1. The austere and beautiful town of Gjirokastra began to spread downhill from its castle in the 13th century. The castle still broods on its hill, overlooking the whole city and the river valley below. From that vantage point, the grey stone of the houses below and the grey slates of their roofs blend into the hillside, distinguished from it only by their whitewashed walls. Gjirokastra's architecture and haunting atmosphere are described by one of the city's most famous sons, Ismail Kadare: 'It was a surprising city, which seemed as if it had come out of the valley unexpectedly, one winter's night, like a prehistoric being, and clambered up with difficulty, stitching itself on to the side of the mountain. Everything in this city was old and made of stone, from the streets and fountains right up to the roofs of its big houses, a century old, which were covered with stone tiles the color of ash, like so many huge carapaces. It was difficult to believe that under these hard shells the soft flesh of life thrived and was renewed.' Ismail Kadare, Kronikë në gur ('Chronicle in Stone'), Onufri, 2000 2.

The path out of Thethi begins at a wooden bridge called the Gjeçaj Bridge, where the Shala River is fringed with willows and alders, and bubbles photogenically across rocks and stones. The track climbs very steeply through the settlement of Gjelaj, and then through beech forest to a beautiful alpine meadow, carpeted with lavender, clover of different colors, and little orchids. There is a slow spring at the top of the meadow where water-bottles can be replenished. In the fairly recent past, Thethi families used to live in the village in winter and move up to alps like this during the summer. This tradition has now been abandoned; these days, the only inhabitants of the meadows and forests are foxes, weasels, badgers, brown hares and squirrels.