Southern Albanian – so many shades of blue!

We spent a total of ten days in Southern Albania.

The first place we went to was Permet which is a good six-hour drive south of Lake Koman. I had heard of the wonderful hot springs that were meant to rejuvenate and heal. They can help with sore muscles and joints. The hot springs, known as the Benje springs are located in the Kruje Geothermal area.

There are actually meant to be six different springs all at slightly different temperatures higher up the mountain. We swam in the lowest, largest one.

We stayed in Permet for two days at a lovely guesthouse which had a large shady patio. This was great to sit on and catch up on emails and even a bit of reading. We had a long chat one evening with two German guys who were there to hike.

Permet is a stunning hiking area and there are amazing mountain and forest views.

I love the colour, the mountains and the green in the photo below:

The areas surrounding Permet were just beautiful with an abundant purple tree that seemed to be in flower.

We walked around Permet in the early evening and came across this enthusiastic chess game in progress!

Our next stop was Saranda and we went via a beautiful waterfall called the Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër) in Albanian.

The depth of this water spring is unknown. The deepest a diver has gone is 50m.

The Blue Eye is the initial water source of the Bistricë, a 25 km long river which ends in the Ionian Seat just south of Saranda. The source is a natural phenomenon. Some people jump into the water which is very cold, especially in winter at 10 degrees Celsius.

It is unclear why the water is this amazing blue but it is stunning, especially with the lush surrounding greenery.