Two weeks before Thanksgiving, Criss went east into the mountains for 3 days to work on a walking tour map for the city of Korçë. This is an older city and several people have said it was the cultural center of Albania for a long time. With four PC volunteers there, it seemed like a good chance to document the unknown Korçë and there is an excavation that has been turned into an outdoor museum that Criss wanted to see.

It was a great plan. There are 2 men (one in late 20s and one about Criss’s age) and 2 women (30s and 40s) in Korçë and Criss was offered a place to stay with the older man or younger woman. Why on earth did he choose the older man? What is wrong with that? Lots, but the biggest problem is once there, he found his host had been sick for 3 weeks with an outrageous cold and 2 days after he returned, Criss was sick and after a week, Carol was sick (just in time for Thanksgiving). Three weeks later, we are about over this little setback. Next time, Carol is going to pick the housing arrangements.

The first day in Korçë was spent getting familiar with the place. Criss’ host, Jerome, took him on a walk around the city which highlighted the main points of interest. Of interest were the oldest mosque in Albania,

the largest Orthodox church in Albania,

the museum of medieval art and being from Durrës, all the green space.

The second day was spent visiting the outdoor museum. Outside of Korçë is a small community called Kamenicës and this is where an excavation of the Tuma e Kamenicës or Brial Mounds of Kamenicës is located.

This excavation has been set up as an outdoor museum where visitors can see the half-excavated ruins and where archeology students can have a lab for developing their techniques. Each summer they offer a session where the students come out and work in a testing site. The staff plants the artifacts and the students must excavate them, completing all the documentation like they would on a real dig. The funding for this site is provided by the Packard Humanities Foundation in cooperation with the Albanian government. It should be noted that without the participation of the foundations, much of Albania’s archeology would not be protected, as the government does not have the funds to cover the excavation and protection of sites.

The third day, Criss awoke to snow. By 8 o’clock it showed no sign letting up, so he decided to head back to the low-land before the passes became impassable.

Expecting the bus to be a bit safer than the furgons, it was a long slow trip back. The safety was a bit compromised as the defroster did not work and so the young man who assisted the driver spent most of his time wiping the fog off the windshield. But it seemed he cleared his side of the windshield twice as often as the driver’s which caused a certain amount of discomfort to at least one passenger.