Travel with Kevin and Ruth: It's a real shame

Saturday, July 12, 2025

It's a real shame

The other evening when we were sitting in the waiting room at the dentist office, they had a TV and the news was on. Of course we didn't understand what they were saying, however we could see the pictures and video of some problems happening in the village of Theth.

We have been to Theth twice. The first time was in November of 2022 with friends David and Mirsie.

That visit prompted us to return in June of last year for the Peaks of the Balkans hike.

Photos from our first visit in November 2022.

Theth is a beautiful little village in the Albanian Alps, a mountain range in the border region of Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro. The village is also located inside Theth National Park. It had been largely undiscovered until about 2019. It was only accessible by trekking, horseback, or 4x4, and in the winter it was largely cut off. But in 2021 they built the first paved road to access the village.

And construction and tourism has skyrocketed since. We noticed the difference in the year and a half between our visit in November 2022 and our return in June 2024.

The construction has continued into this year, but much of it was unapproved and didn't have the proper permits. The federal government finally became aware of this, and the President himself declared that any buildings that didn't have the proper permits would be demolished. This has caused chaos between residents as some want their peaceful village back, and others want to profit on the increased value of their property.

Here's a news article I found in English...

https://www.gazetaexpress.com/en/The-illegally-built-tourist-village-in-the-center-of-Theth-collapses/

So, you have seen that beautiful little church in our photos above. Here is what one guy built without permits...

They came in and tore the whole thing down!

And rightly so!

Such a shame how this can happen to such a beautiful place.

Meanwhile, here in Berat they have also had to deal with an increase in tourism. But they are doing it in such a positive way.

Berat is much larger, but still beautiful.

The domed building is an expensive hotel.

The last time we were here, this was a big construction site.

Berat has always had a parking problem. And it was getting worse. So they built this massive underground parking lot with a huge plaza at ground level. It's really well done, and has totally eliminated the parking problem.