an eco-tour through the wilderness of Albania

In the hills above the village of Tragjas in Vlorë, southwestern Albania, I run after a farmer named Sofo, a glass of raki in one hand and a triangle of panverse petulla in the other. Dusk sucks daylight from the air, we are late and the goats need to be milked.

Sofo and his wife Dhurata receive us for dinner in their rustic "restaurant". We walk from the road to the farm through gnarled grass, gorse and rampant sage - and are greeted with lots of raki. Dhurata hands me a piece petulla filled with homemade goat cheese (a traditional ...