A toast- To Cold Winters and Snowy Travels!

Hey there Steemers,

This time I will take you to a village abandoned by almost everyone. The population of it is only around 50 people and it is located only 40 minutes away from one of the most beautiful towns in Albania. The village itself is not very old. It was created by those trying to escape the Ottoman Empire and its invasion of the Albanian regions. Most of the Albanian population, as learned in our history, used to be of Orthodox and Catholic nature. When the Ottomans invaded the territory, the first thing they did was religion cleansing. Part of the population tried to fight it and the other part just gave in.

We started from Tirana around 9 a.m and found ourselves in Dardha around 1 p.m. The road was blocked by heavy snow, so we had to walk for about 15 minutes to our Air BnB home away from home :)

The hosts were very friendly and offered also traditional food from the region. Here is our breakfast and the view we had. A very relaxing weekend I would call it. Sometimes you could just hear your breath and nothing else around.

Unfortunately, since there was a lot of snow around, we did not get the chance of hiking in the area. However, we walked around a bit in our hiking shoes and enjoyed the fresh air and the village life. Every morning we woke up, order the delicious breakfast of eggs, butter, jam and cheese. The lady of the house offered us some free turkish coffee and a shot of raki made by the plum tree in the veranda!

It was so peaceful. Such a peace that comes back every time I think of that weekend. I had few "friends" coming by, such as this lady below :) However, the cats of the village were almost wild. They are not used to people anymore. There are only 12 families living in the village for the whole year. The rest of the houses are empty and used mostly for touristic reasons.

Two days were enough to relax for the rest of the month. We came back to our daily life and the mess of a metropol city.

Right now, dreaming a bit about it! We planned to go back during spring time and enjoy few hikes to the river of the village or up to the church found at the top of a hill close by!

I hope you guys enjoyed the picture and felt the peace through the post :)

Have a great weekend to all!
Until next time,
STEEM ON!