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| The dam forming lake Koman |
Having read about one of the world’s great boat trips in a
number of travel guides and online articles one of the main draws to Albania
for us was the Koman ferry trip (Guardian article). The ferry connects the towns of Koman and
Fieze as an alternate route to traversing the perilous gravel road (track) around the edge of
the lake. The lake itself was only
created in 1978 when a dam (constructed by the Chinese when relations between
the two nations were strong under communist dictator Enver Hoxha) subsequently
created a lake between the mountains.
Our day began very early as our hostel, The Green Garden Hostel had organised
the local workers bus to collect us at 6 am for the 2 hour journey (5 Euros) from
Shkodra to Koman.
We were woken up by the call for prayer from the minarets and as we passed through the town we were surprised that there was so much
activity so early, with cafes full of men lining the streets and farmers selling
their fruit produced in the surrounding rural area. Shkodra is not just a mix of east
meeting west but also a clear divide between communism and capitalism with
Soviet style concrete apartment blocks and small shops sandwiching a growing rise of private investment in the form of casinos, luxury
hotels and boutique shops. As we slowly
made our way out of town collecting workers on route we began to head up into
the mountains, thankfully slowly as the track began to rise away from the lake
down an unprotected drop to the waters below.
Along with an array of farm animals the road was littered
with graves marking those who had not driven with such care. A variety of hard looking mountain folk
got on, each bringing with them another intoxicating aroma of shit of sweat that helped to clear the senses following our early start.
We arrived at the ‘dock’
through a 500m tunnel along the side of another dam onto a small area filled
with a handful of cars and vans parked haphazardly with their drivers chain
smoking strong Russian cigarettes and drinking the local coffee (or tar depending
on your view point) in a small wooden café. As the ferry departed between the rising
mountains and pine forests we settled down for a journey (a return trip for our
accommodation in Shkoder) gratefully receiving strong Turkish coffee to help
wake up. Although I would argue with the
name of a ‘ferry’ given to our vessel the incredibly hard jagged mountains
towered over the narrow lake and the uninhabited valleys made it feel like we were stepping back into Albania's rich history. Despite spending 6 hours in total on the ferry (with our return leg) we
were offered a beer and it was very relaxing on the boat as the mesmerising scenery floated past. Although the ferry ride felt like an 'off the
beaten path' adventure we did meet two retired women on holiday with an Albanian tour
guide (a passionate football fan who had been to St James Park to watch England v Albania) who was able to explain about the history of the area. He also interpreted one old locals enthusiastic pointing to where he had grown up and how the valley below used to plunge another 90 metres before the dam was built and the lake removed all trace of the homesteads below. It is hard to imagine that such a beautiful journey in western Europe would not have been over run with tourists and as such it made the voyage seem all the more captivating. |
| Enjoying the journey with a cold beer! |
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