Ancient Albanian Trail has Curt on the Edge in Krujë - Van Life Albania

Good morning everyone. I am excited today. I've been staring up at this big mountain now for about three or four days. I've been staring at it from our campsite, well from the castle in town and from the stroll through town. I just keep looking up at that thing thinking wow that's steep. So what do we got today? Well it's about a 3,000 foot climb which turns out to be about a thousand meters and so the estimated time on the hike up is two hours and all of that is one way and then I have to come back down. So 3,000 feet up, 3,000 feet down and about a third of it is walking up through the town. So if you saw us walk up to the bazaar and the castle and all this stuff that Kruhe has to offer, well you know as soon as we leave the campsite we start going up and really I'm not going to stop going up until I get to the top of that mountain. So let's get this party started. All right the first bit of the hike is up out of this campground about halfway now. You can see the restaurant right there that's at the top that pops me out the road. Then I keep walking up to the road and into town. Okay that was about a 15 minute walk from the campground up to sort of the beginning of the city and you can see it doesn't really look like I'm getting any closer to the mountaintop. I still have quite a bit of walking through the city probably about 30 minutes before I get to the trailhead but I just want to let you know this is a solo hike today. I have about a liter of water. Now there is a water source and a restaurant up at the top so if I should have plenty of supplies. I also have some snacks and let's move our way on up through this. I'll be honest with you on this particular hike the biggest danger is the Albanian drivers. They whip down these narrow windy roads for speed not for safety and although there's a lot of pedestrians on the road we've already learned firsthand that they will hit you. Obviously if you don't know we were in a car accident where a car struck us in the van speeding around the tight corner on a curvy road but we got a little narrow sidewalk here so we'll take advantage of that as we work our way through the town. And as we walk up through the town something I didn't expect but I'm not surprised just a random donkey walking up the road and he probably needs to watch out for traffic as well because I don't think he understands these Albanian drivers. All right I did what you don't want to do to start off a hike. I turned down the wrong road and because we're in a little mountainous city here a little mountainous town these are all switchbacky roads so it's not like you can just cut over a block and get back on track. So after about probably six or seven eight minutes walking uphill the wrong way I'm walking back down to try to get back on the path to the road to the trailhead. So hey! All right back on track and Sarastalic? Sarastalic? Sarastalic? Anyway that's where I'm headed. All right there are a lot of stairs but we are moving closer and closer to the trailhead and as I come up the stairs I think these are a good indicator how steep everything's been so far and of course my breathing's already hard. Not even to the trailhead yet guys but almost. Hang on we'll be there in a jiff. All right we're headed up you can maybe see up there the mountain we're almost to the trailhead and I met some nice people from Albania and they helped me turn. They just were down picking up some groceries down at the market and this is the walk they just have to get home so I guess I can't complain too much but really nice people. So this nice gentleman. What is your name? Nice to meet you. Thank you for the orange. Thank you very much. You guys have a wonderful day. A good day. Good day. Yeah. Take care. All right those guys saw me to the trailhead and they gave me an orange for along the way. What sweet people. I know we've said that about the Albanian people even though they are fast crazy drivers but we made it to the trailhead and there's a little kitty here. I think that's a good sign. Hey kitty kitty kitty kitty. And just like that I made it to the trailhead and I made a little friend. I was taking a little break and a crew came up so even though it's a solo hike there's crew in front of me and probably be more crews behind me so anyway we made it up here in just under 45 minutes so we're on target. It's around 10 o'clock. The goal is to get up to the top at or before noon. That gives me two hours and maybe we'll have a little snack or lunch if the restaurant's opened up top. We'll see how this thing goes. I can tell you off the top it is steep and we're not even up through the houses yet and I'm already breathing hard and you can see from the start how rustic this trail has gotten so and these rocks I gotta be careful because these rocks are slippery and we had some rain yesterday so take care is in order. A bit concerned right off the gate because the trail really isn't marked too well and we really have a lot of this right here and so it's just kind of wide open rocky scrambly stuff but you can definitely see the whole of Cruyere down there. The camper van honestly the van is down in a valley so we can't even see that down below those lakes actually quite a bit below those lakes but we can see the castle. We already have beautiful panoramic views and you can see we're definitely getting closer to the top but I gotta get going so I can keep up with these other guys or try my best so I don't get lost on this trail. All right I met some cool people on the trail. They're headed down. They cheated. They took the car up top and only went down. What is your name? My name is Yona or Yonada is the the sea of Yon and the sea of Adriatic. I'm from Girocastro but I live in Turana. Today I'm here to see this view and to have a nice trip with my friends. Awesome it's so nice to meet you. Safe travels. Thank you. Take care. Bye guys. Thanks. All right I stopped up here. I wanted to pop the drone up and get some footage of you guys for the castle. We went and visited it yesterday possibly in the last video but I didn't have the drone so I wanted to get the drone before I got too high and a lot of people are coming down the trail so I met several people already and well they got dropped off in vehicles up at the top and just did the hike down so anyway not so easy for me. I'm doing the hike up. They all wished me well but anyway it was a nice break and nice to meet friendly people and the trail is actually more marked up here so things are looking up so as I get up higher I'm finding some big old boulders and the trail is actually pretty good so far and what I'm learning is a lot of people start up top. They get a ride up to the top and then well they just do they walk down so there's a steady stream of people coming down and they all think I'm crazy but anyway I know I'm not the only one doing this but I am in the minority but what a beautiful day guys. What a beautiful day and if you guys have watched any of my hikes you guys know I frequently say that when you look at a hike or a mountain from afar it just always looks so different once you get up here and you get into the mountain and this trail is definitely no different. The trail is kind of tucked away and hidden as it wraps around in these boulders and the forest but once you get up here it opens up and of course you can hear the birds chirping and you can see all the beautiful flora and you can see the rocks and the terrain and well you just get to spend time in the nature which is why I'm taking the long hard hike up and I'm glad. All right I've got my first glimpse of the van. Let's see if you guys can spot it. So just below those houses right there there's kind of an opening spot with a few olive trees in it and it has a white building right in the middle of the opening. That is our parking lot and if you go right up to the edge of the trees sort of towards the houses the van's just tucked away in the trees and you can barely see it but it is there. I guess for me I just always know where my house is or at least I hope I do. All right also I'm about halfway up maybe about a third of the way from the trailhead but in terms of my hike about halfway up and you can definitely see we're getting closer and it looks like up to the top it gets steeper but I don't know there could be some switchbacks up there probably is. Probably got about another 45 minutes to go just taking it nice and easy. I haven't hiked a lot in a while. We've been picking it back up now that the winter is kind of winding down it's getting warmer and we can get outside we're really loving that we're trying to get back in shape and well today's part of all that. and someone coming from below just passed me up. That's okay we all go at our own pace but if you're like me you're wondering how am I going to get up over that straight ledge looks so steep at the top compared to everything else if you look at it from down below and well you can see the guy in the red shirt walking up it just stays steep and these switchbacks wrap around and you can see those two big boulders this trail is going to wrap around before between them and well how we get up that sheer face wall is still a mystery to me but we're probably about two thirds of the way we're making good time I think it's probably about 11 20 so we got 40 minutes to reach my goal I think we're going to get it I can still see the van down there below taking a little break and we're going to get going in just a minute. but you keep me going you keep me going this world would never be my home the journey might be lonely but I'd never be me instead yeah you keep me going walking for a while following the fire your spirit is within me and it keeps me going you said it'd be a narrow road you said it'd be a narrow road so why am I surprised when it seems I'm on my own you said it'd be a narrow road this world would never be my home the journey might be lonely but I'd never be alone you said it'd be a narrow road you said it'd be a narrow road so why am I surprised when it seems I'm on my own you said it'd be a narrow road this world would never be my home look you can see the trail down there under the telephone wires and wrapping around oh somebody else is coming up around the corner all right if you can see up there there's someone kind of in a turquoise blue uh jacket coming down someone else behind them so that's how we get up to the top you can see the buildings right there a couple more switchbacks we are getting extremely close guys I didn't even realize it just looked up we're almost there just a little bit further just a little bit more can you guys see that little hole in the mountains over there sometimes it's the little things guys keep you going help you take the next step but we're wrapping around and look right there that's it we're gonna make it we're gonna do what they say can't be done all right we made it to the top and as usual in Albania there's some awesome people up here I met them all the way up and some at the top I can hear down below the call to prayer the views are absolutely stunning from here and we can see out to the last hike we did out the castle out on the peninsula that's out right there in front of us what amazing views and you can see younger guys making it up the mountain they look as worn out as me but anyway thank you for taking the picture for me all right there are a lot of people all of a sudden making it up behind me you can see back there so it looks like 9 a.m starts good I got up here right at noon so right on goal and you can see the rock face up here I think there's a little restaurant up here I think I'm gonna have a little snack before I head back down there are two ways to get to the top of Kruhej mountain you can hike the steep trail like Kurt which is the same trail that was used during Skanderbeg times or you can also drive up a steep and winding seven kilometer road that was built for the sole purpose of being able to access the shrine at the top it is a shrine to Sari Saltik he is a 13th century Turkish dervish now I did not know what a dervish was so I googled it and I think it's similar to a monk it's a Muslim religious person that chooses to live in poverty now there are a lot of discrepancies in history about him his birth year is unknown and where he was born is contested it could be modern-day Uzbekistan or maybe Crimea it is believed that he died in 1297 or maybe 1298 he is considered a saint and legend says that his body was placed into seven different coffins and buried in several locations around the region including in the cave that has been turned into a shrine at the top of this mountain now why would people go to so much trouble over someone and build shrines at all of these different burial locations well Sari Saltik is credited with bringing the Islam religion to the Balkan region in the 1200s well it was a long walk to eat in this restaurant but at least they're open I think at least the open sign's on I'll go in and get some food and something to drink all right fortunately I found the restaurant when I came up to the top there was a bunch of empty buildings in a parking lot I couldn't see the restaurant but I took the chance and walked through the parking lot saw the restaurant ordered the first thing on the menu it turned out that it was just a plate of meat which I think was goat and first I kind of was like huh but I was hungry I devoured it and actually it was quite tasty and probably more what I needed than anything else and uh well now I'm headed back down look at here guys I am almost down I'm definitely to the city naturally I got to go down to the campground but I gotta tell you that was about an hour down and it was tough because of these rocks and every step is difficult because as you put weight down a lot of these rocks want to move and it's slippery but we kept going we persevered and we made it and uh I'm ready to get back to the van take these hiking boots off and uh are you okay I'm ready to get back to the van and get these hiking boots off and just chill one last little burst here down the stairs from the restaurant through the olive fields next to the vineyards and down to the campground guys it's been a good time here in Crier thank you guys always for coming along we love it when you join our journey we certainly miss it when you don't so this is where we're going to wind the video down we'll see you guys on the next one have a great day cheers if you like this video be sure to subscribe to our channel and hit that notification bell so you guys know when we put out new videos and don't forget you can always follow us over on instagram to see what's going on in between videos cheers guys