City of a Thousand Windows - Berat

Our first stop in this city was to the top of a mountain to see the castle.  But on our way there we stopped to see the city water supply - that is greatly depleted because of the severe drought they have been having.  As we stopped there this guy showed up guiding his sheep and goats to forage for food along the road.  This is very common here.  A member of the family will watch the flock each day, guiding them to ditches etc where they can find food. 

Next on to the castle.

 

 It is already pretty dark.  I decide I do not want to climb up all those stairs.  I don't think that I mentioned that I fell on the steps of the amphitheatre -the bruises will heal - and my ego also.  But I hope I have learned that when I over do climbing of hills or steps and my thighs have been over used they will give out on me.

 So we next climbed up a smaller hill that over looked the city to take in the views.

 On the way back we stopped at this small shop for a drink of Rocki - the most popular drink in Albania.  This women makes all of these beautiful things using a machine called the "Butterfly" which is a knockoff o the Singer sewing machine.  She has a singer machine to her left.  These are old-fashioned treadle machines like a learned on in the late 50's.  There is a pattern printed on the material and she deftly moves the material with her fingers to create the pattern.  I have a computerized sewing machine that does something like that - so I was amazed at her abilities.

The next morning we were able to take a few photos of Berat before heading off to our next destination.