Cold mountain water surfacing among the largest olive grove in Albania — with restaurants set over the running springs and a castle watching from above.
Nature · food
Free (lunch optional)
2–3 hours
Borsh
Behind Borsh's seven-kilometre beach, the land turns improbably green. Mountain springs surface at the foot of the hills and run in cold, clear channels down to the sea, and around them spreads the largest olive grove in the country — hundreds of thousands of trees silvering the slopes in every direction.
The springs have been put to delicious use: restaurants set their tables over the running water, serving trout, lamb and the village's famous olive oil with the sound of the stream underneath. Above it all, the ruins of Sopot Fortress — Borsh Castle — keep watch, hiding a small mosque within their walls.
Follow signs inland from the Borsh beach road towards the village and springs — minutes by car. The fortress is a short, steep walk or rough drive above the village.
The springs and groves are free; the spring-side restaurants keep long summer hours. The fortress is open and unticketed.
Lunchtime is the move — cold spring air, cold raki, hot grilled trout. Buy a bottle of Borsh olive oil from a local producer before you leave; it travels well and tastes of the place.
Seven kilometres of shoreline below — there's always space at Borsh.
At the beach, find where the spring water enters the sea — the temperature change is the Riviera's best free thrill.
The unspoiled stretch — Bunec's double cove and boat-only Krorëz — starts just down the road.
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