Manwaring Mission to Albania

Spring in Korçë has been an interesting experience. We felt like spring had arrived about 5 times with warmth and sunshine, only to revert to cold, wet winter yet again. We haven't put away our winter coats and umbrellas quite yet. However, because of the rain everything is lush and green. It is a beautiful time of year, even though we have to wash the car quite often. We definitely have distinct seasons here and so far we have enjoyed fall, winter, and spring.  We are sure summer will also be beautiful, whenever it arrives... At Lake Ohrid We were blessed to have our two daughters come for a visit near the end of April! While they were here, we were able to visit some roman ruins, a beach on the Ionian Sea, an incredibly beautiful spring called the Blue Eye, a UNESCO World Heritage City called Gjirokastër, our very own Korçë, and some beautiful places in North Macedonia along the shores of Lake Ohrid.  We had delicious Albanian food, gelato, and baklava (lots of baklava!)....

For a while, we were wondering if winter would ever end.  Finally, however, near the end of March the weather started warming up.  Unfortunately, this first Spring only lasted a couple of weeks and the cold, rainy weather returned. Over the past couple of weeks, however, we have had beautiful weather with sunshine and temperatures in the 70’s.  It still gets a little chilly when the sun goes down, but we like that. We hope this second Spring lasts until summer… There are a lot of ice cream shops in Korçë, but all but 2 have been closed since we arrived because most people here don’t eat ice cream when it’s cold.  They think it will make them sick.  A couple of weeks ago that all changed.  We’re not sure what the magic day was, but all of a sudden, all of the ice cream shops opened and everywhere we go people are walking around with ice cream cones! Most soft-serve cones cost just 50 cents, and even the nice gelato cones only cost $1.00, so we have indulged ...