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Fjolla Lake: a lake, a castle, nice trails and excellent views

Summary: There might not be many places where you can be at a lake, hike to a castle on beautiful trails, and enjoy some of the most splendid views of the "front range" of Tirana and the Adriatic at the same time. We hiked this trail on an afternoon following a long rainy day, and the views stretched as far a to Montenegro. And we need to remember, that often the best views of a mountain are not to be had when you are climbing it, but when you can view it from a vantage point nearby. The trip to Fjolla Lake and Dorez Castle provides exactly this: views of the full mountain range behind Tirana, as you might not have seen it before! An added bonus is the opportunity to find petrified sea shells and petrified plant life.

Maximum altitude:	474 meter
Minimum altitude:	169 meter
Cumulative height:	314 meter
Cumulative length:	5.8 kilometer roundtrip
Difficulty	moderate
Time:	2-4 hours
Date of this record	October 2011
Download GPS info:	Fjolla Lake & Dorez Castle

General location and approach: Leave Tirana via the Kavaja road. After Vaqarr, turn towards Peze. After about 6 kilometers, trun left on a dirt road to Fjolla Lake. Along the way you have to cross a river over a doubtful bridge, but you may as well ford safely through the water.

Other Information:  We suggest you park at the indicated spot. After walking for a short while along the lake, you have to pass through a quarry (about twice as long as seen on google earth) and find ther path towards Dorez village. It is easy to get lost; don't sway to far from the coordinates. In Dorez, you have to pass through what seems to be private property, but it seems to done from time to time.

There is not much left of the castle - just a few large rectangular blocks (see photograps below). But one can well image a castle have been here. Be careful, the eastern side of the hill has very steep drops.

GPS and trailmaps: The map and trailinformation is generated by www.wikiloc.org, based on GPS information collected from the actual hike. Waypoints can be downloaded to a GPS device from Wikiloc. If necessary, use GPSBabel to convert GPS data to different formats. For more hike descriptions by Palmtreetreeproduction, browse this website or visit Wikiloc and search for "Palmtreeproduction". You may also find nearby trails from other authors.

Google Earth: You may also view the trail in 3D by clicking "view in Google Earth" when on Wikiloc. You need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.

Images: Click the button at the end of the page to view the slides in full screen