RADHIME
On the border of the Ionian and Adriatic seas
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Albania's main airport is located in the capital, Tirana. It is here that the "air gates" pass through which we arrived to discover a new country. It takes three hours to get from the airport by car to the village on the coast, where we planned to stay. We did not fully understand how it is correctly called Radim or Radima (in Albanian it is written as Radhime). All three hours of the journey, our bus was overwhelmed by a powerful downpour and we were very puzzled by this weather, on a seemingly resort coast. We arrived at the hotel after dark. And having woken up in the morning, they did not even recognize the rainy and dull evening Albania. Going out onto the balcony, we saw the most pleasant picture for the eye: sun, mountains and sea. What kind of sea appeared before us is not precisely established, since the Ionian and Adriatic seas meet in these parts. Therefore, decide for yourself which sea you see in the next photo ;-)
What should you do first when you find yourself in a sunny and sea country? Yes, of course, run to the beach. We did just that. The water was warm, clean, only boulders of different sizes were not very familiar to us for walking barefoot. We began to get used to such a beach cover, somewhere on the third day of the trip.
First impression of Albania: this country is like a hostess who put things in order in the house before the arrival of guests. Lots of newly built hotels and hostels, cafes and restaurants, a huge number of equipped beaches with umbrellas and sun loungers. And at the same time - almost complete absence of tourists. Judging by the active preparation, hardworking Albanians are absolutely sure that foreign guests will soon arrive here. An important marker for us was the presence of trash cans EVERYWHERE, on the streets, by the road, near the beaches. Thanks to this, the tourist does not have to look for a long time, where to put the used napkin and the garbage thrown on the ground, we practically did not see there.
You can see even more photos of Albanian beaches on our Instagram , come in, subscribe, we will be very happy. Besides the sea, Albania pleases the eye with its mountains. Many of them show olive groves.
The local currency is called Lek and for convenience is pegged to 1 American cent. Total: a 100 lek bill is equal to 1 dollar. If you look for exchange offices in large cities, you can exchange at a more favorable rate of 1 dollar for 107 leks. The shops and cafes freely accept leks, dollars and euros. And the leks look like this:
How to spend your freshly exchanged local currency? The unequivocal answer is food! Seafood unsurpassed in its freshness, titled beer "Korcha", tomatoes with taste "I ate such only in childhood" and the leader of preferences is the local kefir "Kos". Everything is delicious! And the seafood on the coast is so high quality that in the restaurants there is even a special dish called "CRUDO" from seafood: RAW octopus, shrimp, squid and fish are served in a light sauce to the table. The first time we were afraid of such food, you never know what. Even in the north, where they eat stroganina , they serve it deeply frozen, but here it is just fresh ... But we took a chance and did not regret it. We highly recommend trying this dish when you are in Albania.
Towards evening, walking along the beaches of Radim, we met the bride, who was being led to the wedding by three little angels in white dresses. We stopped and filmed a little of this action.
Imagine, it's romantic when the ritual takes place at sunset by the sea. The clouds turn pink under the rays of the setting sun, and the guests have already gathered in a restaurant on the pier in anticipation of the holiday.
We even filmed the solemn passage of the bride. See for yourself how it was.
The second attraction of the coast of Albania after the "fantastic food" for us was the sunsets. In terms of variety and brightness, they are practically not inferior to the famous sunsets in Goa .
Sometimes, the evening sun creates, together with the clouds, various images of animals and plants. Here, for example, a vivid example of a cloud rat rolling down a slope into the sea ;-)
Describing Albanian sunsets it is difficult to stop, so here are three more stages of the sun gradually sinking into the Ionian-Adriatic Sea.
The next morning we went on foot to explore the coast in the direction of Saranda and almost reached the city of Orikum.
On the way, we saw beaches, yacht moorings and even an ancient deep mine, and it turned out to be a pointer to the fish market, which was very popular with passers-by and passing by. The peculiarity of this market was that any marine life was prepared right in front of customers and we did not deny ourselves the pleasure of having a snack.
At the market we chose some kind of fish and squid, which they immediately fried for us, and also took oysters. I don't particularly like to eat sea "reptiles", the exception is mussel pilaf in shells, as it is served on the embankment of Istanbul . And, therefore, I somehow never tasted oysters. We have corrected this gap here in Radim. The cost of a washed and peeled oyster with lemon ranges from $ 1 to $ 2 apiece, depending on the size. Having tasted this delicacy, I can safely repeat: I don't particularly like to eat sea "reptiles" ;-) Under a tree, near the market, we saw how the remains of huge fish were dried. Why this was done was not clear, but two-meter skeletons on a tree looked like the scenery of a horror movie.
The weather made us happy for the rest of the days. In the bright sun, the sea played with colors from blue to bright blue and azure. A classic photo of feet by the sea, only emphasizes the surrounding beauty ;-)
Swimming in these waters gives the impression that you are immersed in a saline solution. After leaving the water, you can feel a light salt crust ;-) The sea is really very saturated with salt and minerals, and this has a positive effect on the air in which these minerals simply soar. It is easy and pleasant to breathe here. Perhaps the sea was called the Ionian because of the large amount of ions in the air? (this is my simplified version of the origin of this name) ;-)
In the next photo, the grandfather in the national Albanian dress (the one on the left ;-)
He invited us to a small restaurant where lamb was roasted on two spits. We went in, tried it and you do the same. It turns out that the ram roasted on a spit is one of the national dishes that must be tried in Albania.
Albania turned out to be a beautiful pearl hidden from the eyes of travelers. A couple of years ago, almost closed and inaccessible, today it has turned into a wonderful tourist corner, where it is beautiful, calm and very tasty.
