Korce is the capital of the Korce Region located in the south/eastern region of Albania. It’s most well-known for its beautiful landscapes, medieval history, culture and festivals. There is always something happening to attract you to Korce.
Korce has served as an important trading market and route throughout the centuries. Albanian caravans began their travels from Korce to surrounding countries such as Turkey, Greece and Russia.
The outlying Korce Region is a place of great natural beauty, featuring the renowned Ohrid and Prespa Lakes, mountains and the National Park of Drenova. Twenty kilometres from Korce you can visit Dardha, a mountain village located at an altitude of more than 1,300m above sea level and is a great spot for hikers. With the region offering so much, Korce is an ideal travel destination as a base to explore the surrounds.
A List of Places We Enjoyed in the Gippsland Region
Boxing Day is the day the Christmas tree comes down, the house is tidied and bags are packed for us to head off the following day on our annual summer vacation. This year we drove 3.5 hours east of Melbourne and based ourselves at a tiny town called Nicholson. Nicholson has the push-pin marked on the map below. This was our base for the following week to explore the region. So I have now compiled a list of the 7 places we visited and most enjoyed.
1. Buchan Caves
Buchan Caves
From Nicholson we drove north through rolling hills dotted with farms, followed by National forests before arriving at Buchan Caves. There are two main chambers being the Royal and Fairy Caves. We took a 45 mins walking tour through the magical wonderland of the Fairy Cave. Frank Moon discovered the Fairy Cave during 1907 which was opened to the public later that year. The Royal Cave was discovered in 1910 by Frederick Wilson and after an entrance tunnel was excavated, it was opened to visitors in 1913. The Caves Reserve was set out and planted mostly in the late 1930s. The stalactites, stalagmites, helictite, shawls and twinkling of water droplets make for a wonderful display from a different world.
2. Marlo
From Buchan Caves we drove south through the logging town of Orbost to the coastal town of Marlo. At Marlo the great Snowy River meets the sea and is a popular place for boating and fishing in both the river and estuaries. The historic Marlo pub is a great spot to grab a drink and admire the river and sea views.
3. Nicholson River Winery
This lovely family owned winery was just down the road from where we were holidaying and I surprised myself by only stopping in there the once! After enjoying the tastings, we pulled up some chairs in the garden with a glass of the NR Chardonnay and enjoyed the views over the Nicholson River.
Leaving Metung!
4. Metung
Metung is a delightful town attracting many city dwellers to own holiday homes in the area. The town has two focal points being the water ways of the lakes, and the village green. A number of cafes and restaurants cater well for the visitors making it a trendy destination! From Metung we enjoyed an afternoon cruise on the water to Lakes Entrance. The return trip took nearly 3 hours and we were spoilt with a complimentary glass of wine and nibbles. I did notice it also attracted a number of international visitors also. It was a very pleasant afternoon!
5. Paynesville
Another coastal town we visited was Paynesville and is a little larger than Metung so it had more in way of services and shops. There were a number of jetties for all the boating and water activities. A car and pedestrian ferry took people across to Raymond Island which only has a small population of no more than 500 people. I’m not sure if this population are permanent residents or holiday makers in their holiday homes!
6. Nyerimilang Heritage Park
Nyerimilang Heritage Park
Nyerimilang Heritage Park is on the shores of the Gippsland Lakes and has divine views of waterways, islands and the ocean beyond. The land was first owned by Mr A Murray in 1884 and he later transferred it to Frank Stuart of Melbourne who built a home as a base for fishing and shooting holidays at the Gippsland Lakes. During the early 1930s, his son Frank Jnr extended the house, developed the surrounding gardens and lived in style at Nyerimilang complete with housemaids and a gardener. A display featuring the history of Nyerimilang and the natural resources and history of the Gippsland Lakes is on display in the homestead and is extremely interesting.
7. Narkoojee Winery
Yes, we are wine lovers and on the way home from our week away (and my digital-detox) we stopped at one of our favourite wineries. Not that we’d been there before but we do enjoy their wine and all the more reason to detour off the Highway for a visit. Narkoojee produces two of my favourite Chardonnay’s, the Lily Grace and Reserve. Narkoojee is located just north of Traralgon at Glengarry.
Travel Photo of the Week: New Year’s Eve at Lakes Entrance
A hot New Year’s Eve was enjoyed at Lakes Entrance during our summer holiday to the Gippsland region. After an early dinner, we made our way to the beach where the children enjoyed the sand, shallow water and sandbanks. We all waded for sometime cooling our feet as the sun began to drop for the last time for 2010. The images the sun-rays created behind the boat silhouettes, was so peaceful. Let’s hope that’s a sign for what 2011 will bring to our world.
The Tonlé Sap is the vast lake in Cambodia and The Tonle Sap is the largest lake in southeast Asia. In Cambodian its name means “Large Fresh Water River,” but it is more commonly translated as “Great Lake”) It is a combined lake and river system of huge importance to Cambodia. Julie Wilson writes of her trip to this region in Cambodia.
One of my favourite days was travelling up the Sangke River into the Tonle Sap Lake on our way to Siam Reap (the town near the Angkor Wat temple complex). We started our river journey from Battenbang. Our long boat was just one of many watercraft on river – all long and narrow and paddled or with tiny motors.
Floating Pig Pen
Our boat followed the Sangke as it meandered north for hours – the riverbank always dotted with interesting small settlements of two or three houses on either side along its length. After around 4 hours of serene travelling the river widened out, and then began to widened out again and again until it became a vast delta. And imperceptibly the delta became a vast and beautiful lake – the Tonle Sap Lake. Now dotted with waterlilies and low long pieces of ground almost level with the water and covered with lush green vegetation and even small trees.
We passed whole villages of four to eight houses either on tall silts of five or six meters high or, even more fascinating, floating on bamboo rafts. The floating settlements of houses all on rafts were so picturesque. Each house was floating on each own bamboo raft. And not only houses but small sheds, vegetable patches, chicken coups and pig pens – each on its own bamboo raft base and linked by a rope to a house.
As our long narrow boat travelled on up into the great lake we went through small floating towns – shops, community halls, schools, and school playgrounds were all floating on their own raft. Truly a beautiful and amazing sight.
So if you get the chance, I highly highly recommend that you include the river journey on the Sangke from Battenbang to Siam Reap as a travel destination to Cambodia. I loved it! For me it was, with the temples, the highlight of the trip and such a relaxing and enchanting way to travel too.
One Great Reason to Visit the Sanke River and Tonle Sap Lake
One great reason to visit this travel destination is to view the communities living upon the water. Houses on stilts or floating out on the water on bamboo rafts. Fascinating!
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Korce is the capital of the Korce Region located in the south/eastern region of Albania. It’s most well-known for its beautiful landscapes, medieval history, culture and festivals. There is always something happening to attract you to Korce.
After enjoying the tastings, we pulled up some chairs in the garden with a glass of the NR Chardonnay and enjoyed the views over the Nicholson River.
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