The stone town and castle

July 10-Day 10
We have breakfast included at our hostel (the hairy lemon) so we stayed in for a breakfast of crepes and we made our own coffee from hone. Mmm it was so good. Then we walked over to the bus to Gjirokastra. It was a worthwhile trip. Gjirokastra is built on a hillside and the town is below it. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. Below the castle the gray stone houses with the dark gray slate roofs blend into the hillside. They think that the citadel may have been settled as early as the 3rd century BC. There is a huge collection of ww1 and ww2 military equipment that Colton and Miranda had a great time climbing on and exploring. At one point Colton was shaking with excitement at being able to actually climb into a real tank and sit on cannons and anti-aircraft guns. When we first walked into the castle we were amazed at the immensity of it. It was all made of stone and brick with arched ceilings 20 ft. high. The main hallway was approx. 200 feet long and about the same length in the other direction which they are still restoring. The main hallway had all the cannons and military stuff that Colton could climb on. We were some of the only people touring around the castle so we got it all to ourselves. When we left this first section of the building we walked to the next part of the castle which was dated earlier so was not as well preserved. But just as interesting to see. There were old stone walls outlining the rooms that once must have been immense and grand. We walked around for 2 to 3 hours and with every corner were even more excited to see what would come next. The kids both thought they were lucky to be able to see and experience it. Miranda said she wants to bring her kids here to see this. We had to tear ourselves away so we could catch the bus back. Miranda was not to pumped about that. On the way to Gjirokastra, Miranda started feeling car sick about half way. She didn't get sick but felt awful. We also thought this was about the most hair raising bus ride we have ever been on. The ride was a bit like a carnival ride. You basically held on with both hands to the seat in front of you using all the muscles in your body. We held on tightly while being thrown from side to side and front to back as the driver braked and accelerated his way up and down the mountain on the switchback roads. At one point I saw a sign that said 30 km an hour with an ! point above it. I guess they weren't kidding about the speed on that one. We once again made it home safely. We are constantly reminded about how God is protecting us during our travels. We have noticed that the people in Albania are very friendly and really try to help us get around without our speaking their language. They are really helpful and we find we feel very safe here. Saranda is a quiet town with a family type atmosphere. We want to spend one more day here on the beach and to eat the amazing food and have more amazing wine before we head north.