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<\/p>\nSome people just love travelling. I don\u2019t mean sipping limoncello in an Italian backstreet cafe or soaking up the sun in Mauritius, I mean the act of travelling \u2013 sitting on trains, buses or boats and watching the landscape roll by. As I stare out of the TGV window, marveling at the mountainous peaks of Mont Blanc and Aiguille du Midi on day two of my five-day journey, I realize I am one of those people.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not the only one: heightened awareness of the climate crisis, plus a rising interest in slow travel, means the market for overland holidays is growing. Sustainably minded operators Byway and Intrepid Travel have therefore teamed up to offer clients Byway-organized flight-free routes to the starting point of Intrepid\u2019s European tours.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m travelling from London to Tirana for the start of Intrepid\u2019s new Albania Expedition, launched last month, and the route that Byway has tailored for me goes through France and Italy, with overnight stops in Chamb\u00e9ry, Turin and Bari, before boarding the overnight boat to Durr\u00ebs on the Albanian coast.<\/p>\n
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Riding the rails<\/strong><\/p>\n The client\u2019s ticket comes as an Interrail pass with a QR code, which is stored in the Interrail app. Byway plans routes on high-speed train lines for convenience, but deliberately incorporates stopovers in lesser-known places rather than major transport hubs (and busy tourist destinations) such as Paris or Milan.<\/p>\n That\u2019s how I end up in Chamb\u00e9ry, with its tantalizing bars and heaven-scented boulangeries. It\u2019s only a brief taster of the\u00a0place, though, and I find myself wishing I could stay longer in all of my en route stopovers.<\/p>\n In Turin, I book onto a two-hour walking tour with guide Melissoula. She takes us from the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista and Porta Palatino via backstreets to the Mercato Centrale and shares fascinating facts about the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n I\u2019m dead on my feet by the end, which proves the ideal preparation for the eight-hour rail journey between Turin and Bari the following day.<\/p>\n Help on the road<\/strong><\/p>\n Before clients set off, Byway makes them a bespoke Journey Guide \u2013 a digital itinerary accessed via their smartphone. It contains all they need to know, including links to seat reservations, hotel bookings and tips for where to eat and what to do at each stop.<\/p>\n It\u2019s how I know to buy my Paris Metro ticket in the Eurostar buffet car and, more importantly, it\u2019s how I know I must try rapini (turnip pasta) and moscato (local sweet white wine) in Bari.<\/p>\n Throughout the journey, clients can access Byway\u2019s 24-hour support via WhatsApp. This is useful not only for emergencies, but for general queries, such as where to leave my suitcase while I meander along the waterfront promenade in Bari until it\u2019s time to board the boat.<\/p>\n There\u2019s something excitingly retro about embarking a huge vessel to another country. Check-in to my overnight ferry is easy and I\u2019m assigned a cabin and tucked up\u00a0ready for sleep well before departure. My first sighting of Albania is just after sunrise. Despite the industrial port in the foreground, Durr\u00ebs and its backdrop of folding mountains look resplendent in the morning light.<\/p>\n Arriving in Albania<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m out sipping the first (of many) Albanian espressos within 10 minutes of arriving. I then transfer to Tirana by public bus and check in to Hotel Capital, where the metaphoric baton is passed from Byway to Intrepid and the next stage of the trip begins.<\/p>\n I\u2019m here a day earlier than the rest of the Intrepid group, so I have the chance to explore the monumental Skanderbeg Square, become acquainted with Albanian history at the National Museum and catch the sunset from the Pyramid of Tirana before the others arrive.<\/p>\n It may have taken me five days to get here, but having seen the landscapes change and sampled\u00a0the culinary and cultural shifts along the way, I\u2019ve relaxed into holiday mode and my mind is already open to the serendipity of adventure.<\/p>\n Sustainable Albania<\/strong><\/p>\n In the past year or so, Albania has been moving from an under-the-radar destination to hot holiday choice. Our guide Elton Caushi was a child in communist Albania. He\u2019s a huge ambassador for the country and welcomes this rise in foreign tourism, so long as it\u2019s \u201cdone right\u201d. Intrepid has crested that wave with its new 12-day itinerary, taking in some of the most awe-inducing parts of the country.<\/p>\n It has also collaborated with Meet (the Mediterranean Experience of EcoTourism) Network to ensure that visitors experience some conservation efforts, including those in Divjak\u00eb-Karavasta National Park. This natural marine lagoon is home to the Dalmatian pelican, a species under threat, as well as greater flamingos and thousands of other bird species.<\/p>\n We glide among the waterways in a small motorboat in the early morning, spotting flashes of kingfishers and egrets, before cycling 12 miles along the strip of land between the lagoon and the sea in time for a home-cooked lunch and coffee-reading (like tea leaf fortune-telling, but with coffee) at the eccentric dwelling of the Adriatik family.<\/p>\n In Tragjas we hike up a mountain at sunset and arrive at a shepherd\u2019s hut, belonging to Sofo and Dhurata,\u00a0who\u00a0welcome us with homemade cinnamon-and-honey-infused raki and celebratory sweet treats. As dusk descends, we watch Sofo put his turkeys and goats to bed before he serenades us on his harmonic wooden flute, while Dhurata brings us grilled goat, aubergines, peppers and freshly made cheeses for dinner \u2013 plus plenty more homemade raki.<\/p>\n Our last day is spent exploring the \u2018town of a thousand windows\u2019, Berat, known for its tiered Ottoman townhouses. A final lunch at Bunker Farm (as the name suggests, there are many former bunkers on site) is a chance to bid the group \u2013 and Elton \u2013 farewell over delicious platters of cheeses, homegrown salad, \u2018old goat\u2019 hamburgers and fresh honeycomb for dessert.<\/p>\n The rest of the group make their way to the airport while I head to Albania\u2019s wild north for further mountain fun, knowing that there are plenty more memories to be made on the slow route home.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/3.jpg\")
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