19th September Hoshteve to Sheper

Saturday 19th September Hoshteve to Sheper 12.5 km

Woke up nice and early, about 6:15 and had another delicious breakfast, packed our lunches and said our goodbyes. Photo of Cimi, Katherina and Patrick. Katherina  has a lovely garden.

Me, Katherina and Cimi.

We headed off about 8 am. After walking through the village and past the locals moving their flocks, we walked along the gravel road for the first hour.

Leaving the village of Hoshteve. Easy walking today.

A spring to refill our water bottles 

We stopped at 9:15 for a break near another lovely spring, there is a leaf perfectly placed to make the water flow over the carved stone bowl.

A perfect spot for contemplation...

A derelict communist era building in Nivan

There seem to be quite a few buildings and constructions that aren't used any more.. When we ask what they're for, or why they're not used there's usually an expressive shrug and the answer of "communist time" ...

We walk through the villages of Vathuq, Koncka, Nivan 

At Nivan, there is a the local Komune, military buildings and church. 

Military bunker below 

There's a memorial to partisans who were killed during the Second World War, it sounds as though they were executed in reprisals. 

There's a memorial to a British mountaineer, William Tillman, who helped the partisans and the resistance fight against the Germans who occupied Albania during WW2

The church in Nivan is in a poor state, the roof is collapsing, I'm glad we saw it now, not sure how much longer it will remain even partially intact with the roof collapsing. 

It looks as though there were originally frescos, but they're not really visible now.

Lovely carvings in the stone on the doorway, alpha & zeta ( I think) on the top, the sun symbolised.

We continue down hill and look at an old Monastery,

 it was quite large prior to communism, some sections of frescos still visible inside the church, the last of the monastery buildings still standing.

 all these old churches and religious buildings were not able to be used during the communist era, so fell into disrepair, and some churches and mosques were actively destroyed as during the "no religion" time. 

Fortunately the church in Hoshteve was classed as a "National Monument" even in the Communist era, so was saved from destruction.

Now we've seen the state of these churches further along the Zagoria valley, it seems miraculous that the church at Hosteve is in such good condition!

More wild fruits to taste!

We stop for lunch at 11:45 at another old Ali Pasha ottoman bridge over the Zagoria river, this one is so shady and picturesque, it isn't really used any more as there is a road not too far away.

I can picture the people walking and riding donkeys and horses over here the last couple of hundred years... Carrying produce from village to village.

Patrick is trying to listen to the football final in Australia, Sharks Vs Cowboys. The radio streaming isn't very successful though...

We walked back up the slight hill of a meadow towards Sheper. 

These trees are used to collect fodder for sheep and goats during winter - the fodder is the brown leaves stacked against the trunks and held in place with timber poles, out of reach from nibbling sheep until needed.

Stopped off in Sherper to chat with some locals harvesting walnuts, their hands go black with the walnut stain. They've harvested 30 kg so far this afternoon. Everyone is so generous and interested to chat, they also gave us a bunch of sweet white grapes straight from the vine, warm and sweet from the sunshine.

A friendly face amidst the walnuts and grape vines ! 

arrived at our guesthouse at 1:20.  Uje - water!  "Ooya" water! it's hot again today, over 30 deg. "Vape" 

The entrance of the house is absolutely covered in fabulous grapevines!

Vape = hot , only the sun, not coffee for example...

Tonight we stay in the guesthouse of an Aroman / Villach nomadic shepherd family . There are four generations living in the house!

Great grandmother, 80 years old, mother- Dhespina,  daughter in law Evjenia nita, husband (son and current shepherd- Stavri's) and the youngest, 4 year old son -great grandson. A couple of the men in the family work in Greece in the construction industry, Stavris has taken on the role of shepherd looking after the family's 150 milking sheep.

After a shower and rest, Patrick kept on having a snooze, I walked with Cimi and Evjenia nita,  daughter in Law .. Down to their vegetable garden and their sheep yards.

The irrigation canal to the right of Cimi and Evjenia nita is another example of communist time construction. It's not used any more, not sure if it was never really functional or locals just chose not to continue to use it...

A couple of cute lambs in the shed.

Cimi's favourite 😊

Can see and hear the bells of the flock of sheep heading home in the distance.

The family has 150 sheep, 2 of them milk all the sheep each morning, it takes about 1 1/2 hours. Not much milk at the moment, usually lots of milk in April.

Evjenia nita in their vegetable garden.

When we walk back up to the house, I'm invited for a coffee and chat with the neighbours. I'm really trying to get my head around Po - yes with a gentle head shake (more of a head waggle) and Jo (yo) - no with a head nod! Often the heads are gently shaking, and it means yes! The iPad and photos of our walk are a great way to cross the language barrier! The elder neighbour was a shepherd and has been to the places we've walked during his shepherd years. I also created a "home" album with photos and maps from home to explain where we live, our family and Australia 

Dinner always seems to be eaten after the sun goes down, so around 7:45 pm.

2 Summer kitchens, love all the onions!

Green peppers

Outdoor fireplace kitchen, with potatoes and lamb cooking in the pot. Coals underneath and on top keep food cooking evenly.

Dinner is another feast of local produce! Green peppers, tomato salad, cheese, yoghurt, lamb, potatoes, bread.All the cheese and yoghurt is from sheep's milk. Not at all strong tasting, very nice. A bit of Raki too... 😉

After dinner we sit in the cool and chat, with the assistance of Cimi and google translate! I ask Evjenia nita how she met her husband and what village she came from. Such an interesting conversation!

Evjenia nita - came from a village near Saranda on the coast, the Village of Delvin.

Her and Stavri's marriage was arranged. Her family knew Stavri's  family, ( her husband, where we are staying with Stavri's grandmother, mother, his wife and 4 year old son. His brother is also home from working in Greece at the moment) the families introduced them to each other, and they liked each other and married 6 years ago. If they decided after they were introduced that they didn't like each other, there was no obligation to marry. We looked at some photos of the wedding, at the local Sheper church, and at Saranda! Beautiful photos. I think it would be very daunting to marry and move into a new family environment and home!

But the extended family all seem happy and appear to,get along well.

Good night, tomorrow is our last day walking in the Zagoria Valley... I'll be sad to end this adventure.

Walking from Limar to Hoshteve Friday 18th Sept

Walking from Limar to Hoshteve

Friday 18th Sept

14.5 km

Slept like a log last night! Woke up about 6:45 am, to the music of goats, cows  and sheep bells as they walk to their pasture. temperature nice and cool this morning

Left after delicious breakfast of fresh bread, jams, cheese and what looks a little like donuts, but not sugary. 

We make up a pack of goodies for our picnic lunch. 

Saying goodbye to Mani and Margaruite

Started our walk about 8:30 am, stopped off at the Limar school, just after we left, it's a very small , quite bare schoolroom. 3 students had arrived out of the 5, a few desks and one quite rough blackboard seem to consist of the equipment. Didn't see much in the way of books or reading materials. There was maths work on the board, Mani and I discovered that the Albanians use different mathematics symbols..

Walked onwards - "ikim" not sure if that's how it's spelt.

Views down the Zagoria Valley

Past a couple of pretty shady springs, and met up with an elderly lady and her nephew harvesting fruit - they look and taste like small ripe pears with brown flesh.. 

She has 10 children, none of them live locally any more, she was happy to have a chat and have her photograph taken.

Lots of interesting and unique fruits around here. Wild grapevines, rose hips, herbs, walnuts.... For me, a foragers delight! And Cimi is great at stopping and pointing wild fruits, herbs and nuts out and picking them for us to taste.

Very hot again today, over 30 deg.

Walked with a Shepherd and his flock of sheep, plus one friendly goat! 

I love walking in the shady forest sections 

Walked through their village of Doshnica Once again, many of the houses uninhabited.

Stopped at 12:00 for lunch on a shady spot near a dry creek bed. So quiet and peaceful.

Walked past another Ottoman bridge, can see Hoshteve in the distance up the hill

Arrived Hoshtev bar 1:50 pm. The last section up hill, but not as hard, hot or exposed as yesterday

We drank a few cool waters, ooja , Cimi had a coffee!

The bar owner Katharina phoned to have the church opened.

A young man came to the bar with a huge old key!

 Took him a few minutes to open the church... Church of Saint Pietre and Paolo ( Peter and Paul) 

The doorway is apparently carved from a single piece of stone!

Words cannot express the amazement at what's inside this small village church of Hoshteve. 

The frescos, painting, icons and artwork are stunning! It was very dark inside, the flash of the camera reveals the depth of colour and detail.

I couldn't find out who painted the frescos 

Almost every surface is embellished and painted 

Cimi said it was started in 1800 and finished in 1816 , unfortunately, some of the frescos are deteriorating and flaking off, and there is some graffiti.

After taking some time to admire  the frescos of the lovely church, we continue on "ikim" up through the village to our hosts at the guest house tonight , who also own the little bar near the church.

Views over the Zagoria valley from the guesthouse at Hoshteve. Another lovely, welcoming home!

Picking walnuts fresh from the tree! So different from what we get at home. Delicious!

Katherina gathering some produce from her garden.

So many different tomatoes!

Beans, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini , figs, nuts, peaches...

Katherina's garden is another inspirational garden!

Beautiful productive gardens provide the ingredients for a delicious dinner! Soup, byreck, cheeses, salads. And for dessert, home made creme caramel! 

Here's another guest blog from Patrick...

Well its close to a week  in Albania now and there is definitely a different culture here. 
Not to say is bad or good - just different. Having only escaped from communism less than 30 years ago most of the explanations we are getting has an "after communism" element to it. 
The generation about our age has had both. You can see sometimes in the eyes of the elderly and often in the lines on their faces that the communism years were not so good. 
There is though a strong willingness to cooperate with each other. This can be evidenced by the way that traffic seems to flow in the most haphazard way with very little road rage. Cars, pushbikes, buses, trucks and pedestrians can all head into a roundabout in what to my eyes is destined for pain, however they each escape in the direction they desired, maybe with a little serve or two required. 
This cooperation is even stronger in the mountain villages we are currently travelling in. As we meet shepherds in the hills with their flock it is obligatory to stop, chat and share some of the local growing produce including a variety of very old world peaches, plums and other fruits we still are trying to work out what they are. One has been described to me by our guide Cimi as being good for the stomach on first eating and the later in the day made international sign language that it improves the passing of wind. 
It's been two days of hiking in about 35 degrees on rocky hills. Sweat drips from everywhere. Thank goodness I've got my bamboo undies. "You and Bamboo" another plug for this great product. The sun is belting against the rocks and bouncing back at us about ten degrees hotter. 
Of course each destination so far has been pointed out by Cimi as that one - about one hour. It's only 1km away but at the top of the damn rocky hill. 
When we get there it's boots off and a welcome cup of mountain tea with some sweet treats and the obligatory glass of raki. After a couple of these the pain of the climb is numbed. Then into the shower to get the sweat rinsed away. Hang out some clothes and the relax in the arvo checking out vege gardens and looking at all the rock buildings and garden walls. Projects pop up into Anita and my head about where we could build something that we have seen. 
More rocks required.

Thanks Patrick!

Goodnight all :) more adventures tomorrow!