(sorry if you were expecting this last night, I couldn't get to a computer)

So today we went to Kruye (Croo-ya) which is an town up in the mountains about an hours drive out of Tirana. It was one of our 2 day's off where we go and experience some of the other places in Albania.  There is a little street with all sorts of shops etc leading up to the main attraction which is the Castle of ...Skendenberg (spelling??!). This Skenden... bloke is highly regarded by all Albanians and seen as a hero because he fought off the Turks for 30 years before eventually being overwhelmed. There is also a feeling that the rest of Europe owes Albania a debt of gratitude for Skendenberg's efforts as it is thought by some that if it wasn't for him then we all might be Turkish.

So anyway, we said thanks to him and his castle and had a great time clambering all over the ruins and taking pics of the views. It's quite touristy up there so we sat in a cafe and had some drinks and visited the little shops with all sorts of Albanian nik-naks, some of which i'm sure some of you will be seeing shortly :)

Fun was had by all when we also had a tour of an old traditional Albanian house given by an elderly Albanian gentlemen with one of the best english accents you've ever heard. For example, kitchen utensils becomes, kitchen oootenseeels, wood becomes, oood and primitive becomes, prrreemeeteeeve. Seldom are there rural tour guides with more fame or more appreciated for there delivery of ordinary facts. :)

In the evening we went to have dinner with Graham and Mari (pastor and wife) which was excellent and played some silly games and relaxed before heading back to the hotel to enjoy an early (I don't think so boys) night.  

Tomorrow (today) we are spending the morning painting the church and the afternoon visiting the Roma community (poorer people in this area). Will blog back tonight or tomorrow with more updates.

P.S. Lewis' ear is a bit better as it finally popped on the way down from the mountain, so he can hear us a bit better now. But please continue to pray for him and all of us here. There may be a couple of colds on the brink of developing and personally my stomach isn't feeling that good at the moment so if we could all keep our health till we get home at least that would be great. Overall though we're mostly very happy and healthy and continuing to enjoy our experience so far. :)

- some pics (despite the weather looking very stormy in these photos, we actually had great views and could even see the Adriatic Sea! Now you don't see that every day)