I don’t know about you, but this year seems to be whizzing by at lighting speed. I mean come on, its already May!
I like both spring months of the year so I’ve decided to dedicate them few words to share with you. April came unexpectedly worm and sunny so we decided to do some work in our garden. Vicky has chosen flowers to plant, my husband trees – and yes! We’ve planted a Cherry tree and a Pomegranate tree this year in our small garden. I hope they will give first fruits next spring. However, who knows they really will? We still have to find out more about gardening, but one thing made me feel good about it Vicky’s enthusiastic observation, as she said: “Next year, instead of buying cherries, we will just pick them out from our own Cherry Tree!” This was the confirmation that we did the right thing!
Another important event in April was the Workshop I hosted for some parents from Albania about “Mindful Parenting”. It’s comforting that the awareness about healthy, mindful parenting is growing in this country. After many years of communism regime in Albania, where nobody spoke for years for children’s rights and the old approach in which the parent is a Boss at home and kids don’t have voice, it’s finally changing. It was a pleasant afternoon with moms who want to know more. We spoke about education and relations with our children, how to parent our children without punishment. Few strategies were brought up about how increasing concentration at home and how to decrease the stress and anger level in children. We shared our thoughts and experiences. I am sure all mamas could agree – we need this kind of mothers-meetings! It’s empowering, eye opening and heartwarming. As power Women and Mamas, we need our tribe, we need support and comfort from each other. Read my previous article about it here.
Few days later, we’ve celebrated Easter with my family in our cozy atmosphere at home. The Easter came with all of its yellow abundance trough delicious egg-based dishes, flowers and yellow arrangements and decorations at home. We spend this time focusing on connecting and being together (and eating of course). We organized Easter egg scavenger hunt for my children so they truly loved it. We enjoyed a sunny weather during this Catholic festive this year. If you want to discover more, click here.
After few days, our kids had had one week off from school and because my mummy was still visiting us, we’ve decided to take her and have one long explorative trip altogether. Firstly, the idea was to visit the southern coast of Albania, which is beautiful. It could be a nice trip but we save it for another occasion because my mommy suffers for a car sickness and the road in the South of Albania is full of tortuous curves. After all, we’ve decided for visiting the UNESCO city of Gjirokaster.
The city of stones Gjirokastër welcomed us with a strong wind that miraculously blew all the clouds out after few hours, so we could visit the Castle with its Clock Tower and admire the landscape with picturesque stone architecture framed by mountains at every side. We could not miss the old Ottoman bazaar which was originally built in the 17th century. Unfortunately, was under construction in the moment we were visiting so the main street was full of stones and dust.
Despite this, we’ve manage to see the beautiful handcrafts and many different types of embroidered scarves, hand-made rugs, colored traditional hats, knitwear and woolen socks.
We stayed in the Hotel Argjiro (see the picture above) that is located in the heart of historical center of Gjirokaster city. It has a magnificent view from the Old Bazaar. The rooms are quite tiny and the capacity is small but I think there is a good balance for the price and quality. I mean, from the hotel you come up just in front of the Bazaar!
For the restaurant, I would highly recommend the family Restaurant Odeta that we’re tried and were really happy with this choice. This place, has a traditional Albanian and Greek cuisine (The Gijiorkacter city, being near to a Greek border, has its influence). The dishes are abundant and delicious and last but not least, extremely cheap with 200 Lek (crazy, eh?!) for a plate of Vegetable Soup or yummy Meatballs with tomato souse. We really enjoyed visiting this UNESCO city and planning to go there again soon.
As soon as our time in Gjirokaster came to the end, we jumped to our car and drive straight to Kakavia Border Crossing in Greece. I comfortably booked from my phone our stay in the city of Parga. This small town is situated in a secluded bay of the Ionian Sea and has an intense island feeling. Looking for a place near to the city center and located next to the seaside with the direct access to the beach, I found The Parga Beach Resort. I couldn’t make a better choice! It is place for families with children, even for those with small babies. The resort is adapted for strollers and the beach bathrooms are equipped with baby corners for changing nappies. There are swimming pools adult size and others pools just for kids with attention – hot water! It’s really fantastic. If I tell you, that this Resort has two playgrounds and one indoor room for small kids for rainy days, and a direct access to the see and sandy beaches, it must sound like paradise. And it is, actually! The resort’s restaurant offer rich continental buffets for breakfast and good quality food for lunch and dinner so you don’t have to move from the resort if you don’t want to.
The city of Parga where we were staying, it’s just beautiful, and reminded me of “my favorite place in the world – Amalfi”. Parga, just like the Italian coast, has identical colorful houses constructed amphitheatrically along the slopes of a mountain, offering nice view to the sea.
A green islet with a white church stands at the entrance of the port, while the ruined walls of a Venetian castle can be seen on top of a hill above the town. Most of all, it is famous for the amazing beaches with the exotic water. We stayed on the Valtos Beach, to which our resort was fronted, and I can assure you, that the beach as the water are clear and pure and my kids and us don’t need anything else.
With a convenient location in western Greece, Parga is a good base for day excursions to Sivota, Preveza and even Lefkada (see the photo above).
Actually, the Island of Lefkada desires all new paragraph to describe it’s amazing beauty and definitely it’s worth to spend there more than one day.
Considered as the Caribbean of Greece, Lefkada island amazes visitors with the exotic blue color of its beaches. Connected to the mainland through a small bridge, Lefkada can actually be accessed by car, so there is no need for ferry.
This is the perfect place for families, couples and large groups of friends, as it has something for everyone. The beaches, on the western coast of Lefkada Greece, distinguish for the wonderful colour and the impressive landscape, particularly Porto Katsiki, Egremni and Kathisma.
Around the island, visitors can find lovely villages with fish taverns by the sea and surrounded by lush greenery. Nidri, Vassiliki and Agios Nikitas are beautiful places with special character each one.
And just look at this landscape (no filters) from Apollonioi!
Considering an approximately 5,5 hours of trip (without stop) with the car to Tirana from Parga, it makes from this Greek small town a very interesting and comfortable destination for a great Greek holiday for Albanians.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my excursions and I hope you’ll peek few tips from this story for your next travel experience with your family and kids.
Thanks for being with me,
Worm wishes
Joanna
