October 7, 2017
We are finally at our rest stop in Montenegro, The Aman Sveti Stefan near Bodva. I am days behind, but will try to catch up one day at a time.
Entrance to our Hotel, the Mangalemi in the middle of a UNESCO protected “museum city”.
On October 4, 2017, we left our hotel in the UNESCO protected “museum city” of Barat, called the Mangalemi Quarter, and drove to the top of the hill to visit the castle and check out the view. The castle was not very impressive, except for the insurmountableness of the place. No wonder it was never concquered. However, the views from there were terrific.
Barat Castle walls at the top of the Mangalemi Quarter.
Mark in a Barat Castle archway.
View of Gorica and Gorica Bridge from the castle. Sure easy to see how difficult it would be to conquer this castle.
View of Barat and the Drean River, Albania’s longest. The White Drim meets up with the Black Drim River from Lake Ohrid before reaching Barat and flows into the Adriatic.
View of Barat town square with the church and the mosque on either side.
Walking doe the hills from Barat castle, we passed this woman selling her hand made crochet work. Notice how steep the street is. Imagine walking up it when it is slick from rain.
Entrance to St Mary’s Cathedral
St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral, from 1797. In the center of the Barat Castle grounds. Still an active church.
The iconostasis in St Mary’s Cathedral
Detail of the wood work around the icons. I took this photo when the guard was not looking.
16th century Onufri painting of St Theodore Tirana & Stratilati. In the Onufri Museum of icons in Barat. Known for its early and unique use of red.
16th century Nativity of Jesus by Nicholas, Onufri’s son. In the Onufri Museum of Icons. No surprise he used the same reds.
An anonymous painting of the Last Supper. I liked this painting for its interesting change of seating from Leonardo’s.
Woodwork in Onufri Museum of icons. The find detail can be found in many church iconostasis. Was nice to be able to get up close.
Passing an oil field on way to Apollonia from Barat. Gentle terrain and grass most of the way. We were surprised to see oil derricks in Albania.
Map of Apollonia. THe city was founded by Greek colonists in 588BC. It was a major city between Rome and Istanbul. Octavia was here when he got word that Caesar was dead in 44BC and went to Rome to become Octavia Caesar and then Emperor.
The most outstanding monument in Apollonia, called a Bouleuterion, a Greek style council house from the 2nd century AD
Mark sitting in the Odeon, or small covered theater that held 650 people.
A plan of how archeologists think the theater may have looked.
A fuller view of the Odeon. Used for theater performances, public meetings and educational courses, as Apollonia was an important academic center under Emperor Octavian.
Remains of 3rd century BC covered promenade, or stoa, with 17 niches. Apollonians created their own coins and had a commercial port on the Adriatic via the River Aous, which got diverted during a major quake at the end of the 3rd century. Without the port, the city lost its importance and was abandoned by the 6th centuryAD.
Foundations of a building dating back to the 4th century BC in Apollonia. French archeologists began excavating Apollonia in the early 20th century.
St Mary’s church near Apollonia.
St Mary’s Monastery. Now a museum housing artifacts from Apollonia.
Mark inside what was the monastery refectory. Nice space.
Inside the still active St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral. Unusual contemporary iconostasis and chairs.
After visiting the castle we descended the hill and checked out the Icons in St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral.
This Cathedral is still active and surprised me with the chairs and gilded pulpit.
The iconostasis was pretty nice and I was able to get a photo of it and the incredibly detailed woodwork that surrounds every one we have seen and not been able to photograph.
The Onufri Museum of Icons is next to the Cathedral and contained some pretty impressive paintings. I have included my favorites here. Although we have seen lots of red color in old paintings, there is something different about the quality of the color used by Onufri and his son.
The Last Supper was by an anonymous artist unfortunately. But it was delightful just because it was different. Judas has no halo and is the first one in the image to go for the food. Somewhere in the bible we are told that Jesus would know his accuser because that person would reach first for the bread.
There was a finely carved work of art I could not pass up. Mark liked it too. The wood is almond and it is carved in 3 dimensions. It had been a ceiling medallion.
Finally, we departed Barat and headed for Apollonia, the ancient city founded by Greeks in 588BC. TO get there we had to drive through rolling green hills, acres of hot houses full of tomatoes, oil fields and a town called Fier, which I think you can find on the map west of Barat.
We skipped lunch that day and ate almonds and Kind bars we brought from home.
We had a warm sunny visit to Apollonia and really enjoyed something different from churches and monasteries, although we did not get away from them in the end.
Under each photo I have included information that tells you about Apollonia. There were a lot more artifacts than I have presented, but these are the ones we appreciated. Hope you enjoy them.
After leaving Apollonia, we drove directly to Tirana the capita of Albania. The city traffic was terrible and it took over an hour just to get to our hotel once we entered the city. Finally we arrived at The Rogner, in the heart of the city. It was a wonderful hotel. Perhaps the best we have been in because of the comfort it offered rather than fancy stuffiness. Our room had a good bed, good lighting, a comfortable sitting area, good food in the breakfast cafe. We took Elvis’s suggestion to eat Italian food in a place called Padam, 2 blocks away from the hotel. It was a fancy place and we were the only customers at 7pm. The pasta was too rich for me but Mark liked it …. Tagliatelle with 30 year old parmesan and white truffles.
It was a pleasant evening as we walked back to the hotel. We are both so tired after each day, however, that all we want to do is brush our teeth and fall into bed.
If you were looking for the some night life on this trip, you will find precious little.
A huge urn found at Apollonia and displayed in the museum.
A metal shield found in Apollonia. Was found in hundreds of pieces and reassembled.
Close up of the metal shield. We were fascinated by the facial expression.
Sandals found in Apollonia. Imagine who wore them and when.
Adventures with Julia 
Comments
This looks like a fascinating destination.
Great photos. Such a wonderful trip. We loved Berat. Journey on. In Houston airport on way to West Palmbeach and then Cuba on Monday luv BT
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Enjoy Cuba. Eat lots of lobster. Really good and cheap.