Southcoast of Albania
Saranda and Ksamil
Greetings to you readers of my blog. As promised, this post will be about my recommendations in regards to Saranda and Ksamil. In actual fact I will only be writing about the several places I recommend you visit if you ever decide to visit the south coast of Albania.
Here’s some brief info on Saranda and Ksamil before I introduce you to my recommendations. Saranda is a popular district on the Albanian Riviera. Its population is about 30,000. It’s name derives the Byzantine monastery called ‘Agioi Saranda’ - translation ‘Forty Saints’.
Saranda has a small town to take a quick tour around to see some of the historical monuments.
And a promenade where you can have nice walks with your companions after eating dinner and enjoy the view of the small harbors.
The beaches in Saranda are so lovely, with clear waters, but the water may seem a little too cold for some of us. The majority of beaches in Saranda are stone beaches rather than sand.
On of the top notch of places to eat in Saranda is a lovely lovely lovely (trying to emphasis here) and they make super delicious food here, just mouth watering remising right now. The chef (also the owner of the restaurant) is an award winning chef who had worked for many years in Greece.
The restaurant is called Mare Nostrum. While on holiday we ate here almost every night once I tried the food here. I’ve tried many of the dishes but here’s what I recommend you try:
1) Grilled Kallamari - yum so good
2) Linguini - yum yum yum big thumbs up
3) Tuna steak - ooo so deliscious
4) Fish & chips are fantastic
5) Grilled scampi
6) Fried feta cheese with fig jam
Just to inform you sometimes they do run out on some of the dishes, however, you will enjoy your second choices too.
Unfortunately the restaurant doesn’t have a website of its own but here is a link for the restaurants reviews on trip advisor:
But the restaurant does have a Facebook page, here’s the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/MareNostrumCusine
Now back to the beaches, while in Saranda we decided to visit the popular beaches found in Ksamil. The Seawater in Ksamil is amazing, some are still stony beaches except one called ‘Pema e Thate’ - translation - ‘Dried Tree’ which is sandy, great for kids as you need to walk along way to the deeper parts of the water. However, most beaches in Ksamil are overcrowded during high season - so I’d recommend you go when not high season. Most roads to the top beaches I will list below are not asphalted so be prepared for lots of bumpy rides but once you reach them then the bumpy road is worth it.
Top beaches to see:
1) The beach at international Hotel Saranda - the water is cold but the beach is situated in great location.
here’s a link for more info on the hotel and it’s private beach:
http://www.albania-hotel.com/albania/saranda/hotels/saranda-international-hotel
2) ‘Pema e thate’ / ‘Dried Tree’ - great if you are with little ones - in Ksamil
3) ‘Pasqyra’ / ‘Mirror’ Beach - Sarande
4) ‘Pule Bardha’ / ‘White Chicken’ - Ksamil
Thanks for reading (:0)
Kind Regards,
Daffi
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