Theth, Cascada y cañón de Grunas y Blue Eye

And after an express arrival in Theth and a well-deserved rest at the Astrit Villi Guest House, we are ready to visit the valley and everything it has to offer, which is not little, and for this we are going on the road, although you should know that there is also transport that can take us along the track that runs through the valley, to discover its most beautiful points directly.

We leave the guest house after a breakfast of champions, and the first thing is to go down to the town of Theth itself, since the guest house is on the outskirts, but between roads and paths we arrive in a moment. The population of Theth is quite peculiar within Albania, and it was founded by some Christian brothers to get away from the Ottoman invasion and the arrival of Islam, maintaining Christianity here as the majority religion during the time. This is why in the center of the town we find a church and there is no mosque. The kanun (Albanian unwritten law) has also been very present in this area, and in fact we found later on a kulla, an essential part of life organized around the laws of the kanun. This kulla is an ethnographic museum and can be visited for a small fee.

Leaving the town we continue down the river in the middle of nature, between meadows and forest surrounded by the impressive mountains of the Albanian Alps, which flank the valley. And after a while we arrive at the crossroads that will take us to the Grunas waterfall along a steep uphill path that will make us sweat, but it is worth traveling to reach the waterfall, which with a drop of more than 30 meters is a true show.

After descending from the waterfall a little further on, there is another detour that takes us to the canyon that the Shala River has carved into the rock and that we can see from a narrow bridge that crosses it.

Returning to the path, now we have to go down to get to the level of the river that we already followed until we reach an area of calm and crystalline waters where there are also some beach bars that serve food and drinks. And here we relax with our feet in the water and a few beers.

From here we climb the last stretch of our route that takes us to the Blue Eye, an intense blue pool, which is impressive, although like any natural wonder, it is full of people, but in any case it is worth a visit.

From here we turn around and in the pools below we take a taxi back to Theth, which will take us along the track at full speed and with lots of laughter.

Please note: the route does not end at the same point where it begins, take this into account when calculating return distances.
To take a taxi back, there are usually cars that come and go, although the price is quite high. Better to ask where you are staying for bus schedules.
Bring a swimsuit in case you take a dip in the pool or the river (in the river it is not so cold).

We classify the route as moderate due to the length of the route, but it does not have any technical difficulty. It is signposted and everything goes along the way. Remember that it is always better to carry the track loaded.

We leave you with a video with more images of the route. Seriously, it is worth seeing for the wonder of the landscape.