Albanian Riviera
Between Palasë and Borsh, each bay is its own search
Dhërmi and Drymades, Palasë, Gjipe, Jalë, Livadhi, coastal Spile at Himarë, Porto Palermo and Borsh.
Tell us the bay, and tell us what was under your feet in it. Both answers carry further than anything else a first message can hold, because the surface changes from one of these bays to the next.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch or phone on the Albanian Riviera with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the bay, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Some of these places are reached from the sea rather than the road. Boats often stop in the bay at Porto Palermo for a short break, and Gjipe can be reached from the water. If the day was spent afloat, say where you went in from.
The first hour is worth more than the first message
If it has just happened and you are still on the beach, do the physical things before the writing. Leave something at the spot that will still be there later, a bag, a folded towel, a stick pushed into the stones, and photograph it from where you were sitting so the marker and the background are both in shot. Then keep off that patch.
After that, send what you have: a pin dropped on a map, that photograph, any picture the item appears in, and a line saying whether it went onto stones, into sand or into the water. That is what gets handed to whoever searches.
Bays, villages and beaches this page takes in
- Dhërmi beach
- Dhërmi village, on the slope above it
- Drymades, which maps write as Drimadhë
- The Pirates cave, in the village of Dhërmi
- Palasë and its old plane tree
- Palasë beach, where the parachutes come down
- The coast road down from the Llogara pass
- Gjipe beach
- The path down to Gjipe from Vuno
- Vuno and its cobbled lanes
- Ilias
- Jalë bay
- Llamani, on the road between Himarë and Porto Palermo
- Livadhi beach, south of the old town of Himarë
- Spile and its harbour, on the Himarë coast
- The beach in the centre of Himarë
- The old town of Himarë, up on its rocky hill
- The Vishë canyon, along the north-west side of that hill
- Pilur, up on the balcony of the coast
- Kudhës, inland on the mountain road
- Porto Palermo bay and the small beach along it
- Qeparo and its Skaloma beach
- Qeparo fushë, down on the flat
- Borsh beach
- Borsh village and the Stenoi quarter
Bay by bay, from Palasë as far as Borsh
Each one described the way the municipality and the tourism agency describe it.
Palasë, under the pass
The municipality puts Palasë on the face of Mount Çika, the first village of the coast once the Llogara pass is behind you. An old plane tree stands in the centre, and narrow cobbled streets run to white houses with courtyards of vine arbours and pots of carnations.
Dhërmi and Drymades
The tourism agency describes the beach as areas of round stones with parts of fine sand, and the municipality lists bars, restaurants and places to stay in the area, with olive groves along the roads behind. The national road separates it from the village, which sits on the mountain slope in broken ground, tower style stone building among the older houses. Drymades is written Drimadhë on maps, with a beach of its own along the same coast.
Gjipe, Vuno and Ilias
Gjipe sits at the lower end of the Gjipe stream between Vuno and Ilias, fine clean sand with small caves and a rocky shore on from it. Vuno above is houses packed tight against each other, stone walls on the mountain face, cobbled streets and very broken ground. The Pirates cave stands on the hill of the Monastery of Shën Todri, in the village of Dhërmi, and the municipality says it is easily visited when the sea is calm.
Jalë and Llamani
Jalë is described by the tourism agency as a bay near Himarë with deep, clear water, ringed by mountains and green hills, known for swimming and diving. Llamani lies in a small bay ringed by coastal hills on the road between Himarë and Porto Palermo, and the municipality calls its water clear and cold.
Himarë, Spile and Livadhi
The road in is mountainous, with stretches out of sight of the sea. The old part of the town lies on the hill to the right of the town, with the Vishë canyon running along its north-west side. Spile, on the coast, is the administrative centre of the municipality and has a harbour, and Livadhi beach lies south of the old town. The beach in the middle of Himarë is sand and small stones, with boat trips going off it.
Porto Palermo, Qeparo and Borsh
The bay at Porto Palermo is calm and sheltered, boats often stop there for a short break, and the small beach along its edge is used for sunbathing. At Qeparo the valley opens out with the beach, the green field and the newer village of Qeparo fushë, and Skaloma beach is known for fine sand and shallow sea. Borsh sits in a narrow hollow above the sea where its stream comes down, the road to the beach running through olive groves.
Where you can make the difference
The last moment you are certain about
Work back to the last time you know it was on you, and say what happened between that and the moment you noticed. Everything before that point comes out of the search, which is why it is the first thing we ask.
A voice note counts as a message
If typing it out is a chore, talk it into a voice note on WhatsApp and let it ramble. Somebody listens to the whole thing and picks the useful parts out of it. Nothing has to arrive in order.
Spell the place the way it sounded
Albanian names reach us spelled by ear, and spelled by ear is enough to work from. Jala or Jalë, Drymades or Drimadhë, Himara or Himarë. Add the name of the hotel or the camp and the spelling stops mattering.
You hear how it went, either way
A search that turns up nothing gets reported back the same as one that does. That is the part people quietly worry about when they write in, so it is worth saying plainly.
What a searcher will ask about the ground
These differ from bay to bay, which is why the name alone is not enough.
Stones at one beach, sand at the next
Dhërmi is round stones in places and fine sand in others. The beach in the centre of Himarë is sand with small stones. Skaloma at Qeparo is written up for its fine sand, and Gjipe for fine clean sand with rock on from it.
Clear water and deep water are not the same thing
The tourism agency calls the water in the bay at Jalë deep and clear, and Skaloma at Qeparo shallow, while the municipality describes the water at Llamani as clear and cold. Say whether you were swimming or still standing.
How you got in is part of the picture
Gjipe is reached from the sea or by the road past the Monastery of Shën Theodhori, and the walk down to it comes from Vuno, where the ground is very broken. A place reached by boat is described differently from a place with a road behind it.
Questions about the Albanian Riviera
The watch went while we were out in the water at Jalë.
The tourism agency describes Jalë as a bay of deep, clear water, known for swimming and diving. What helps is the point you waded in from, and whether you were still able to stand when it went. Out over the deep middle of the bay, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
The ring is somewhere on the stones at Dhërmi.
Dhërmi beach is round stones in places and fine sand in others, so the surface you were sitting on is worth settling first. The national road runs between that beach and the village on the slope above. Say which side of it the afternoon was spent on.
Is Drymades a different place from Dhërmi?
Maps write it Drimadhë and treat it as a village of its own near Dhërmi, with a separate beach, while some hamlets on it carry the Dhërmi name. Either answer can be right. Give the name on the booking and the building you slept in, which narrows it further than any beach name does.
We spent the day at Palasë and an earring is gone.
Palasë has an old plane tree in its centre and narrow cobbled streets running down to white houses and their courtyards, all of it small, definite ground. The beach below is a different proposition, and it is where people jumping with a parachute from the Llogara pass come down. Say which of them the day belonged to.
We were on a boat that pulled into Porto Palermo.
The tourism agency calls that bay calm and sheltered, and says boats often stop there for a short break. Tell us whether you were still aboard, went in off the boat, or were ashore on the small beach at the edge of the bay. Those are separate pieces of ground and separate people to look for.
We lost a phone at Borsh but cannot narrow it down.
Borsh village sits in a narrow hollow above the sea, where the Borsh stream comes down, and the road to its beach runs through olive groves. Stenoi is the quarter of scattered houses among greenery and plentiful water, if that name rings true. The beach, the olive ground and the stream are separate searches, so any line you can draw between them helps.
Somebody told us Livadhi and somebody else said Himarë.
Both can hold. The municipality puts Livadhi beach to the south of the old town of Himarë, which stands on the hill to the right of it, and Spile is the coastal part, with its harbour. Give whichever name you were told and the day gets placed from there.
A chain went at Gjipe and we walked down from Vuno.
Gjipe lies at the lower end of the Gjipe stream between Vuno and Ilias, fine clean sand with small caves and rocky shore on from it, reached either from the water or by the road past the Monastery of Shën Theodhori. Which way you came in tells a searcher where your things were put down.
Albanian Riviera
Tell us which bay and what you were doing in it
WhatsApp, in your own words, in whatever order they come.
A line about the bay, a line about what was going on when it went, and a line about the item is enough for a first message. Nothing after that has to be got right the first time.