[ALBSA-Info] The Independent on Butrint

[Agron Alibali]

The Independent (London) 

August 4, 2001, Saturday 
First Edition; FEATURES; Pg. 1 



ANCIENT STONES, BURIED MEMORIES; 
 BUTRINT IN ALBANIA IS ONE OF THE LEAST KNOWN AND LEAST SPOILT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. HERE, ANCIENT GREEK, ROMAN AND BYZANTINE REMAINS ARE PILED IN LAYERS OF STRATIFIED HISTORY, UNDERPINNED BY A TROJAN LEGEND. HAMISH MCRAE FELL UNDER ITS SPELL 

Hamish Mcrae 



In the dark days after the sacking of Troy, Helenus, the seer-son of King Priam, was brought as a prisoner by the son of Achilles to the Adriatic coastal region of Greece that lay between the Ambracian Gulf and Illyria. Today, that area is better known as Albania. And at its southernmost tip, on the coast immediately opposite the Greek island of Corfu, is the site of Butrint, the city where, according to tradition, Helenus eventually ruled with his wife and former sister-in-law, Andromache. 

It is an exotic legend, and the fact that the site is only a couple of hours by ferry and taxi from Corfu must make it one of the most exotic day-trips that holiday-makers can take anywhere in Europe. Better still, stay a night or two and explore a fascinating, rough, puzzling, charming country that was until recently, in effect, closed to foreigners. 

A day gives you a glimpse of Saranda, the little port where the Corfu ferries dock, and a few hours at Butrint set in a new national park 15 miles to the south. With a couple of days to spare you could take in a concert in the Greek theatre which after some 2,500 years is still in use and really absorb the atmosphere of Saranda before it becomes too developed. 

Saranda may appear dusty and rough when you get off the ferry, but it is fast becoming one of Albania's most fashionable resorts. You step off the boat, and get into one of the elderly Mercedes taxis, and bounce along the rutted roads past unfinished apartment blocks. Then suddenly just as you start to wonder what you've got yourself into, you are in a glitzy bar overlooking the sea, with Corfu shimmering in the distance and feeling that life does not come much better. 

For Albania is still to some extent awaking from a Communist enchantment, in the form of a half-century slumber. On the one hand, capitalist consumerism is evident and the roads are populated by nearly new Mercedes and BMWs (Albania is the home of Europe's stolen car fleet). On the other, there are memories of the Hoxha Communist dictatorship: little pillbox fortifications dot the landscape. 

Geographically, the country is varied. Go over the mountains, pass the flocks of wandering sheep, and you have left the warm Mediterranean for the wonderful medieval city of Gjirokaster, a couple of hours' drive away. 

You are conscious always of moving backwards and forwards through landscapes and time. One minute we were bumping along a mountain track with people cutting hay with scythes and riding bullock carts. Half an hour later we were sipping a gin and tonic at a swish restaurant overlooking the Med. (The Albanians are good on the gin front by the way - no messing about with optics, they just slosh it in.) 

That evening we went to a folk festival in the Greek theatre, where a hundred or so musicians demonstrated different kinds of traditional music. I now know that Albanian bagpipes, unlike the Scottish variety, have only one drone. 

Later still we were back in Saranda, sitting next to the minister of culture, who had come down for the festival, having dinner on long tables in the village square, as the Albanian version of line-dancers wound their way among us. (Much, much later, it was the Africa Club disco, and more G&Ts, on the waterside under a starlit sky.) 

And it is not just the contrasts but also the rate of change. You see a country moving with astonishing speed from one way of life to another. Wait a few years and the scythes and bullock carts will be gone, and Albania will be pretty much like the other countries that fringe the Med. 

And Butrint? As John Julius Norwich, the scholar of Byzantine history, wrote: "Of all the great classical sites of the Mediterranean, Butrint is the least known, the least frequented and the least spoilt." Here you will catch a feeling for the way in which Europe's culture and history has been created, layer on layer, over 3,000 years. 

Its story is also unfolding before your eyes, for the archaeologists have been hard at work. The main team is an Anglo-Albanian one, part funded by the London -based Butrint Foundation. The Greek theatre is understandably the most stunning of the buildings and the one in current use. 

But the particular excitement this year is the next stage of excavation of a vast, early Byzantine complex called the Triconch Palace. During our visit, they were trying to figure out why work was apparently abandoned before a big rebuilding programme was finished at the beginning of the sixth century AD. Perhaps by now they may even have discovered the answer. 

The site is so big (about 100 acres) and there are so many layers of history that it is hard in one visit to figure out what was built when. In the Aeneid, Virgil has Aeneas describe it as looking like a miniature Troy: 

I saw before me Troy in miniature, 

A slender copy of our massive tower 

The Roman poet himself would have been aware of Butrint, as the region was the scene of the civil war between Mark Antony and Octavian, later the emperor Augustus and, of course, Virgil's patron. The Crusaders came here, the Despots ruled here as did the Venetians and the Ottomans. The Butrint Foundation publishes an excellent guide that you can buy at the kiosk. 

As you become familiar with the site, you start to feel irritated by the Roman builders who "improved" the theatre by adding a new brick back wall which spoils the lines of the Greek stonework. Large parts of the site are still to be excavated, and you feel the tantalising possibility that you are standing on some hidden architectural gem or a vital piece of an archaeological jigsaw. Perhaps some artefact will be unearthed confirming the legend and proving that it really was the Trojans who came here to create a new kingdom. The earliest pottery fragments found so far date back to 800BC. 

If you are lucky you might get to meet the head of the park, Auron Tare. Refreshingly, the local office of the Butrint National Park sees its job as helping to make sure that visitors are looked after by local people who are committed to the development of the region. They will organise local guides, trekking and so on. 

This is not regular tourist territory so there will be an element of adventure. The region has been in contention for much of its history and there are a lot of AK47s around. I was told that occasionally the locals let off a few rounds at night. But while Albania has a justified reputation for crime this is not directed against visitors. 

As far as I could judge, the place is extremely safe, particularly for anyone connected with the dig. Think of yourself as a guest, not a tourist, and you will be treated with courtesy. 

The sight of high Phaeacia 

soon we lost, 

And skimm'd along Epirus' 

rocky coast. 

Then to Chaonia's port our 

course we bend, 

And, landed, to Buthrotus' 

heights ascend. 

Here wondrous things were 

loudly blaz'd fame: 

How Helenus reviv'd the 

Trojan name 

Virgil, Aeneid, Book III 

Travellers' Guide 

Getting there: 

For a one-day tour contact the Corfu-based company Betrakis (0030 661 38690) which organises trips for about pounds 39 (including hydrofoil, port taxes and site visit). You can book in the UK through Rediscover the World (08707 406 306). If you would like to stay longer, The Travel Professionals (01372 478 740) can tailor-make trips to Butrint and Saranda. 

To travel independently, catch the Mimosa ferry that leaves Corfu Town at 8.30am from the new port by the Atlantis Hotel (which provides ferry timetables). The ferry takes a couple of hours. You can buy a visa on the boat at Saranda ($ 10).To take a taxi from the jetty to Butrint and back should not cost more than $ 30. Take lots of small-denomination dollars: the local currency is the leke, but most currencies are accepted. 

Further information: 

Guidebooks from Butrint Foundation (020-7493 8111, e-mail: butrintfound @dial.pipex.com; www.butrintfound. dial.pipex.com/). The Butrint office is at the National Park (00 355 732.4600; email: visitbutrint at albonline.net) 



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