Last Day in Albania

 This morning, we visited Skanderbeg's grave. It was very cool with a mosaic art of the Albanian flag in the background and a replica of his helmet and sword on top of his grave. On the walls are bronze shields with the names of all of the battles he won (there were many more than you can see in this picture).

 This is an ancient baptismal font. Lucy is excited to get baptized in March.

This is the outside of Skanderbeg's grave site. It is very green in Albania.

 This is the Rozafa Castle in Shkoder, Albania. It was so amazing. There were no rules, no tour guides, and no fences. It was so cool to just explore. There were so many secret passageways and hidden tunnels. It was so huge and it took us hours to cover all of its grounds. I'm sure we didn't and I hope we'll be able to go back someday!

 This is a deep well! We had fun dropping lots of rocks into it.

 The castle is up on a hill which is a great battle strategy.

 These alcoves reminded Lucy of the Von Trapp family singers at the festival.

 For some reason I love all of the archways and the architecture of these old buildings. They're so unique.

 There are so many dark passageways and hidden tunnels. It was so much fun exploring. Good thing we had cell phones to light our way!

 This is the chapel part of the castle. You can still see the altar!

 Behind this arch, there is about a several hundred feet drop. It was really fun. Everyone else is scared of heights…

 There are so many miraculous views from every tower and look out spot.

 We all thought that this shot kind of looks like Ireland. It is so green and beautiful with all of the lakes and seas in the background. Including the city and countryside in the background too.

This castle was very much the best part of the trip for me. It was amazing. Definitely something I want to go back and see again another time.

 There was a cool museum by the castle. It had many artifacts that people had found inside the castle and a 3D map of it. They've found a lot of artifacts in the castle area that date all the way back to 2,000 BC!

It was cool to go in the museum and learn a little history about it.

These are called Halva. They're an Albanian dessert. Personally, I thought that they were disgusting, but the rest of my family loved them. To me they tasted like airy cookie dough clumps with no flour. It's actually kind of hard to explain what they tasted like. Not my favorite dessert though.

This is Lucy with Jimmy, the owner of our hotel. He is super nice and hospitable. He made special Albanian byrek for us this afternoon. Byrek is an Albanian pastry made with cheese or vegetables or meat inside.

Later, we went to Alketa and her husband Gerti's house. They have a cute little  three-year-old son too. My dad taught Alkata and her sister Erinda when they were fourteen and ten. It was fun for my dad to see them again along with Alkata's family. Erinda came too, but unfortunately her family couldn't come. They are very nice people. 

 We ate dinner out on their rooftop terrace. Most people in Albania don't have a terrace and it was super pretty up there. It was fun eating up there, even though it was cold.

She got each of us our own pizza! 

Most Albanians traditionally serve dhalle, which is like drinking salty, watered down greek yogurt.  My Mom thought it was okay, but my Dad could not stand it (he always struggled with it during his mission). I only pretended to drink it just to be nice. Lucy didn't even try it… 

It was great to end our trip to Albania with a traditional Albanian feast with a wonderful family. We're off to Rome early tomorrow morning...