Dajti

Two weekends ago we took a family excursion up Mt. Dajti, which has a national park overlooking Tirana. The trip via cable car (do check out the link - there are some fantastic photos) was exhilerating - it seemed to go on forever as we went up and up and up. Valerie was fascinated watching the cable cars coming down the opposite direction (she said "bye" to each one in turn). Terry enjoyed the panoramic view of Tirana and the surrounding area, and I was entranced by the glimpses below into intimate small spaces - olive groves, terraced fields, old crumbling farmhouses with tiled roofs, villas with grapevines, and rampant new construction of apartment buildings going up in strategically beautiful locations. Gabriel didn't seem to notice anything particularly unusual happening from his vantage point in the Bjorn. :-)

The cable car takes you to a beautiful national park that also has a posh (but apparently inexpensive) hotel and nice restaurant. There was a big playground in pretty good shape and horses that you could pay to ride around on. It was cold up there so I kept Gabriel close. A young woman came up to me and asked permission to kiss him on the cheek! (He is very popular in Albania, it won't be long until they name a city park after him I am sure!)

We also saw old military bunkers built into the hillside in the forest, a relic of times past.

If you are ever in Tirana, I highly recommend the excursion.