The Balkan Diaries Part Three: Gjirokaster

We arrived in Gjirokaster with a thump and a bang, and tired as. The government is building a new road from Tirana (the capital) to Gjirokaster as you’re reading this, but it’s still a work in progress, and on our trip down it was pretty rough (which also could have had something to do with the rickety old bus we rode in!). Gjirokaster is Albania’s 4^th largest city, and is divided into a beautiful old city, and a much less beautiful new city. 

We were lucky enough to catch up with a former Peace Corps volunteer by the name of Chris who put us up for our stay in his soon to be vegan restaurant/shisha bar. Chris purchased the house in the old city after he’d finished his volunteering in 2010, though to call it a house at that point would probably have been a bit generous. To be more accurate, it was a large pile of stone walls and rubble with half a roof on, which Chris (with a lot of hard work!) has turned into a cosy space, with great lighting and beautiful wooden floors.

This will soon be the door to the finest vegan restaurant/shisha bar in Albania!

Girokaster’s old city is beautiful by night. If you find this small intersection on your wanderings, make sure you stop for a pizza! There’s a small joint on the left hand side (coming up from the new city) that doesn’t look like much, but the owner whipped us up the best vegetarian pizza I’ve ever had in my life. And that includes pizza in Italy. To this day I’ve still no idea what was on it, but the combination of flavours was so good that I’m getting hungry just writing about it!

If you can see this, turn around! You're standing in front of the best pizza in town!