Green Adventures Into Albania

06/05/2025

The Shëngjergji Festival, a traditional Albanian holiday, symbolizes the arrival of spring and the revival of nature.
The girls and women dress in colorful costumes of Shishtavec, gather flowers to decorate their doorsteps, expressing joy and welcoming the new season.
This ancient rite is not just a celebration, but a deep connection between man and nature, preserving and passing on cultural values ​​from generation to generation.

05 .May .2025


Source:
Shishtavec
Shishtaveci (Group)
Fshati Shishtavec

25/04/2025

Maligrad Island is one of the most valuable monuments of cultural heritage and a pearl in the middle of Lake Prespa.
It is located in Lake Prespa only 20 minutes by boat from the village of Pustec. Also known as the “Island of Snakes”, it has an area of ​​approximately 5 ha and is a small tectonic karst island, positioned 900 meters above sea level.

"Qyteti i Vogel" or Maligrad, or in ancient time Diomedes Island, has been populated since the Neolithic times, 7,000 BC.
The island represents a rich historical and archaeological area: a Neolithic settlement from around 7,000 BC, named Liqenas close to the village of Kallamas has been discovered, as well as an submerged settlement called Old Village near Kallamas which dates back from the bronze period; a roman road from the 2nd century BC that connected the Gorica e Vogel village with the area called Nabeli, and the Wall of Alexander III of Macedonia at the mountain passage Qafe Thane.
Not far from there, famous cave churches from the byzantine and the post-byzantine period are to be found, built in the period between the 12th and the 15th century, located on the shores of Prespa Lake.

To get to the “mystical” island of Maligrad, a rocky ridge that defies with its harshness of appearance, boats are needed. Every house in the village has its own boat, and fishermen here are found in large numbers fishing or weaving fishing nets.

When you see the island of Maligrad in the distance and try to approach it, you feel like you are approaching an enigma or a legend. The inhabitants talk about a "monster" that has been seen in the waters of this lake, that appeared and disappeared on moonlit nights, that so-and-so had seen it, that the BBC wrote and broadcast a report about this event... and full of other legends, but which have one truth, that Prespa continues to live on the ruins of a very early Pelasgian-Illyrian civilization.

22/04/2025

"When you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet."
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

24/03/2025

The remains of the ancient city of Triport are, for the most part, submerged in the waters near the modern port city of Vlorë. It was first discovered by archaeologists in the 1920s who documented Greek and/or Roman stone structures, including the beginnings of a large wall and a road. Surveys in the 1970s and 80s discovered an ancient fortress and its defensive walls. It was inhabited from the 6th c. B.C. to the 2nd A.D.

The structures were initially thought to be part of the supportive infrastructure of the port. Later investigations found that the large walls originally encircled the lower city. When sea levels rose, the port and lower city were submerged. Archaeologists have mapped about 12 acres of the site over the past century. This season divers found an additional eight acres of ancient structures under water.

The results suggest Triport was a harbour for a large settlement during the Roman period, perhaps associated with the ancient city of Aulon (now Vlora). Triport offered ships safe anchorage in both the sea and Narta Lagoon and connected to ancient cities like Aulon and Apollonia through major Roman roads.

Peter Campbell comments: “We found indicators of ancient sea level change, Greek and Roman trade (4th BC – 7th AD), and contemporary environmental data. But one of the most significant discoveries was the larger submerged remains – prompting us to rethink the importance of Triport as a Roman harbour.
“Albania has some of the most important waters in the Mediterranean. This coastline was vital for ancient trade, and it continues to be significant as the convergence zone for species from the Adriatic and Ionian seas.”

13/03/2025

Although pastoral and hunting cuisine are the foundations of Albanian cuisine, and not "japrak" or "fli" which come from Turkish cuisine, this article has captured a generation that gives a nostalgic nuance to Albanian gastronomy.

However, if someone has to refer to Albanian cuisine, should seriously consider the cuisine of Laberia, Cameria and the Araberesh regions of Southern Italy.

Albanian grannies are teaching multiple generations how to cook age-old dishes: https://bbc.in/43B4EvG

13/01/2025

The snow in Pogradec has another level of beauty

09/10/2024

The Food as a story telling of the Territory!

In opposition to a market that tends to standardize products, the typical local product intercepts some cultural needs of the consumer, introducing references to community values ​​and closeness to nature.

The possibility of transferring the local product to a global market requires a strengthening of the "mythological" dimension of the product and, above all, of its character as a "cultural product", characteristics that are not lacking in the territory of Pogradec.

With over 30 traditional products Pogradec area, was part of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, the most important international event dedicated to good, clean and fair food to promote, conserve and proudly distribute the values ​​of the products of this area which has so much need.

In these 5 days of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, people were able to wander the streets of an unknown city, surrounded by the enveloping scents that wafted from the kitchens and local markets. Every aroma, every flavor told a unique story: you could sense the fisherman returning with his freshly caught, the farmer carefully picking the vegetables from the garden and the grandmother masterfully preparing the traditional desserts.
These were not simply narratives of everyday life, but real invocations to explore, savor and fully experience the experience of a journey through the local flavors and traditions of the Pogradec area.
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GAIA through its active and continuous commitment in various projects for the development of the territory, has tried to improve the state of life of these realities through real interventions.

- Transforming their environment from a rural family farm into a real agritourism.
- Involving them in different training programs such as hospitality, heritage and tradition conservation, albanian gastronomy, hygiene, management, marketing ecc.
- Creating the brand and the image of these realities.
- Advertising them on the most famous international platforms and magazines, using different marketing channels, has meant that these realities were also known overseas.

04/08/2024

THE LEGEND OF THE STONE PILLAR AND THE CANDLE WICK

One of the oldest legends of Qeparo has it that the original village was established on its present-day site no less than 500 years ago. In this legend, the founding tribes of the village were the families of Mertokaj, Gjinobogdan, and Rreza, who previously lived in the surrounding hills. One day, a shepherd from the family of Gjon Kondi was herding in the forest. Suddenly a stone pillar appeared before him, in whose vault an icon was wedged. Intrigued, Gjon pushed deeper into the forest where he discovered a candle wick hung on the branches of a large oak. Upon returning home, the shepherd told his fellow villagers the miracle and explained to them that this must be a sign that the place was holy and desirable to build upon. Agreeing, the families dispersed in the hills came together and built their homes in this place, thus establishing Qeparo village

The village of Old Qeparo, up in mountain, 430 m above sea level, impresses with the stunning beauty, the harmony with the terrain and the stone houses with their typical traditional architecture, as in other coastal villages. It is very well preserved, in spite of the fact that a number of historic houses are being abandoned.

The Old Qiparo or Qeparo castle has very reduced number of inhabitants, 450- 500 and including the residents of Qeparo Field (Fushe) there are approximately 2000 inhabitants.

14/03/2024

Happy March 14th, best known as "Dita and Verës" but the origins celebrate Diana, the goddess of forests, greenery and nature.

19/02/2024

The castle gate is closed, but that's not a problem. For what is needed the gate when the wall has collapsed?!
"Once upon a time, during communism, this "room" created inside the castle wall served as a carpentry workshop for the cooperative", says Haxhi Hoxha, an old carpenter from Ishem.
It seems like a quiet place! The tourists seem as distant as the Ottomans. They built the castle in the second half of the century XVI. A Turkish military garrison of 410 soldiers was placed in it, with the aim of keeping peasant movements and smuggling with Venice under control.
The tower of the Old Castle of Ishem has collapsed, a sign that the invaders have been gone for centuries.
While we "study" the pe*******on inside the castle, a personality with the title of "Honor of the Nation", who rests in his hometown, the famous European painter Ibrahim Kodra, seems to wish us well for coming to this place.

The road to "Gjiri i Lalzit" encourages tourists to go to that part of the coast, with abundant sand and clear sea.
But we didn't choose to follow the itinerary of sea-thirsty tourists.
We continue along the road that leads to the village of Ishêm, which seems to have fanatically preserved pristine and wooded hills.
With the view from the towns emerging from the pines of Lalzi Bay, the road begins to thin out. The asphalt resembles cobblestones and passes through the dense forest. It seems like we have entered ancient paths.
On the hills stand the centuries-old houses of the village "Lalëz", shadowy and lifeless within their walls. After a few sharp bends, the road winds between the Ishmi bazaar and a long wall follows us.
If Haxhiu didn't explain it to us, we would think that the people here had begun to mourn the abandonment of the fortress in complete oblivion.
On its stones were cups of coffee. “For goodnight here, residents take a cup of olive oil, put cotton or cloth on it, and light it for the souls of their deceased relatives,” Haxhiu tells us.
The narrative merit Geri Emiri

For the lost civilization tour 👉 [email protected]

16/02/2024