Blue Eye, Butrint, Saranda, Albania (February 2026)

 

After we left Gjirokaster, we crossed over a mountain towards the beach city, Saranda, a popular vacation spot. On the way, we visited the Blue Eye. It is a water spring and natural phenomenon occurring in the village of Muzine, located in southern Albania. It is a popular tourist attraction because the clear blue water of the river can be seen from a depth of more than 50 meters.  

Then, we headed to Butrint, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is Albania's national park located 18 kilometers south of Sarande. The park emcompasses more than 9,000 hectares of hilly terrain with freshwater lakes, wetlands, salt marshes, open plains, reed beds, and islands. 

At the top of the park, there was a small museum that exhibited artifacts dug out of the archeological site. The view from the top was panoramic.

 

We felt sad about the fact that the lower part of the park was pretty deeply covered with water. I was wondering what UNESCO could do about it.

At the end of the day, we reached Sarande, the most popular beach town, across from the Greek island Corfu. We barely caught the sunset. 

The following morning, we drove up to a hill from where we were able to see Sarande with a bird's eye view. 

We did not have time to do anything meaningful in Sarande, but we felt satisfied with the previous day's trip. - Jeffrey