South east of town, approximately 20-30 km, rises the majestic mountain Tomorr. This mountain is the Tomorr National Park with an area 4000 ha. Camps suitable place, pilgrimage, trekking. Western Regions of the mountain is the most wooded. The park is bordered by East Tomorr northern border and the road car South West - Korce. At the point is 2415.7 meters above the sea. More typical are the coniferous forests, which are mainly met in the heights 1000 -1200 m above sea level and forests on the heights Rrobullit 1600 m. Are typical of mixed forests with beech rrobull as the Red Stone and Zedan. Gërshtimi grass vegetation is characterized by the flora of the beech forest and alpine pasture rrobullit. Species present are considered Saxifraga rotundifoglia, vesca Strawberry, Salvia glutinosa and many aromatic plants, medical tanifere by isolated mountain tea in the south of the park. On these grounds are rare species of plants and endangered, as Astragatus autranci; subendemike the Balkans, as Aubrieta Intermedia, Cupris baldacii, Nepeta spursei, etc.. Inside the area found about 20 of the threatened plant taxon rare. Fauna In the part of forest terrain often meet brown bear. In villages near the wolf, fox, marten, baldosa, on the outskirts of the forest and agricultural lands near the wild boar, rabbit, wild, rocky peaks found in flocks of wild goats. Meet inside the park: weasel, squirrel, various types of reptiles (snakes, viper, lizard, etc.) in the leakage of water basins can be seen different kinds of aquatic insects dragonfly, butterfly. Birds are represented by several species of eagle, other hijackers day and night, some species of woodpecker, dove wild, wild crows, which is endangered; mëllenja, thënza the mountain, slippers, short, etc.. Another photo of my favourite mountain- Tomorri. Now about that connection between this Great Mountain and the Premier Italian Television. Well this photo is taken from the town of Polican of which I have already posted some photos. During the communist area all efforts were made to prevent people from reaching the foreign TV channels which in this part meant just RAI UNO. People used to rise their arials higher and higher in great anticipation to get a good signal from this most desired but forbidden channnel. However the decision whether you could watch RAI UNO or not depended on this mountain. If your arial could see what you can see in the photo then you were very lucky enough and you could see RAI UNO, if you were on the side of the town from where you could not see this view then you had no chance whatsoever. The reason is simple, the mountain faces westwards and being 2416m high interrupts all Italian TV signals and bounces them back. So we use to watch at the expense of people living on the other side of the mountain! So what did we watch those gray days? Well thinking back everyone watched Sanremo Music Festival, Western Films, Disney, cars and coca-cola adverts! It was a true spectatorship as those days no one even immagined that one day they would be watching the very same things on Albanian TV,High Definition, LCD Widescreen and all. Indeed I do not know what Berlusconni thinks about it but Albanian TV is now a serious competitor! And with the cable TV spreading like wildfire it does not matter which side of the mountain you live any more, it is your wallet that makes the final decision. I took this picture near a place called the Gorge of Devri on the South of Tomorri Mountain. I had thought of Marble Quarries as horrible messy places but I was surprised to see these marble blocks neatly arranged. Maybe because the marble quarring in this place is only a few years old! Anyhow I thought that it made a interesting photographical subject. This is a photo of a Bektashi Shrine on Tomorri Mountain. Inside there is a rock with the footprint of Imam Abas Ali (a very holy person within the order). The print as such resembles an old South-Albanian Shoe shape but whether the holy Ali did or not I an not in the position to answer, it is a bit like asking whether Jesus really walked on the water! The edifice however has some really neat stone work, Albanians are pretty good at working stone perhaps it has something to do with all those mountains! Now as promised carrying on from my last posting… The Ottoman empire was officially divided along religious lines e.g Christians, Muslims and Jews. The 19th Century saw the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the new nation states immerging along those religious lines, as the Albanians belonged to three major Religious groupings (ignoring many smaller ones) they were at risk of never having their own country. The Bektashis were different for the Orthodox and the Catholic Christians and perhaps more importantly they were different from the Sunnis (the official religion of the Ottoman Empire) in fact they were prosecuted by the Ottoman Regime. In this context the Bektashi order backed by some prominent Albanian intellectuals attempted to fill the patriotic mission to unite the Albanians around one religion thus helping in the creation of an independent Albanian State. But the lack of time coupled with the attitude of the Albanians toward Religion made the attempt not to fully materialise. The Albanians had to find something else to unite around, it was then when Pashko Vasa (one of the greatest Albanian Renaissance Figures) wrote: “Never mind churches and mosques, the religion of Albania is the Albanian-ness”. Like Gjergj Kastrioti’s returning “HOME” after 25 years in Istanbul this saying resonated loudly right across the Albanian lands the Albanians woke up once again now having a good reason to unite and fight for and they did. This is a photo of the Bektashi Tekke in Kulmaka (Tomorri Mountain). Whilst one can write books about the Bektashi Sect, the main points that a non-Bektashi perhaps should know are that Bektashi is a very tolerant order of Islam, it ignores most core conventional Islamic rules, such as abstention from alcohol,pork and the veiling of women.(Indeed I would be shocked if Skrapari men would put up with any religion that would take the beloved Raki away from them!). Another interesting point is that a Christian is always welcome in a Bektashi Tekke and there is no need or for him/her to ever convert. Jesus is also revered by Bektashis as a vessel of the divine spirit. Just by putting down these lines I can see why many Albanians did not mind converting to Bektashis. In fact it seem to me that it was not the Albanians that converted to Bektashis at all, rather it is was the Bektashi that converted to Albanian! If someone was to read about the Albanians and their religious spirituality to some depth one would soon come to the conclusion that the essence of what it means to be a religious person is very different from that of people in most nations with far more institutionalised religions. Whilts I am sure many will disagree with me when I say that an Albanian is not defined by his/her Religion, I am even more certain that most Albanians will. Find interesting… more on the political aspect with my next posting. This is photo of a remote village on the East side of Tomorri Mountain. If you wanted an alternative life style I would highly recommend this place. Unless you desperately wanted to keep in touch with the modern life the modern temptations are just not there. Life here is about hard work on the land, trees, bees and animals, good food and raki and it is very very quiet. With about 1000W of lighting for the whole of the valley you can litteraly have a drink with the Moon and the stars undisturbed. Wake up to the barking of the dogs the singing of the birds and the rooster. Foreign armies, invaders and governments have come and gone having little real effect in the lives of people who live here, let us wait and see if the extreme modernism will substantially change the life i of the people in this very remote and idyllic place. Another photo of the East side of the legendary Mount Tomorri. Wild and wonderful. Another major landmark in Skrapari region's landscape. Maybe about 500m deep this canyon it would have taken the stream millions of years to cut through. There are explorable caves round this area but I do not have the details. This is a photo of Kasabashi Bridge near Corovode . Perfect example of what is named Ottoman Architecture, one can find this type of bridge almost everywhere in the Balkans. One time the were the life line for many inhabitants in these sparsley populated remote agrarian communities. In its high time peasants would cross this bridge with their mules and donkies laden with agrarian produce to go the the town and cross it back to get home after purchasing manufactured goods from the town. One has to appreciate the high level of skill needed to built bridges like this. And most importantly perhaps they have resisted the time and are there for us to see and appreciate. My brother is baking our lunch on open fire near a village called Ujanik somewhere between 1000 -1500m over the sea level. Again meat is the main ingredient, Albanians love meat and they eat too much of it. Rack of lamb, the ususal mediteranean herbs + salt and pepper + lemon and salad with plenty of olives + toast also toasted on the fire + red wine made my some good old folk from a village called Malinat. Lip-smacking!! Skrapari region in the South of Albania is not very wellknown outside Albania but it is a region of outstanding natural beauty. Mountains, rivers, lakes, caves, forests, good food and raki, hospitable people and a lot peace; to name just a few reasons why someone fond of trekking might consider visiting the region. This photo is reposted. Compared to the previous photo this one has less noise. I was surprised to see ploughing with donkies as even in the old days (to my knowledge!) the Albanians used to use Oxen. The woman is sowing corn (one seed at a time!) following her husband ploughing in the front. At least they will have some organic crop! I thought the setting by the river was wonderful. I was tempted to go closer by I was not brave enough. Not further than a mile from this scene another farmer was plowing his land but this one was using a big tractor. What a contrast! Government Grants


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