My twelfth day in Albania continued in the beautiful seaside city of Sarandë! Join me as I tour my amazing hotel and try some delicious Italian-style Albanian seafood in Sarandë, Albania!
My boy Erjan from Travel Media EU and I began our evening at the Bougainville Bay Hotel in Sarandë, the southernmost city in Albania! There, we met up with Amantia from the resort outside by the pool, where they have dozens of lounge chairs laid out with straw umbrellas over them.
The resort can host 400 people and consists of a hotel, villas, apartments, four apartments, three restaurants, a spa, and more! This area of the resort is laid out by the beach. It extends all the way back toward the pools. One of them is an infinity pool at the very top of the hotel!
As we headed up to the hotel, we passed some of the villas and some of the many flowers that had been planted around the property. The word “bougainville” means flower! We actually have similar flowers in my hometown of Miami.
One of the coolest features of the hotel is its spa, which costs an extra 10 Euros/$11.79 USD per day. The tiles in the walls are all hand-made and the floors are made of beautiful mosaics. The spa is inspired by Albanian history but still has a modern feel! There are two saunas, an ice room, a snow bath room, a hamam (Turkish bath), a flower-shaped five-person Jacuzzi, and an emotional shower with rocks in the floor!
On the way up to the spa’s second level are more mosaics in the stairway made from recycled pieces from bathrooms around the world! Up here, they have massage tables where they perform many types of massages. In the VIP area, there’s the 360-degree infinity pool on the rooftop terrace. You have amazing views of the city and there’s also a bar and a lounge area.
I couldn’t help but take a dip in the water and look over the city. It was so relaxing! After an hour at the pool, we headed to Lëkurësi Castle, which overlooks the sea and Butrint Lake. The views of Sarandë, the Ionian Sea, and the Greek island of Corfu are absolutely gorgeous! There’s a huge restaurant spread across three terraces and a souvenir shop up there, as well as a defense tower.
It was a little overcast, but we still got epic views of the sunset. There were lots of people there to have dinner and enjoy the sunset. I walked up to the castle walls. What an amazing mix of history, natural beauty, and incredible. I loved the view over the walls more than the view of the city!
Then, we headed off to have an Albanian seafood dinner at Taverna Pupi in Hotel Jaroal, which is located on a huge terrace in Sarandë, Albania overlooking the Ionian Sea. There’s a beach below, and there’s a tree growing out of the terrace.
I started with a smoky rakija while Erjan had a large Albanian beer. Then, we visited the kitchen to watch a husband-and-wife pair of chefs prepare some seafood pasta and risotto. They were also grilling shrimp and squid with a marmalade-like glaze on top.
I also watched them prepare some misto fritto, which is one of my all-time favorite dishes. It’s a mix of fried seafood and is so good! They also made stuffed calamari made using the chef’s secret recipe. I could see ham, cheese, red pepper, onion, and herbs. Then, he skewers them with toothpicks, stabs them, and pan-fries them.
At our table, we had stuffed squid, a shrimp tava, a summer salad, bruschetta, and seafood pasta. The bruschetta contained goat cheese and pommodoro and was so tasty! The summer salad contained some refreshing arugula, carrots, and onions. The calamari, shrimp, and the mussel in the pasta de Albania were so succulent, and the pasta was so authentic! It’s the closest you’ll get to real Italian pasta, which is unique to Italy! It’s amazing! You can’t beat the flavor and the freshness of it.
We enjoyed some delicious white wine before I jumped on the shrimp tava, which was somewhat similar to a Greek dish called shrimp saganaki. It was creamy and a little spicy and contained red pepper and tiny shrimp. Adding tabasco to it made it even better!
Lastly, I had the stuffed squid, which was super creamy! It was dense and a little spicy from the pepperoncino. I loved the combination of the squid and ham. Each dish got better and better! What an incredible Albanian seafood dinner in Sarandë, Albania! It’s some of the best seafood in Albania and is right up there with the seafood dishes I had in Durrës!
Next, Erjan and I headed to the strip to have some Albanian cocktails at Orange Cocktail Bar, a popular nightclub on the Ionian Sea. The bar is in the middle with all the tables around it. It’s the best club in Albania! It was packed! We tried a drink with lemon and cherries, which was so tasty! There was a lot of alcohol in it, but I couldn’t taste it!
What an unbelievable way to end my twelfth day in Albania! From Pogradec to Sarandë, I had too Much fun. My adventure trying more delicious Albanian seafood in Sarandë, Albania wouldn’t have been possible without my friends at Travel Media EU, Balkan Pearls Tour Operator, and Rental Car Albania. Book with them when you come to Albania. You won’t regret it!
I hope you liked coming with me to have Italian-style Albanian seafood in Sarandë, Albania! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell so you don’t miss any of my travel/food adventures around the world!
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