Ride a ferry up a flooded gorge

Lake Koman is a river with a dam across it. In the 1980s the Drin was blocked in the north of Albania and backed up into its own gorge, and what it left is thirty-four kilometers of green water between walls of rock that go straight up out of it. A ferry runs up it once a morning, from the dam at Koman to the pier at Fierzë.

Getting to the boat is the hard part. Koman is close to two hours by road from Shkodër, the boat does not wait, and so the group is on the road before the cafés open. The ferry takes vehicles as well as people, so the minibus drives on with everybody's luggage still inside it.

Then about two and a half hours up the gorge, which is the whole point of the day. When the ramp drops at Fierzë the driver is already there, and Valbonë, the mountain valley next door to Theth, is about an hour up the road. There is no road over the mountain between the two valleys, which is why the way in is by boat.

The ferry carries cars, minibuses and tour buses priced by the square meter of deck they take up, and a vehicle is booked ahead with its plate number.