Wordless Wednesday: Summer Dreaming

Wordless Wednesday: Footprints

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Summer!

In anticipation of the sunny days ahead, today is two pictures for the price of one!

Wordless Wednesday: The Beach- Post Season

Water Water Every Where

Ready to hit the beach

Today is World Oceans Day.  Regardless of where you are, whether it be in the middle of an African desert, high atop an Alpine peak, or at the beach, oceans connect all of us and effect all of us in one way or another.  And as such, the 8th of June is the day dedicated to these massive bodies of water.  And water is everywhere.  Seventy-one percent of the earth's surface is covered with water with the oceans accounting for 97% of the world's water.  Long before there were trains, airplanes, or automobiles, humans were moving around the world via water.  The oceans are home to millions of sea creatures and they also provide vital food and nourishment to the world's human population.  Any way you look at it, oceans are important and must be conserved and preserved.

Today is a day to bring awareness to this important, yet endangered natural resource.  So what did we do to recognize the day?  We headed to the beach of course!  On what felt like the first warm and rain free Saturday in months we decided to head north and explore the beach area around Shengjin.  Located just over an hour north of Tirana, Shengjin is home to both a commercial port and the Albanian Navy's northern base.  It also has the hotels, boardwalks and beachfront restaurants that you would expect in a seaside community.  (It is also home to a large number of oil storage facilities that add to the economy of the area but do little for the pristine beach feel we were looking for).  Continuing with our desire to avoid the commercial beach/boardwalk scene and following the recommendation of a friend, we headed "out of town and up and over the hill" (these were her exact directions) north of Shengjin to an area called Rana e Hudun in search of unadulterated sand.  Fortunately our four wheel drive allowed us to get there and what we found shouldn't have surprised us, but it did.

Set amongst the desolate beach we sought, we found a couple of well developed beach front resorts, complete with row after row of umbrellas as well as the typical half built concrete structures that are typical sights throughout Albania.  These beaches were essentially void of people since despite the beautiful weather, beach season in the Balkans does not start until July.  It was obvious that money had been invested in these properties since they were clean, relatively well maintained and most importantly, their beaches were free of litter and debris.  We continued on until the narrow rutted road dead ended right on the beach.  When we got out to explore the relatively deserted beach (there was only one other family there with a ubiquitous black Mercedes parked on the sand) we were immediately saddened to see that the beach was covered in trash and debris.  In fact, the scene was reminiscent of the one we had encountered during our visit to Cape Rodon last fall.  Household waste, construction debris, and hypodermic needles shared the sandy space with seashells, seaweed, and driftwood.  Despite the off shore fishing nets that would normally attract them, we also noticed a lack the typical birds that live along the shore.  Where was nature in this natural environment?  The entire scene left me feeling a little sad.

But as is the case with many things here, we made the best of it.  We tailgated out of the back of our SUV then set out on a walk along the beach.  Glenn and I abandoned our shoes and carefully stepped our way through the surf.  (Sidney remained shod as to avoid any dangerous steps).  I collected seashells that will be added to our growing collection and even used a plastic bucket that had washed ashore to hold them.  If you avoided the occasional piece of plastic or random shoe (there were a surprisingly high number of single shoes dotting the shore) that washed ashore in the surf, the water was nice.  Whether looking at the rocky hills to our north or the vast sea and distant mountains to our south and east the views were magnificent.  The key was just to not look down at the sand which we actually had to do in order to avoid stepping on any foreign objects.  We were both reminded of a conversation we had had with a hotel clerk in Croatia last year who, upon discovering we were living in Albania, had bemoaned the Albanian trash that was starting to wash up on Croatian shores.  Whether we've travelled north or south along the Albanian coast, we've witnessed this for ourselves.  And given the way the world's seas and oceans connect all of us, this is truly scary.  One country's trash disposal habits and approach to the eco-system can have a negative impact on all of the world's water.  And this is why we must all care about our environment.  We owe it to ourselves, our children, our neighbors children, and the entire world.

Surf walking

Beach Bound

Yesterday we went to the beach.  Sure it is only April and the temperatures were far from what is typically considered beach weather but it was sunny and after a harried week, we just needed to get away from Tirana, the chaotic crowds, and daily responsibilities.  And to be perfectly honest, this pretty much the only time I will go to a beach.

When we first told people we were moving to Tirana, those people who were  familiar with Albania's location asked if I was excited about having easy access to the Adriatic and Ionian beaches.  Up to that point I hadn't even given them a thought since I am not a beach person.  I love being near the water, hearing the sound of surf crashing, and feeling grains of sand squish between my toes.  However, the mere thought of sitting in the hot sun for hours on end is enough to send me running for cover.  No matter how much or how strong the sun screen, within a half hour of prime time summer beach time, my entire family will have turned the color of boiled lobsters.  Idly sitting in the shade of a beach umbrella, which again does little to protect me skin, doesn't do it for me either.  Neither do the sweltering crowds, running children kicking up sand, and sketchy boardwalks that accompany so many beach areas.  We lived a few miles from Virginia Beach for years yet the only time I ever ventured onto the beach was when my parents visited and insisted they wanted to go to the beach.  The week we rented a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina was the longest week of my life; too much sun, sand, and heat and not enough activity had me going stir crazy by Wednesday.  But the beach in April is just perfect for me.

There are always rocks to throw

In fact we visited not one, but two beaches yesterday. First up was Spille Beach.  Located outside of Kavaja, we had this stretch of sand completely to ourselves.  Much to this New England conservation girl's chagrin, we drove right onto the sand before getting out to explore.  Although breezy, the weather was perfect.  The surf was a big rough and had washed a nice selection of intact shells onshore.  Of course, this being Albania, the beach itself was not immune to trash. Household garbage, hypodermic needles, dirty diapers and an inordinately large number of shoes were scattered along the sand.  Although I wasn't surprised, the sight of all of this trash made me inordinately sad.  I can only hope that the beach was covered with debris because it isn't yet true beach season.  The thought of basking bodies laying amongst the beach debris is too much to contemplate.

And Sidney found a big stick

Next up was our real destination, the Karavasta Lagoons located in Divjaka Pines National Park just west of Lushnja.  I had read about this nature preserve and had been wanting to visit for some time.  I had the hopes of seeing the endangered Dalmatian Pelicans who winter and breed in this lagoon.  Unfortunately we couldn't find any but I loved being out on this vast and much cleaner beach.  Again we drove right down to and into the water.  This being Albania, we were joined by a handful of Mercedes sedans filled with young and old men alike, driving along the sand.  We have visited several other national parks here in Albania and I have always been happy to see that these areas are cleaner and better maintained and preserved than the rest of the country.  The Karavasta Lagoons and beach area were no exception.  Here we explored the vast dunes that were relatively clean when compared to the beach in Spille.  Birds were scarce but brightly colored spring wildflowers were abundant.  A ramshackle camp of sorts perched on the dunes sported so many tables and chairs that I could only surmise that this was a cafe/bar/restaurant of sorts.  We bypassed this dining option and instead ate a tailgate lunch of bread, cheese, and salami while watching a local fisherman launch his boat into the crashing surf.  More rocks and sticks were thrown into the water.  We even spotted a cluster of old bunkers perched on a narrow spit of land separating the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea.

Beach bonsai

Bunkers in the lagoon

For me, yesterday was the perfect beach day.  It was warm and sunny but the breeze kept both the temperatures and the infamous Karavasta Lagoon mosquitoes at bay.  Far from the smog and pollution of Tirana, the sea air was clean and fresh.  After a long rainy winter if felt so good to be outside.  The vastness of the beach provided us with a landscape for running and playing that just isn't possible in our neighborhood.  Fancy vacations and exotic get aways are nice but as was evidenced by Sidney's excitement, sticks, stones, and a bit of water can make for a wonderful day.  Since it is doubtful that we will return to the beach during the warm weather months, this might have been our one and only beach trip while in Albania.  And despite the slight sunburn I received, it was perfect.