5 October Mjedë - Lac I Qyrsac – Koman

 

This is by far the most beautiful and straining 40 kilometers of my journey up till now.

back road to lake Koman 

A real back-road leads to a dead end in Koman, location of the dam and a power station. The English lady from yesterday has recommended it and after studying and asking around, I have decided to go to Mario’s place. He is situated after the dam and from there I hope to take a boat on Sunday. 

bridge over the Drini River west of Kotor Lake damn

I can’t write much about this trip, besides that the landscape is beautiful, with many butterflies, some small farms and a local bar. Just look at the pictures and the link to get an idea.

In Koman there is a lot of lost glory after the new highway to Kosovo opened and the ferries went out of business. I cross the Drini River that fills lake Vau i Deges as well as lake Koman. Another 200 meters up, through a tunnel I stand at the lake Koman and the pension of Mario. The sun is on the other shore and it’s cooling down. The two hosts, Klodian (16) and Zef (25) store my bicycle. The latter speaks most English. I am the only guest for the night. The bed is basic, but there are enough blankets, the shower is warm and the food is plenty.

After giving them a round they start to loosen up and make great efforts to communicate. We share our music; pictures and we make the appointment for breakfast.

At six the place starts to fill up with workers at the hydro-electricity plant. We speak with hands and feet. My Spanish is the most helpful, because many older Albanians speak some Italian. There are plenty relationships, through Italian investors, temporarily work abroad and inter marriage. We laugh a lot, especially about the special police, what seems to be turned into private protection for the hydro plant and used to be Hoxha’s eyes and ears around the plant. They started building the dam and the work was finished after the change of power. On one of the pictures you can still see the concrete defense tower from those times.

Mario’s place promises a little more than in reality, but it’s off-season and there are but a few tourists.