Berat, Albania

I woke up after 09:30, relaxed in bed for a while, eventually got up and shaved, showered, dressed, and made it outdoors at noon time. Originally, my plan was to visit a winery today, but the reviews I had read online were not very favorable, so I decided to go hiking instead. I walked to the start of a trail, near the hostel and Gorica Bridge, and followed it up the mountain slope. I walked through some woods and then out to a dirt road by rows of olive trees, fruit orchards, and farm fields. At this point, I lost the trail, but decided to just walk up to the high point of the western mount. At the top of this mount were ruins that supposedly date back to the Illyrians (I couldn’t find much on the internet to verify this, but what remains of the ruins are very large stone blocks built up as a wall, which means that this must be fairly ancient since no one uses stone blocks that size to build anything anymore – especially not in an inaccessible wooded area at the top of a mountain). I walked around the ruins and the top of the mountain, taking in views of Berat, before following the trail onward, now that I came across the white and red arrows marking the trail again. Unfortunately, the arrows were the only signs of a trail existing in this area and I didn’t feel like hiking through bushes, in my sandals. So, I walked back to the dirt road and followed that instead, but the road terminated at someone’s property. I then walked back and, at this point, two dogs that had barked at me before were now free of their owner’s disapproval (the owner had been working in the orchard, but he was gone, in to town), so they came after me. It was unlikely they were going to bite me, but just in case I pulled out my tripod, extended the legs, and threatened the dogs with it; I also threw large stones at them and yelled at them. The dogs continued to follow me and barked at me even after I was well out of the farmland and back in to the woods. I was planning on heading back in to town, but I figured I would stay and tease the dogs. I stopped walking, stood my ground, and watched them wear themselves out. One dog was becoming very exhausted and laid down, panting heavily; the other dog had more grit, but was also foaming at the mouth which caused some concern for me. My plan was to wait there until they became so worn out and dehydrated that they would leave back to where ever home is. But, lucky for all of us, the owner came back and chided his dogs. I was free to move about again and I did. I walked once more back to the ruins; then I followed the trail up to the dirt road I was on before; I decided not to continue on the trail up to the cellphone tower on the taller mountain and instead walked back in to town. Once I had made it back to Gorica, I crossed the Osum River to Mangalem and walked to a market to buy juice, wine, bruschetta pieces, and dates. I then returned to the hostel, relaxed, and typed out some journal entries whilst drinking juice and water, and eating dates. After 20:30, I walked back in to town and ate at the same restaurant I went to my first night in Berat; I had a beer and a pizza with mushrooms, ham, bacon, peppers, and onions. After dinner, I walked back to the hostel, grabbed my tripod and camera, and returned to the suspension footbridge to take some nighttime photographs of Mangalem. Once satisfied, I returned to the hostel to type out one last journal entry before going to sleep after midnight.