The Long Walk to Cypel

I did another trek. Yesterday I went out to Cypel. This is the point at the northern end of Vlorë. To the left is the bay, to the right, the Adriatic Sea. Of course, the water doesn't know which part it's in.

Vlorë Bay to the left, Adriatic Sea to the right, bunker in the middle.

Cypel is pronounced Tsoopail. The "c" is more of the "ts" sound like the "zz" in pizza. in fact, in Albanian, the word for pizza is pica, pronounced just like the English word. The "y" is the "oo" sound of foot or good, not the "oo" sound of choose or mood.

Cypel from above

It took me a little over two hours to walk there. I had seen pictures of Cypel, but these pictures were all taken from boats. They show the point from the bottom. As you can see, my pictures are from above. I could not find a practical way to get down from the top of the point without ending up in either the bay or the sea. And I wasn't sure I would be uninjured. And I wasn't sure I would find any way back, aside from swimming.

More Cypel, still from above

But I did do some quality scrambling over rises and rocks to get as far as I did. I know my son would have mixed emotions had he seen me performing my quasi-athletic feats. He would have been approving and proud that his father attempted and succeeded the ascents and corresponding descents. But he would also have the eye roll of disdain, knowing that what required my intense concentration to figure out where to put my hands, my feet, and occasionally, my bottom, would have been to him a trivial matter easily accomplished in loose fitting sandals and with his conscious mind occupied with question of subatomic particles.

Here is the path. I promise there were trickier parts to traverse than this.

All of that is beside the point. I made it and experienced my own sense of accomplishment for doing so. Plus, I got to take pictures.

Incidentally, along the way I crossed beside Naturist Beach Zvërnec. For those who don't know the alternate term, a naturist beach is what in America would be called a nudist beach. Some of you might be more curious what I saw there, as opposed to a Cypel. Sorry to disappoint you, but it was the first of November. We are way out of season. Though it was sunny, I saw no sunbathers, no one skinny dipping, nothing remotely risque. Unless you consider an Albanian man fishing as semi-scandalous. He was clothed, so I give it a zero on the suggestive scale.

What is interesting about the naturist beach is its location, right between the beach access for two hotels. I wonder how much privacy the naturists experience in the busy time of the year. Probably not as much as I had on my solo walk.