Vusanje – Peja Pass – Theth

Leaving Vusanje you start walking up the 26 km long glacier-shaped Ropojana Valley. At a pupil-shaped karst spring called the Oko Skakavice, an ice-cold river is born from melting snow high up in the mountains. Walking past the Gjeshtare Lake, a weathered border stone is the only reminder of the once tightly sealed borders of former Communist Albania. Once through the forest, the views clear and a mountain-framed corridor opens onto a large alpine meadow speckled with shepherd shacks and an abandoned military post. You have almost reached the highest point of the route, below is a small lake and across, the Peja Pass (1.711 m), named after a city in Kosovo, marks the historic background of today’s trekking route. A steep caravan path leads in serpentines into Theth, the valley in the heart of the Albanian Alps. Reaching the bottom of the valley, there’s a local watering hole where you can ask the owner for a lift to your guesthouse. Alternatively, you may continue along the largely traffic-free 4×4 track into the center of the village.