Daytrip to Berat

Various sources on the internet told us that a daytrip to Berat would require spending about 6-7 hours in total on buses. The friendly Albanian woman we met on the bus when we arrived told us it might take 4 hours max. Unfortunately, the internet was right. Not only was the traffic horrendous, there's nothing new about that in Tirana, but we had a break down on the way out of town and encountered a traffic accident and a broken down truck on the way back to town.
So was it all worth it? Short answer is yes. We made it to Berat around 1.30pm after leaving Tirana on the 10am bus. We stumbled across a restaurant called Elvi, on the way up to the castle. It's a small family run concern, smack bang in the middle of a tourist track. The grilled vegetables and spinach pie were solid, but the baked cow's cheese was something else.
After lunch we climbed to the top of the hill, which takes about 20 minutes. The view across Berat is spectacular. For all of your efforts you not only get a ubiquitous mountain vista but they also throw in views of a stunning river and some impressive buildings, many of which date back to the Ottomans. If that's not enough, right behind you are the ruins of the red mosque, more on that later. Given all this, it's not surprising that Berat has UNESCO listing. However, the best news of all is that the calories you consumed at Elvi should be burnt off by the time you reach the top. The climb can best be described as steep but short. By the way, it's pretty exposed up on top, so make sure you have a hat and sunscreen and you might also want to take a litre of water.

No one is quite sure, but it seems the red mosque possibly dates back to the 1300s. There's also some nice castle ruins to be seen in the vicinity and the remains of a more modern second mosque. Unfortunately, while we were there, the owner of the cafe in the acropolis decided it was a you beaut idea to turn up his ghetto blaster to 11, so the peace and quiet was disturbed by the sounds of some pretty nasty rnb and hiphop!

We had to head back down the mountain sooner than we would have liked in order to make the last bus to Tirana. On the way through Berat we were able to get a brief look at houses that date back to the times of the Ottoman Empire. You could probably spend half a day in this part of town, but Tirana beckoned.
The bus trip home was rough and ready. Albanians are not the most patient drivers in the world and high speed tailgating seems like a national pass time. We saw the consequences of sitting on someone's arse at high speed when we passed a nasty four car pile up on the edge of the city.
For all it's challenges, the road trip wasn't a complete downer. We passed three blokes in separate places, carrying farm produce on a cart being powered by a donkey. No pics unfortunately, so you'll have to leave it your imagination.