(Albania 2023, modified from my travel journal)
The Forgotten House.
4.5 star average, my offline Google Maps informed me, but no further dets.
That’s all I knew.
And it was a pretty, sunny February day in Southern Albania, I had all the time in the world and no one else around.
I had no real reason to want to leave now.
I reached the Panoramic Parking carpark, then headed off down the side path towards the Forgotten House.
Quite soon I realised I was being followed by A Friend With A Tail. A medium-sized fluffy doggy, trailing me @ a suitable skilled-spy-lengthed distance, but still obviously there.
My heart was beating fast & I wished him away. He didn’t act threatening, but you never know with stray dogs. I reassured myself w/ how unlikely it’d be he’d maul me to death – if there were a human-killing dog @ large, it would be big news. But I was all alone…
I made sure not to make any sudden movements.
We continued down the dust roads, admiring the peace and quiet and the luxury of February T-shirt weather.
I nearly caused a boy on a bike to crash when I dodged My Friend With The Tail’s sudden pee break.
Apart from the boy on the bike, no one around.
By that time, I was starting to feel affectionate towards My Friend With The Tail, half-hoping boy on my bike thought he was MY dog, admiring our casual, friendly companionship.
It was a windy (as in one that winds) dirt road, going up & down.
Finally we were approaching the location Google Maps had marked.
THE FORGOTTEN HOUSE.
What was it? What was its story? Soon we’d find out…
First I spotted two bunkers on the shore. Oooo, exciting. One had FREEDOM written on it.
Exciting, mysterious, just round this corner & we’d see the House itself…
I saw something in the semi-bushes to the right. I’d been used to rustling nature & sometimes stopped to see w/ interest if I could see the animal making the noise. Naap.
But this time, I saw it.
My first thought was “Oh, crap, another stray dog, just as I was getting used to this one…”
But then I realised it wasn’t a dog. It was a sheep. A ram, to be precise. With the ferocious horns. & a thingy clanky bell clanging as it stormed its way thru the undergrowth.
Now, I can reason sense in myself when it comes to stray dogs. Unless they’re acting aggressive, most likely they’ll be of no harm to you, as long as you’re polite in the ignoring of them.
But stray rams?? I have never opened the textbook, let alone read the fine print.
The Horned One still had some way to go in the undergrowth, but it was important The Tailed One & I get a headstart. I turned round & started rapidly walking away, feverously wondering details like whether crazy rams would follow me if I escaped into the water, and if I should take off my shoes already just in case.
A few times I stopped, very aware of the frustration of being SO CLOSE to the Forgotten House, come on tis just a sheep, he’s more scared of you than I’m of it.
But says who. This lack of empirical experience, plus also a slightly traumatic memory from my childhood, resulted in my rapid departure. Esp. as whenever I stopped to listen I could still hear the CLANG CLANG CLANG of its bell…
Also, I feared for My Friend With The Tail. He seemed too friendly to be able to take on an angry ram.
Rapid walking until we figured the rams decided not to follow us after all.
So then we headed back to Panoramic Parking, me stopping once in a while to try and pour some of my water into some hole/suitably shaped leaf to quench My Tailed Friend’s most probable thirst (mostly failing unfortunately).
So alas, the Forgotten House will be eternally Forgotten.
Emzy
xoxo
P.S. After our failed trip to the Eternally Forgotten House, we got back to the carpark. It was like 15min till the next bus, & after a brief wander around the parking lot, feeling vaguely uncomfortable for the first time when a group of young men were shouting “hello, where you from” to me, I made the obvious choice – I sought company from my friend, the One With The Tail, who had slumped down in front of what I assumed to be his owners’ camper van.
Well, I got chatting to the woman of the van & turned out he WASN’T their dog, but he’d walked with them in the morning, & with some others too, and prolly the bar @ the bottom of the hill owns him. Also, lady said they’d been to the Forgotten House, it was a house w/ a bed in it & they didn’t go in coz they were unsure about if someone lived there. & apparently there was a whole HERD of sheep, so part of me felt bad fearing ONE. But she also said the Tailed One was afraid of them & that the sheep were aggressive towards him. So I’m happy w/ my decision of retreat, for both me and My Friend With The Tail.