Rumah tumpangan di Gjirokastër, Albania

We chose this place because we wanted an authentic experience and also because all rooms had a balcony ( and we wanted to wash a few clothes and dry them in the balcony). NO ROOMS HAVE A BALCONY here! However, the positives : it was authentic, the room was a good size, the bed was comfortable and it was an easy walk to the old town and castle. Negatives: We had walked 30-40 minutes up steep hills with full backpacks to get here and my partner wanted a wash asap. She closed the plug with the old fashioned pull/push type mechanism, filled the hand basin, had a wash and then when she opened the plug again the water gushed out from behind the unit all over the floor. I immediately reported this and it was fixed leaving me waiting 40 minutes for a wash & to change to go out for dinner. We were later to be blamed by the male host for breaking it. As a GP, my partner didn’t take kindly to being called a liar! There were cobwebs attached to the window pelmet - maybe a bit too authentic. We went to the “shared” kitchen area to make a cup of tea to find a kettle full of “herbs” and seashells. It transpires that the hosts make herbal tea which they boil in the kettle then put in percolator style coffee pots for you to have cold at breakfast. Bizarre. Breakfast was not brilliant (traditional Albanian cold over-cooked fried eggs - also bizarre to us). However, there was some lovely home made sour cherry jam and also some Madeira style cake which was nice. We then had a stand up row about the exchange rate he was charging (different from 3 hotels before and one since). Though this was pathetic as it ended up being over £1.50, I paid with some euros we had to avoid feeling being ripped off. The hosts then told Booking. Com that we hadn’t turned up (either to avoid their charges or avoid our review). I think we were just unlucky. Wanted authentic - be careful what you wish for!!!

We chose this place because we wanted an authentic experience and also because all rooms had a balcony ( and we wanted to wash a few clothes and dry them in the balcony). NO ROOMS HAVE A BALCONY here! However, the positives : it was authentic, the room was a good size, the bed was comfortable and it was an easy walk to the old town and castle. Negatives: We had walked 30-40 minutes up steep hills with full backpacks to get here and my partner wanted a wash asap. She closed the plug with the old fashioned pull/push type mechanism, filled the hand basin, had a wash and then when she opened the plug again the water gushed out from behind the unit all over the floor. I immediately reported this and it was fixed leaving me waiting 40 minutes for a wash & to change to go out for dinner. We were later to be blamed by the male host for breaking it. As a GP, my partner didn’t take kindly to being called a liar! There were cobwebs attached to the window pelmet - maybe a bit too authentic. We went to the “shared” kitchen area to make a cup of tea to find a kettle full of “herbs” and seashells. It transpires that the hosts make herbal tea which they boil in the kettle then put in percolator style coffee pots for you to have cold at breakfast. Bizarre. Breakfast was not brilliant (traditional Albanian cold over-cooked fried eggs - also bizarre to us). However, there was some lovely home made sour cherry jam and also some Madeira style cake which was nice. We then had a stand up row about the exchange rate he was charging (different from 3 hotels before and one since). Though this was pathetic as it ended up being over £1.50, I paid with some euros we had to avoid feeling being ripped off. The hosts then told Booking. Com that we hadn’t turned up (either to avoid their charges or avoid our review). I think we were just unlucky. Wanted authentic - be careful what you wish for!!!