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9/11 Loose Change

Valdanosi

Four nautical miles to the north of Ulqin, between Mavrijen and Mendra, lies the horseshoe-shaped Valdanos Bay.Its end points fall steeply and suddenly into the sea, and the beach is single, composed of round stones 1-20 cm in diameter, It is 600 m long and 20 m wide on average. Unlike other bays, this one is protected from both southern and northen winds and it often served to shelter ships during storms. In the depth of the bay in the middle of the beach, was the quarantine. In 1833 it was recorded that Ulqin brigantine sailed into Valdanos from Alexandria contaminated by some disease and by order of Ulqins harbormaster, she had to stay in quarantine for 40 days.Valdanos is reached both from sea and from land. Both the routs are interesting and beautiful, and depending on which one is selected , the beauty of the bay will be experienced in different manner.For a complete impression, we recommend coming by land and returning by sea. The Valdanos valley has the oldest planted trees-olives, that have for centuries supported the life of the industrious inhabitants of Ulqini.The Ulqini olive plantation (Ullishta), with 74,000 trees is the second largest on the Adriatic coast after that in Tivar.
Its unique feature is that most of it 75% is one single complex. The average age is over 300 years, and some of them date from the days of Ancient Greece (5th century B.C.). The old olive plantation have oil given species. The famous Ulqini olive oil, in amphoras earthenware pots, was a commodity worth its weight in gold, it was shipped to Trieste, Venice Rome, Cairo and into interior Shkoder, Shkup, Duklje, Rash, Prizren and so on.
During harvest the plantations reverberated with the singing of the pickers.Friendships were made love was born, this was a chance to see a future bride. According to tradition a man could not be married until he had planted at least one olive tree.