We drove back to the Vjosa valley, following the river
through more beautiful scenery before we turned off to climb into the hills.
The major road in the valley was wide and in good condition and we made good
progress but now the roads were narrow and the surface deteriorated. We drove
through small villages on deserted roads, only meeting an occasional car or
pickup. The land is quite unstable here and many small landslips had deformed
the road. These had only been patched up in a very rudimental way so it felt at
times that we were on a rough sea.
We were very surprised to come across an oil rig with its nodding donkey pump
extracting the black gold. We started to pass more and more oil rigs and it
became obvious that this was a major oil field for Albania. Checking
afterwards, I found that Albania has a lot on on-shore and off-shore oil fields
but they are often poorly maintained leading to bad pollution.
We were heading for Byllis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it turned out that
this was positioned above the valley where the oil field was located. This was
the only part of the journey where the roads were busy as this was obviously
the headquarters of the oil companies and where the workers lived. It seemed
strange to see smart pickup trucks painted in the colours of the oil company.
The views of the mountains had been lovely up to now but became wide and
extensive as we climbed towards the top of the hill on which Byllis is located.
Apparently, the Illyrians liked to build their cities on the top of hills and
this was no exception – it has the most spectacular views of any site that I
have visited in Europe. We parked at the top of the hill and had lunch looking
at part of that view, looking down at the Vjosa River. There were signs
clearing stating that overnight parking was not allowed, which is a shame as it
would have been a wonderful place to wild camp – imagine waking up to that
view.
We walked a few hundred metres to the entrance where there was a car park but
an overhanging rock would have prevented us taking the motorhome that far. The
site is extensive and an abiding memory will be the wild flowers and
clover-covered ground that was full of buzzing bees and crickets. There was a
constant hum of the bees everywhere that we walked and the crickets jumped in
every direction to avoid our footsteps. The cicadas looked really pretty as
they flew and there were so many butterflies. This was a nature experience as
well as an archaeological visit.
The site had many Illyrian remains but was occupied over a long period and much
of the ruins date from the Roman era, including a number of Paleo Christian
churches complete with mosaics, although these are kept covered.
Byllis is well worth a visit and there is a very good road up from the Vjosa
valley – the route that would be taken by coaches from Tirana or the coast.
We drove on the Berat and the campsite ‘Camping the Castle of Berat’. There are
a number of simple campsites in the area but this one got the best reviews on
Park4Night. We were able to park under high netting that provided good shade
and the facilities were good – there was even a drive-over waste water dump, a
real luxury! They had a small restaurant that provided a simple set meal at
19:00 and it got good reviews but we really only wanted something simple, so we
ate in the van.
Photos: View on the way; At first glance, this might seem an idyllic scene but
the pond is very heavily polluted and there are black oil storage tanks on the
left and behind the camera is an old nodding donkey; The Prytaneion (office of
the civic magistrate and administrator) on the Agora of Byllis with a hint of
the view beyond; The site of the southern stoa with a gate at the far end
- the extensive view over the Vjosa
River is typical of the view in all directions from the site; A cicada took a
liking to me and stayed still for me to take the photograph, in fact it didn’t
want to leave; We have seen some random sights on our journeys, this ‘boat’ was
a building and it was for sale – it was soon followed by a fighter jet on a
roundabout.
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