk, like yesterday, along the main road to the city, but Kamel quickly insisted on hitchhiking. And it worked pretty fast!

We got taken by a guy from Kosovo, who had worked in Germany, and Kamel managed to have a conversation with him with a translator. He dropped us downtown, where we started our walk, near the old Skanderbeg Mausoleum.

Skanderbeg is a national hero of Albania, and is actually buried here, in the small town of Lezha. The remains of the old Byzantine church can be visited, and are protected by a modern roof. After that we climbed up, up the moutain, until we finally reached the castle; or rather, what little remains of it.

But what a view! Oh boy, a full 360 ° panorama of all the surroundings, from the mountains in the East, to the sea and the laguna and wetlands in the West, and the valley spreading North to South. It was Kamel who had all this idea, and who pushed me to climb and hitchhike and so on. I wouldn’t have done all that alone. Maybe it’s the length of the trip, but I start to lack energy and becoming lazy. So that’s another great reminder that having a friend with me really pushes the adventure forward. Who knos how much I missed because I was alone?

We picknicked in the castle, however, the field of grasses we crossed ended up not being very nice to me, and finally triggered my first serious alergy crisis of the year. So far I was lucky, probably because I was in Central and Eastern Europe, far from whatever plant species I am allergic too, but now it’s catching up since a few days.

We climbed back down, and soon hitchhiked our way back to the appartment. Again, it didn’t take too long before a friendly guy took us, and drop us in front of the airbnb. Lovely people!

Later, we went for a walk on the beach. It would have been nice, but our mood got quite ruined by the disgusting amount of trash all over the beach. It’s supposed to be a nature reserve just South of here… At least we saw a beautiful sunset, with the sky passing from azure to a sweet amber, before darkening inexorably into a starry night.

We walked 17 km again today… I’m gonna need a rest soon!