TravelicityGeographically, and until recently, also culturally isolated through a post-war Stalinist regime, Albania is unlike any other European country. Homeric landscapes, for the most part untouched by modern life, hold ruinous Classical cities which once vied in splendour with their neighbours in Greece and Italy. Greek coastal colonisation provided new stimulus to the native population, and recent excavations of their Illyrian hilltop cities, such as Byllis, have revealed the successful absorption of Hellenistic architectural ideas in their planned layout.
Oliver Gilkes, Andante’s archaeologist guide, has witnessed at first hand how the country has struggled to assert its new-found freedom during his 15 years of excavating and working here. His observations make fascinating listening, and add interest and depth to our study of this land in ancient times. More varieties of wild flowers grow here than anywhere else in Europe, and the high mountains provide one of the last refuges of bears and wolves.
My own hotel, Endsleigh House in Devon, is a slightly unloved child at the moment, poor thing. But I’m not Superwoman, so I’ve employed an amazing manager. As I get older I’m very conscious that there’s less chance of me being able to produce a second child – and if these years with Olga are all I’ve got, I don’t want to miss them. It would be wonderful to go down to Endsleigh as guests for the odd weekend but when we tried this I received such a foul comment on TripAdvisor afterwards that I was put off. A couple wrote that I’d behaved badly by sitting in the drawing room and not tending to their needs. The reality is that I was there as a customer but obviously having me there not working was more than they could bear. I was so upset that I couldn’t even post a reply.
