[Apr. 2024] I continue talking about the Italian tour in Albania.
The next day we left Berat and headed for Gjirokaster.
Our first destination was the ruins of Byllis.
My husband and I are not fans of ruins, but this ruins has a great location.
It’s on a fairly high mountain, with a great view, good weather, and small natural flowers blooming everywhere, so it was very pleasant to walk around.
This is an ancient city that began in 350 BC when the Illyrians, the indigenous people of the western Balkan Peninsula, built a wall, and developed during the Hellenistic period.
However, it declined after being defeated by Rome in the Illyrian War of 229-168 BC, when the Illyrians and Romans fought.
The city later revived as a Roman colony in 30 BC.
So it has a mixture of Greek and Roman things.
Our guide, Giorgio, is originally an archaeologist, so ruins are his forte.
There were many things to see, but the most interesting thing for me was the story of how in Roman times, baths were built to keep the residents from leaving the town.
It is very interesting that a bath could prevent depopulation…
Romans really loved hot springs, aren’t they, just like Japanese.
Mari Samazaki, the author of Japanese manga, “Thermae Romae,” picked up on that point very well.
We also saw the remains of a theatre.
Apparently, over time, protection became more important, so the stones from which the theatre was built were used to build the back wall.
Entertainment and art are often put on the back burner in times of emergency, and that’s still the case today.
Also, by coincidence, a mosaic that is not usually open to the public was on display.
The sand that is usually placed over the mosaic for protection had been removed to make an archaeological video.
The mosaics depicted people’s lives – shepherds feeding dogs, shepherds milking sheep, shepherds holding sheep’s heads, fish and so on.
This means that there were a lot of sheep in this area.
Despite that, we did not see lamb dishes on the menu at the restaurant…
After visiting the ruins, we had lunch at an Italian agritourism-style restaurant near the ruins.
After starter such as salads and warm vegetables, we were served chicken + pasta and chicken + rice for the main course.
Both the pasta and rice were delicious.
The chicken’s taste was not as strong as we expected, though.
After a bad experience at the hotel in Berat, we ordered wine hesitantly, but it was fine here.
The restaurant had a large and bright garden with a great view.
