Karaburun

A finger of land jutting into the Adriatic Sea, Albania’s Karaburun Peninsula is nothing if not rocky.

They carry the kind of names that only enhance their sense of mystery – one is called Gramata, or Bay of the Scripts, another is known as Bay of Ragusa, a town in Sicily and the name by which Croatia’s Adriatic coastal town of Dubrovnik was known when it was a city-state. Others are grouped together under the name Ravena Plateau, Ravena being the name of another Italian town.

A few dirt roads carved out by the Albanian army run along the eastern side of the peninsula, but they are off limits to civilians due to the proximity of a naval base at the southern end of the Bay of Vlora.

A first trip set off from Vlora harbour at a cost of 2,500 leks per person (about 20 euros), taking in the cavernous Haxhi Ali Cave and one of the few beaches on the eastern side of the peninsula where a small restaurant served grilled meat and fish, salad, local white sheep’s cheese and French fries.

At the end of the peninsula some 15 kilometres from Vlora town, the Haxhi Ali Cave is so big that it can host a small ship or several speedboats at the same time. It can take up to 30 minutes to get there, depending on how fast the captain is prepared to go.

The location is steeped in pirate myth and legend and more recent tales of traffickers in drugs and people who used it to shelter from bad weather and police.

There are several organised speedboat trips there per day; visitors can swim in the cave’s highly saline waters as light dances on the ceiling.

The second trip took us from the village of Dhermi, on the other side of the peninsula from Vlora, to the Blue Cave and then Gramata Bay, the jewel of the Albanian coast.

Boats to Gramata Bay are less frequent and more expensive; in contrast to the calm waters of the Bay of Vlora, the Ionian Sea and the Strait of Otranto are often rough. The trip can cost roughly 150 euros for up to six or seven people.

The only other way is by foot, but it can take six hours and you need a good supply of drinking water.