Kruja

On Saturday, we did a little family excursion to Krujë (or Kruja, if it's the subject of the sentence) and saw the famous Skenderbeg castle. (Skenderbeg is the dude on the horse - the national hero of Albania.)

We're slowly figuring out how to do this kind of thing while respecting the needs of our two little ones. We packed lots of food and water for them along with the usual extra diapers and changes of clothes. We left immediately after Gabriel's morning nap, and took a bus to catch a van ride ($2 a seat). Valerie napped the whole way out, which wasn't really in our plan but it was fine.

In retrospect, I wish we'd all worn sunscreen, but that's probably the only thing I'd do differently. For myself, I would have liked to have explored the ruins more but it was so hot and bright out in the sun that I didn't think we should. So when we got there, at around 11:30 a.m., we went to a cafe for snacks and drinks before walking over to the castle and visiting the museum on the site.

After that we met up with some American friends - three young guys, two are working for WV (one is a former student of Terry's) - for lunch at a nearby restaurant. At that point, around 1 p.m., Gabriel started getting very tired and fussy but he wouldn't go to sleep on my lap or in the Bjorn. Finally when we got on a van for the return trip, at around 2 p.m., he fell asleep nursing and Valerie fell asleep on Terry's lap. So they got short naps (the drive back to Tiranë is less than an hour), but short is better than none.

Then we hopped on a city bus back to our street. We got home around 4 p.m. and felt exhausted, but I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all. Like our last excursion (to Dajt), it took a full day and 2 nights for the kids to recover their energy. Long naps are great!

(Phil and Mel have some great pictures from their trip a week or two before ours, and you can always check Wikipedia for more history on Krujë and Skenderbeg.)