Moving on to Dhermi
Lesson learned from yesterday, combined with the desire to not get up too early, we decided to take the bus at 10.00, this time heading for Dhermi, situated by the sea. To get there, we could either take a bus to Vlora or Feri, and change there for the bus to Himara. The buses from Berat were running quite frequently during the morning (every 30-45 min), but after 10 there was a break and the next one was at 12. The bus we took went to Vlora (2h 20m), and the connecting bus to Himara went quite fast after we got on it. Smooth. But again, let the driver know that you are changing bus, because there is no logic (for tourists at least) where you have to change bus.
From Vlora we drove a little while along the coast, before the bus took us between high mountains and through the Llogoraja pass. The nature was very nice and green. Almost on the top of the mountains, the driver stopped for a 20-25 minutes lunch break. The location was perfect, and the view was simply beautiful. At the highest point the road was at more than 1000m above sea level, but the surrounding mountains could be about double that height. When we started the decent from the mountain, the serpentine road along the mountain side were reviled, with the long sandy beaches by the ocean at the end. It was really a beautiful road to drive!
Dhermi is situated on the way to Himara, so we got off by a junction. From the road down to the beach it is about 1,5km. You can either walk, or get some of the local “taxies” to drive you. Since we did not know where we should spend the night, we went for the letter option, and asked him if he knew a nice place to stay. We ended up at Hotel Poseidon, about half way down to the beach. We left the luggage at the hotel, and went down to get a longed swim. Some local boys came over to talk to us, and taught us some Albanian words.
We really liked Dhermi and wanted to stay a bit longer, but as we already have booked the hotel in Saranda from tomorrow, we have to leave. We hoped to be able to spend the day here and leave in the afternoon/evening, but it seems it is not a good option. We asked several different persons for the departure times for the buses, but we got different replies from everyone. And also as the bus is only passing by, it is hard to give an exact time, even an approximate one is hard to know. Therefore, we have decided to go for the bus in the morning, as that is the least hot time to sit and wait.