Our main reason for heading to Albania at this time, was to show we had left the EU and reset the VAT clock on the boat. Last season we did this in Tunisia, and even though our 18 months wasn’t up, it would be before we returned next spring.
The check in process was pretty straight forward as you had to use an agent who accompanied you to the Port office and took care of all the interactions. Todd said he didn’t need to talk to anyone, and the process was efficient. Clearing in and out (2 days later), cost 50 euro and no “backsheesh”.
Sarande had been a new republic since 1990/91, and according to Wikipedia, was an upper middle income country with a market based ecconomy. GDP by sector in 2017 was listed as 21.7% agriculture, 24.2 % Industry, and 54.1% services.
We found Sarande to be a relaxed mix of vacationers and business, with a long waterside prominade fronting dry steep hills. (Apparently there were 500,000 bunkers constructed during the Cold War years, and we did pick up a few of them through the binoculars. In other parts of the country they had been repurposed for storage, bar’s, and cafe’s).
The ruins of a synagogue in town was a short walk from the dock. The more impressive sites were further North in Butrint, Berat, and Gjirokaster, but the anchorage did not have all around protection and we didn’t think it prudent to leave the boat unattended.
A short jaunt through the farmers market revealed nice looking produce and reasonable prices (1 Lek equalled 0.0082 euro). The restaurants were medium value for a seaside vacation spot, and everyone would take euros.
After a pleasant 2 day stop over, we headed back to clear into Greece at Corfu.
