Lake Ohrid: One Of The Oldest Lakes In The World | Amazing Albania

Lake Ohrid: One Of The Oldest Lakes In The World | Amazing Albania

It is perhaps the last white spot on European Maps Sheria better known to us as Albania for decades it’s been completely sealed off from the outside world hardly anywhere else are bias and reality as far apart as here Albania is poor but it is also rich rich in mountains and a diversity of

Landscapes a country with warm-hearted people and a Mediterranean Lifestyle people who travel to Albania should be ready for Extraordinary surprises Albania is roughly the size of Belgium nearly 3 million people live in this small country in the Balkans and more than a third of them live in the metropolitan area of the capital tyana the second part of our journey

Takes us to the south and east of the country on the border with Macedonia is one of the oldest lakes in the world its name is Orid the 350 square km lake orid is a so-called ancient Lake water became trapped here a million years ago Lake Constance for example is a mere 20,000 years old the shores of the lake are sparsely populated for those who live here life is not Easy the end of Communism brought Liberty to the People by the lake but up to now Prosperity has not changed very Much many have left here in recent Years summer holidays who knows perhaps these primary school children will soon move to the capital tyana with their parents or like so many before them leave Lake orid for Western Europe ancient Lakes such as orid are almost like Nature’s long-term memory with species that are impossible to find

Elsewhere including a number of endemic species like the or trout or Koran which is endangered due to over [Applause] fishing [Applause] fishing of any kind has actually been banned in Lake orid for 2 years friends flam Selco and asri tosa do not take much notice of the law the

Two fishermen have been trout fishing for decades with their old boat on good days they make just under 15 each I was born and raised here and I cannot live without the lake it is special for me the orid lake is a miracle it’s just beautiful some people also swim here the

Lake is simply a really nice place there are lots of fish here definitely 30 or 40 kinds of fish we have here trout eels and many other species and of course the Quran we call him the king of the lake UNESCO declared Aid Lake a world heritage site in

1979 because of its more than 200 unique species the Quran which survived even the ice age is today threatened with Extinction and is still sold everywhere it is easily recognizable because of its red dots the king of Lake orid the Coran trout 16-year-old fenis Chachi earns a little here in the summer

Holidays it is not much however today he sold only three fish he makes about € EUR profit per fish this will not help fenice much at home the annual fair in poget the largest city on Lake orid Next morning we leave Lake orid our goal is the largest city in southeast Albania korta years ago mining Engineers accidentally drilled through to an underground water source in the area and water is still shooting out of the earth lean TOA works here as a car washer he washes four to five cars per

Day a basic wash costs 200 Le which is about €140 so he makes €7 a day lean has seven siblings he gets to keep about half of his salary I’m here all day I wait around all day nothing is certain and you start to feel tired when you just have to

Wait sometimes a car comes but many times there’s nothing which is quite frustrating from Monday to Friday there is very little work only on weekends on Saturday and on Sunday it’s a little better from the mountains at the edge of Lake orid we head south to the valley of corcha Traveling here takes a lot of time through narrow mountain passes on donkeys or in Cars in the small towns and Villages the elderly often keep to themselves the boys try their luck in the city no wonder with unemployment amongst young people at almost 30% young math teacher Manuela keska is lucky she has two jobs after school she runs a cafe with her parents the family bunker serves as a warehouse for the home distilled schnaps all through Albania bunkers are everywhere nowhere in the world is there a higher density of bunkers nearly

200,000 of them in total in backyards fields in the middle of towns in a country with less than 3 million people they are the legacy of a fallen dictatorship but if you ask Manuela about her personal relationship with a family bunker you’ll be surprised the bunker always reminds me of my

Childhood and the Beautiful Moments that I had here with my family and friends I feel free here next to the bunker like so many others Manuela dreams of leaving preferably to Canada or Luxembourg she has heard from friends that it is very beautiful there and if not she will take over her

Parents Cafe and produce raki from her own plums with more than 50,000 inhabitant Cora is the center of the Albanian Southeast Cor Bazar it has been a Marketplace and Supply station for Caravans that stopped here for hundreds of Years here you will find shops and Market stores that will send Western visitors on a journey through time anyone visiting blacksmith Petri kovachi in his Workshop will feel transported back into the 19th century petrit is the fifth generation of blacksmiths in korta and he learned everything he knows from his grandfather

Petrit has two sons one is studying the other runs a vegetable stall neither of them will continue the family tradition this job has been my passion since I was 12 years old now I’m 61 I started working with my grandfather when I was a child my father was a professor at the

University of Applied mechanics I’ve always been in this profession simply because it’s my passion Generations now we’ve been blacksmiths throughout history it was a very valuable I imagine it’s something like architecture my age at 60 I have nothing to look forward to anymore that makes me

Sad and yet smithing is what I’ll have until the end of my Life we continue southwards again and again you encounter horse carts like this one here baresa and Islam kka collect what others no longer Need regular rubbish collection doesn’t really happen in the Countryside the vosa meanders through high Gorges towards the Mediterranean one of the very few rivers in the Balkans that still flow completely in their natural water Course even so the Albanian government is currently planning a gigantic Dam project in its lower reaches biology Professor arer proo is certain that would disturb the balance of nature of the river here in his home we have to take care of our environment keep it clean look after

It the air we breathe everything has an impact if we’re to avoid diseases such as cancer as humans pollution is one of the biggest problems we have and the vosa is actually one of the cleanest rivers in all of Albania especially Here The impression of pure nature is repeatedly clouded by one thing even here at the headquarters of the vosa rubbish the whole country is strewn with illegal unauthorized Dumps I think that’s an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription Required from the vosa we come to the city of stone to Jiro Castra Jiro castra has been on the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage sites since 2005 the houses resemble small fortresses and for centuries have characterize the area around the castle today’s Old Town nessip skuli grew up in one of the most beautiful houses in town the family of Ena hota who later became a dictator lived close by after taking power in 1944 hota declared ness’s home to be State Property only in the ’90s did nessip get his 300-year-old birthplace back

This house is a lot of work and what makes me sad is the fact that I don’t have enough money to maintain the house in the long term at the time UNESCO allocated €2 million EUR for preserving the most valuable houses in the city nessip undoubtedly counts as one of them yet he

Did not get a penny the old boy Network shared the money amongst themselves Mar p during the Communist era my family’s hopes of getting our house back caused us much suffering although we knew that we would get the house back again at some point my family has suffered a

Lifetime we did eventually get our house but we were never really morally recompensed everywhere there are precious carvings on the ceilings and wall coverings 34 rooms full of Little Treasures nessip has converted his birthplace into a small Museum entry costs 50 and includes a private tour whether he’ll be able to raise the

€2,000 which is needed for the renovation of the roof alone is uncertain nessip will soon lay responsibility for the family home in the hands of his daughter she recently lost her job not because she was a bad worker but because the new local government unceremoniously replaced all teachers who did not have

The right party affiliation corruption is a major problem in Albania and yet Eda is optimistic Against All Odds I feel blessed that I will inherit at this house even if I’ve never lived here it is very valuable to me this is not just a part of my family history it’s also a part of the history of all jastra secret passages connect the different levels of the

House during communist rule nessip lived with his sister and parents in this room for 20 years I was young and I didn’t really understand anything but living in this room was like living in a small prison ness’s father was tried and taken into custody he was later convicted as an alleged secret agent

It destroyed my sense of Peace Forever After the regime changed we were initially very happy but over time our disappointment grew nobody can give me those lost years back and now I’m in a similar situation although in a different way the bitter reality is that there is

No democracy in Albania even today and it just makes me very sad and those of us who are politically persecuted we’ve not been compensated what can you say From Jiro castra we go down to the ionian sea to Butrin On the way to the Mediterranean is a mysterious Place Siri Calta which roughly translated from Albanian means the blue eye a well at least 50 m deep in the midst of a magical Pine Forest Expedition teams from around the world have tried to dive down to the bottom so far without

Success 6 cubic M of water per second gush out of here the blue eye is supposedly the most abundant water source in Albania it is amazing how quickly the landscape changes in Albania about 30 km in One Direction you will find rugged mountainous terrain and 30 km to the other is the Mediterranean Sea in between at suriel CTA there is a jungle likee landscape similar to Central or South America in communist times only the

Party elite were allowed Entrance 20 km further west the butrint Lagoon lauzi has worked here for more than 30 years as a shellfish farmer here right on the Mediterranean condition for shellfish farming are ideal in the back Waters of the Lagoon fresh water is replaced every 6 hours with salt water these regular water

Changers are toxic to bacteria which plague other muscle Farmers elsewhere the muscles hang on 100 m long lines called muscle socks they are good for breeding a single muscle produces 1 to 2,000 lar after 2 to three years in the water L can then Harvest L works in a Cooperative with 15

Other muscle Farmers everyone is his own boss here he spends 2 to 3 hours was a day on the water in the last four years of Communism we were allowed to export our muscles to Italy and they were very good quality they still are but Albania is

Not a part of the EU and that is a disadvantage for us because of the food safety regulations and that’s a shame because our good natural conditions would give our muscles a competitive advantage in the European markets back on land the freshly harvested muscles are processed directly in the cold

Store this belongs to the muscle Farmers Cooperative and when you go inside you are surprised no trace of Rusty postsocialism the modern system made in Italy is L’s pride and joy he brought in 41 kilos of muscles today after treatment in the vibrating machine there will be 20 kilos for sale

L will sell them at the market for 2,000 Le about 15 we want the muscle Market to be opened as soon as possible for export then we could create 5 to 600 new jobs here in Butrin currently there is only a fraction of that if the European markets

Open up we could get to work the butrint Lagoon is right next to the Mediterranean Sea it’s also the most important archeological site in Albania 2 and a half thousand years ago but trint became very well known as a spa and Festival venue even in Far Away lands people seeking healing flocked

From afar to the sacrificial spaces temples and Fountains of the Lagoon City Troy in miniature the Roman poet Virgil once Wrote for centuries changing rulers left Stone testimonies of their power the Turkish conqueror Ali Pasha built a fortress here many centuries Later from butrint we travel along the Albanian coastal mountains to the north Dukat in the heart of Albania 800 m above the Mediterranean singing is part of daily life here a very early form of communication fat tahir’s day job is as an obstetrician in a small Outpatient

Clinic in his free time he is head of the local polyphonic choir [Applause] All eight singers in the choir like fatosh have a regular job and rehearse in the evenings they have already performed all over Albania and even in Israel and Holland it’s a bit like with American gospel music the Cantor sings a question or request and the rest of the choir responds Polyphonically The songs comprise the oral traditional history of this remote part of Albania and are passed from generation to generation through Singing for many years I used to volunteer teaching songs to children at least the generations before the regime change in 1990 since then everything has changed the schools do not want it anymore they have no interest in pany they now have other priorities my dream is that we can

Connect with the younger generation again and teach them more of our traditions of pany our habits to give them our culture over the Lara pass and we go back to the ionian Sea Albania a land of Scenic Beauty the New York Times recently published a list of 50 places in the world that Travelers should see before they die in fourth place first place in Europe was the Albanian Mediterranean Coast but Albania is also a country with scarily poor economic prospects every second young Albanian wants to leave the Country tourism could offer a better Prospect crystal clear water and almost deserted beaches things almost unknown in other countries nowadays some of the most exciting dive sites in the Mediterranean are in Albania and nobody knows the Underwater World here better than the 44-year-old igly postina Geor it’s something

Special water like this is usually only found on the Red Sea in Italy or in Polynesia Mother Nature is almost untouched and that makes it special person the best thing about diving here for me is that you can see Roman ships or ships from the first and second world

War whenever you go diving it’s an experience nearly a dozen shipwrecks are gathered around the kaburan penin insula most of them from the first world war including the HMS Phoenix the only English warship ever sunk by the hapsburg Navy for the first time in their history albanians are not only independent but also free on land igly is sometimes not sure if they will manage man AG to make something of their future down here in the crystal clear waters of the ionian sea however these doubts are far Away we continue north towards the Daka kavasa National Park kavasa is one of 14 national parks in Albania quite a lot for a small country but national parks here are often purely paper Parks they exist only on paper without there being any real protective measures for the ecosystem in kavasa the largest Lagoon

In Albania things are different one of the two largest Dalmatian Pelican colonies in Albania is here these animals have become extinct in many places in Europe and even in Albania their numbers fell well for years lately however the numbers have been growing again ornithologist Doran Nasi has counted nearly 50 breeding

Peirs in kavasa this Spring at that time during communism 250 Pelican pairs lived here then came the change democracy and there were less Birds the people here the fishermen the Pelicans unfortunately didn’t matter to them in 1997 there was a Civil War and it became really critical but after that things improved

We tried to better protect the Pelicans habitat and over the years their numbers have fortunately risen again the dalmatian Pelican is is one of the largest of the Pelican family up to 5% of the world population now live in kavasa before local fishermen often took no notice of the

Pelicans for several years now boys have been keeping them at a distance and just as importantly Dorian naazi and his staff have been able to significantly reduce the Wastewater discharges into kavasa an hour away by car Tiana tyana is not only the capital of Albania it is also the center of a liberal and open-minded Islamic community Bashi they call Themselves de Baba mondi is their spiritual leader de Baba can be roughly translated as grandfather when the newly elected Pope Francis was wondering which country he should tour first he opted for Albania a country with a Muslim majority but unlike elsewhere the different denominations largely live peacefully together even weddings between Muslims

And Christians are not unusual of course the pope also met D baba whether the Holy Father in Rome also takes care of his correspondence personally hardly likely with its tolerance and its undogmatic form of Islam that even allows images of the Prophet the beachi show that Muslims and Christians can live peacefully

Together but what is bektashism what do the Bashi believe in we know fouras or mystical ways bism is one mystical PA of Islam we’re very liberal in the that all the people are the same to us no matter what religion national origin political ideas color or race they

Are we respect both sexes and for 800 years they have been doing their rituals in dervish monasteries together women do not wear a head scarf because we believe that a person’s character is crucial no matter how veiled a person is if he wants to do something bad he will

Do it a scarf cannot alter that people must be free before God and before the law this Freedom helps people to use their minds to distinguish the good from the bad under communism Albania was the only officially atheist country in the world all all religions were Banned after democratization in 1990 churches and mosques have been built throughout the country the world center of the Bashi order something like the Vatican or Mecca on the outskirts of tyan A private audience with D baba his real name is actually Edmund brahimi he used to be an officer in the Albanian Army after the change to democracy in 1990 he discovered religion for four years he has been the spiritual leader of all Bashi every follower can get personal advice from him about vital

Issues opinions differ as to how many Bashi live in Albania according to official figures just over 60,000 de babami is sure that there are considerably More Homage to bekash who founded the order 700 years Ago at the end of the day D baba enters a small side building of the temple all alone a holy ritual reserved only for Him through the night he says goodbye to his predecessors the spiritual leaders of the Bashi for decades they were persecuted many of them were killed for their Faith I’m always very optimistic because we Bashi are very peaceful we live in peace with each other and with other religions the most beautiful thing about our B is that you can get married here even if the couple does not belong to the same religion which is almost a

Miracle and happens almost nowhere else in the world we have always been opposed to terrorism and violence because as our Prophet says if you kill a man you have killed All Mankind we will always remain faithful to our way and that means peace love and good will it is perhaps no coincidence that

The beachi are more at home in Albania than anywhere else in the world world the Albanian writer and poet pashov Vasa put it best when he said let us all as brothers swear an oath not to mind church or mosque the religion of the albanians is Albanian

ISM the deed Baba would certainly not contradict him

For decades Albania has been completely sealed off from the outside world. Hardly anywhere else are bias and reality as far apart as here. Albania is poor, but it is also rich. Rich in mountains and a diversity of landscapes. A country with warm-hearted people and a Mediterranean lifestyle. In this episode we learn about the South and the East of the country, on the border with Macedonia where one of the oldest lakes in the world can be found, Lake Ohrid. The so-called ancient lake is over a million years old, and the shores of the lake are sparsely populated, for those who live here life is not easy. The end of Communism brought liberty to the people by the lake, but up to now prosperity has not changed very much and many have left here in recent years to move to the capital or Western Europe.

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