Hiking Theth to Valbona
Hiking Theth to Valbona trail was absolutely the highlight of our incredible trip to Albania. We did this 19 mile hike in one day and it was not for the faint of heart.
We were scheduled to meet our ‘Jeep’ at 0700 the morning of our hike at the entrance of Camping Legjenda. Instead of a Jeep, we were greeted by the Albanian equivalent to a Ford Transit van on steroids. There was another couple from our guest house heading towards the Albanian Alps as well. I knew the trip to the village of Theth was about 50ish miles and estimated it would take us about 2 hours to get there. About 4.5 hours later we got to the start of the hike…
In America, we are so used to everyone being in such a rush and on a time crunch to do most things. This is not how time works in Albania. After picking us up, our driver proceeded to stop at 3 other guest houses to pick up more hikers along the way in Shkodra. Once we were packed into the van, he then proceeded to stop at multiple gas stations to hand out money for what we assumed were dues from lost football bets. We continued on to a few more gas stations where he handed out cigarettes. As we started to head out of the town, towards more rocky terrain, we were excited to finally be on the road. About an hour into that, we stopped so the driver could stock up on bulk items at a market like flour, potatoes, and other pantry essentials. Not going to lie, I was very worried the potatoes tied to the roof wouldn’t make it but somehow they survived.
Finally, we began to pick up the pace! Then we came across an excavator removing boulders from the road that had fallen down the mountain. We stopped and got out for a few minutes while they cleared the path, thankful we didn’t have to begin our hike from here. Back in the van, We began traversing the mountain and slowly, the grainy two lane gravel road turned into a narrow single lane road. Videos of us being jostled around in the van don’t quite do the rumbling justice. We were in for an even bigger surprise when a camper was coming directly at us from the other direction on this tiny road. What did we do? Our driver put us in reverse and we backed down the mountain to an area large enough for them to pass. As we got closer to the top of the mountain this became more frequent with us backing down or campers and vans backing down the opposite way. At one point our driver, who hardly speaks any English, turns to us and says, “Good driving, huh!?” And we couldn’t help but laugh. This is a normal day for him.
Although we were starting to become sick of being in the van and desired to begin our hike, this was a very interesting look into typical Albanian life. We are very privileged to live in a country where we have many commodities at our fingertips including food, safe water, and paved roads. Perhaps our driver’s family wouldn't eat if he didn’t stop and get all of his supplies while he was driving this way. I found the whole trip to be rather enlightening and amusing. I’m not sure Andrew shared the same sentiment at the time, but I think in reflection, he would agree as well. We are all so used to an agenda and this man was just along for the ride.
After dropping off the other passengers at their prospective guest houses in Theth, the driver dropped Andrew and I off near the trailhead to begin our hike. I was operating under the assumption that we would get to this trailhead and begin hiking by 0900. Because our journey to Theth was a little more lackadaisical than I had considered, we didn’t begin our hike until 1130 that morning. From all of the reading we did, we expected the hike to take about 7-8 hours and needed to start right away after our delay! We chose to backpack for our entire honeymoon so although we left one bag with some already dirty clothes back at Legjenda, we had 85% of our belongings with us for the trip in two backpacks from our favorite brand, Cotopaxi. Seriously best bags ever.
The initial ascent was definitely challenging. The first hour was very steep and then the trail leveled off a bit to give us a break. About two hours in, we found ourselves at our first pit stop, a bar/cafe built into the mountain. It was basically a little wooden hut with a firepit, fresh spring water, and handcrafted wooden tables and chairs to get a little bit of respite before returning to the trail. The owner had an assortment of canned drinks like soda and coffees and was making a fresh Albanian dish called, byrek, in the fire. We were so famished from not getting breakfast prior to leaving Legjenda. I had packed us some water, beef jerky, and pistachios. Andrew failed to mention he hated pistachios until I offered them to him when we were sitting in the van….this is after I was packing them in his lunch for over a year. It was hilarious, but I digress, back to the byrek. Byrek is a sort of sweet and savory phyllo dough pie that he filled with meat and cheese. It was so incredibly delicious and helped to refuel us before we proceeded along the hike. We refilled our waters, pet the house cat, and continued onward.
The Albanian Alps
I don’t think our photos or a description of the Albanian Alps would do them any justice. The photos are amazing but the views we saw as we were hiking were beyond breathtaking. We encountered some other hikers along the way from Germany and Kosovo that were very welcoming. Some farms and guest houses were built directly on the trail from Theth to Valbona and people came out to say hello and ask if we wanted a place to stay for the night as we passed through their properties. We saw cows, horses, and pigs. I was really hoping we would see some goats. As we got into Valbona, we did stop at an older couple’s farm to use their outhouse and refill our water bottles from their stream. They didn’t speak much English, just enough to welcome us and offer their facilities. I gave them some money as we were leaving to thank them for their kindness and the man was shocked to learn we were from America and reluctant to take the money. These people were so giving and wanted to help us without anything in return. It was very refreshing, especially after seeing that they hardly had much to begin with but wanted to share it with us, and I’m sure so many other travelers before us.
Once we got into the village of Valbona we knew we had about 6 more miles to hike to our next guest house, Villa Dini. It was getting late in the day, around 1800 (6PM) and we knew we would be losing light quickly. We picked up the pace and were able to start walking along some gravel roads rather than the trail. We did pass many guest houses enroute to our destination. As we were walking along the road, we saw two dogs coming up over a hill towards us. Much to our surprise and delight, they were herding dogs closely followed by a farmer and GOATS!!!! I was so excited to see them, I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough to capture a good picture. This elevated our spirits as we continued along the road to Villa Dini.
We lost light with about 2 miles to go. We are talking complete black out...they don’t have street lamps in little Albanian villages. We did pack flashlights and had the flashlights on our phones as well. We cautiously walked on and finally made it to Villa Dini at about 2030 (8:30PM)! 18.6 miles in total, a wonderful feat that turned into our favorite part of the trip!
Our gracious host welcomed us into the guest house and made a very funny joke that he was going to call the police to go out and search for us if we didn’t arrive soon. Prior to working in the guest house, he was an English interpreter and therefore a wonderful host and interesting person to share some Albanian stories with us! The guest house was fairly empty so he kindly upgraded us to a larger room free of charge. The house was lovely and our room was complete with down pillows and blankets, and a towel warmer in the bathroom. These items were heavenly after hiking almost 19 miles. We threw our bags in the room and went back down to the lobby to have a late dinner with our host. The guest house had a fully functioning kitchen and a small menu. We ordered fresh bread, risotto, grilled chicken, and a lamb dish that was very similar to lamb tagine that we had in Morocco. We washed down the delectable food with some house red wine and excellent conversation with our host before we stumbled back upstairs to bed in exhaustion.
We awoke early the next morning to a feast of fresh continental breakfast. I just want to note that continental breakfast in Albania is nothing like that in America. Think fresh fruits, homemade breads, farm fresh eggs, fresh milk and juices, homemade jams, cheeses and cured meats, and so many other delicious foods. They don’t have 18 wheeler trucks delivering food to these places. Villa Dini and most of the guest houses we stayed at were located directly on, or right near a local farm that supplied most of their foods and it really made a difference.
We ate this feast of a breakfast, bid thanks for our hospitable host, and boarded our next ‘Jeep’ for the return trip to Shkoder! Instead of hiking back, we decided to take an alternative route that involved a Ferry ride and some different sites! Read on to the next post for the return trip!
Notes
In retrospect, it would have been nice to spend a day in Theth and wake up early the next morning to start our long hike from Thethi to Valbona long. Theth is a beautiful little village and is home to The Blue Eye. The Blue Eye is a natural water spring with magically blue colored water and deeper colors that blend together to resemble a human eye. It is about a 3 hour hike to The Blue Eye and back, but you can get a Jeep to drive you some of the way if you don’t want to do two days of hiking. If we had more time or had known we wouldn’t be able to start our hike to Valbona until 1130 we would have opted to stay at a guest house in Theth and visit this beautiful water. There is another more popular Blue Eye in southern Albania as well. If we ever return I would love to see either of these wonders in person.
