The Albanian Riviera, Porto Palermo, Qeparo Village, And A Big Ol’ Kalaja.

Porto Palermo Castle is a castle with an intriguing history near Himara in the wonderful southern coast of Albania of the Ionian Sea. The Porto Palermo fort is situated in the closed bay of the Porto Palermo, surrounded with nicely arranged beaches, few kilometres south of Himarë, that makes an island connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. The Porto Palermo fortress served as the former Soviet submarine base during the communist regime in Albania, and nowadays its semi-abandoned tunnel and barrack attract the attention of visitors, as well as the stronghold walls and gates built by the powerful Ali Pasha of Ioannina. By the middle of the 17th century, the Ottoman Empire system of administration of vilayets of sanjaks /provinces/ changed into the near-autonomous governance of local rulers who were known as pashas. At the end of the 18th century, the sultan appointed a certain Ali from Tepelen /1744-1824/ as the Ottoman governor of the most of the Epirus /of the present-day southern Albania/ and the large part of the Greek mainland /much of Albania and Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, and the Morea/, with his court at Ionina – Yannina. The ancestors of Ali were Christian Skipetars and converted to Islam under the Turkish invasion. As a young fellow, Ali was patrolling highroads and lanes, with his gun on his shoulder and his yataghan in his belt, attacking, holding for ransom, or plundering all whom he encountered. After some years of this profitable business, he found himself a wealthy man and came to power with a distinguished and honourable rank among the beys of the country. He married Emineh, the daughter of Capelan Tigre, Pasha of Delvino, who resided at Argyro-Castron. Capelan’s object in giving his daughter to Tepeleni was to enlist him among the beys of the province to gain independence, the ruling passion of viziers, but Ali wished to succeed to both the government and the wealth of his father-in-law.