On Instagram when you see photos of the beaches in Albania it is nearly always of Ksamil and it has become well known, some may say this alone is what has driven the rise in tourism to Albania. It does have beautiful clear blue water and looks very pretty but unfortunately, like many other countries here, it has stone beaches. For someone from Australia, this has always seemed strange that people flock to these beaches but I suppose this is what they know.

I remember the first time I travelled in 1982 and visited Crete, I was so surprised that the beach near the hostel I stayed in was in parts grey course sand and stones. Of course, I came to realise that this is the norm for many countries in Europe.

We chose not to explore the town itself and it was very touristy. We did find a beach that at the time had no one manning the small bar on the beach that would normally charge you an arm and a leg to use the lounges and umbrellas. So we relaxed for a while and Luis, Tegan and I went for a swim. The water was lovely and just the right temperature but it was very very salty.

On another day Salvador and I explored some of the coastline close to Sarandë trying to find access to a beach that did not involve paying for lounges and umbrellas or was simply closed off to the public. Many beaches seem to be controlled by hotels, restaurants and bars and apparently, the current government is now promising to introduce some controls for this which is desperately needed. For us seeing beaches crowed with them has really detracted from the look and feel of some areas.

We saw some lovely coast but no easy access to a beach. Salvador was hoping to find somewhere to fish from but on luck.