Monday 27th May 2024 – Camping Farm Shelegure, North of Leskovik, Albania

 

Today’s journey was down the foothills of the Grammos Mountains on the Albanian side. But our first destination was only a few kilometres south of Korce – The Tumulus of Kamenica. This is a prehistoric site that was a burial ground used by a community that lived in the area between the 13^th and 6^th centuries BC. Although there is one central burial, the tumulus continued to be used over through the Bronze and Iron Ages until the tumulus had been enlarged to cover a huge area and hundreds of inhumations had been added.
As we arrived, a group of local school children was just leaving. A ‘Good Morning’ from me received a lovely ‘Good Morning’ reply – they were obviously learning English. We were greeted by a very enthusiastic guardian who ushered us into the building that served as a reception and mini-museum. He explained that his only English was ‘yes’ and ‘no’, something that he continued to repeat many times during the visit. He had obvious been drinking raki (it was about 10:30) and turned out to be totally over-enthusiastic. The exhibits in the room were very limited but there were a series of good information boards with photographs and English text. These would have been very informative had we had a chance to read them before we were grabbed by the arm and lead passed them with random gesticulations towards the Albanian text. We were lead outside and I was issued with a long stick – unmistakable sign language told us that this was to ward off snakes. He explained that we should stay on the short grass walkway above the excavated area. There wasn’t a lot to see here, just a few circles of stones were burials used to be, with the dramatic Grammos Mountains in the background. We were lead to a cherry tree in the grounds where the guardian picked handfuls of cherries that he handed to us, indicating that we must eat them – they were delicious. We were shepherded back into the building where he insisted that we wore some of the Bronze Age funereal arm bands and an ear ring, apparently for a man. It was quite a privilege to handle the ancient finds. We were accompanied to our van on the road and waved off. It would have been so much better to have been left to our own devices but then we wouldn’t have had the cherries or handled the jewellery.
We needed fuel before we headed south east but it was with some trepidation that I stopped at a garage run by Kastrati. To my great relief, we left with a full tank and I was still intact.
There was beautiful scenery on our drive south with the mountains on our left. The road was interesting at times – twisty, steep and in poor condition. They are building a new road and have obviously been doing so for some time. I don’t think that it will be finished any time soon but it will make travel from the north east to the south east much easier.
The only place of any size that we passed through was Erseke, a bustling market town serving a large rural area. Here was a large communist memorial and graveyard to the fallen, each grave bearing a red star.
We stopped at a small farm campsite, Camping Farm Shelegure, close to a small lake of the same name. This is a very rural area with no village in the area but the site has lovely views and, apparently, the lake is good for swimming. We pitched up facing a lovely view and our electric cable just managed to reach to the small sanitary block where I could plug into an electric socket.
The communist regime obviously thought that the farm was very important and needed to be defended as just across the road were two groups of three bunkers.
I was just starting to cook dinner when Jane said that she didn’t want any food. It soon became apparent that she was not well and rapidly went down with a stomach bug. I was feeling okay and went ahead with my dinner. That was a mistake as I also went down with the bug and we were both very sick. I can’t be sure but, given that we hadn’t eaten out anywhere, I suspect those unwashed cherries handed to us by, perhaps, an unwashed guardian.
To add to our woes, although we were beyond caring, they started asphalting the main road outside the campsite at about 21:00 and finished about 01:30.
Photos: Model of the Tumulus of Kamenica; The real thing; Jane standing next to a model of one of the women found buried in the tumulus; The war memorial in Erseke; And just a few of the graves by it, all showing the communist red star; Another communist era war memorial to those lost in defending the Grammos foothills from the Italians and Germans in WWII; Just one of the stunning views on our journey; A traffic jam en-route.