From Istanbul, they flew to Tirana, Albania, and meet Lorenc Bejko of the Albanian Institute for Archeology. During four days in Albania, they traveled through southern Albania and met various Albanian archeologists and officials. The high point of their travel in Albania was examining the Greco-Roman site of Butrint. Butrint has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, a cultural site of international merit (click here for more information). Other areas they visited included the Greco-Roman ruins at Apollonia and the port city of Durres on the Adriatic. An important port in Greek and Roman times, Durres was the starting point for the Via Ignatia, the continuation of the Roman Via Apia across Macedonia to Constantinople. Durres contains the ruins of a Roman coliseum and an impressive fortification wall.

The final leg of their journey was the flight from Tirana to Rome. While stopping over in Rome, they met with Diego Plos of Helica, a commercial aviation company in northern Italy. Helica and the Instituto Nazionale de Oceanografica e di Geophysica Sperimentale want to develop a LIDAR program in Trieste and are interested in the Bureau’s use of LIDAR. As an exercise in perpetual motion, the trip was a resounding success.

The trip was a crucial step in bringing the proposed LIDAR survey into focus; problems and issues were clearly delineated. A number of important contacts were made, and the next stage in the planning of this rather ambitious project is under way.

An oil field in southern Albania. The field, developed with Chinese technology, appeared to be marginally productive, and it supplies crude oil for a small petrochemical plant in an adjacent town. Landscape is the typical hilly-to-mountainous Albanian terrain covered with mixed-use agricultural fields.

Roman ruins at Butrint in southern Albania. In the uppermost left corner, the structure with the rounded ends is the remains of a Roman bath. The wall with the two distinct archways, visible in the center foreground, is the stage for a Roman theater. Audiences occupied seating built into the hillside.

Rebecca Smyth and Albanian archeologist Lorenc Bejko walking toward the Roman theater at Butrint. The curved wall of the Roman bath is just below Becky. Semicircular audience seating is visible in the hillside beyond the arched stage.

Ruins of Apollonia in southern Albania. Originally founded by the Greeks, the site was later occupied by the Romans. A Byzantine basilica and monastery now stand on the hilltop. In the background, the coastal plain stretches out toward the Adriatic Sea.

A view of the Roman fortification wall that surrounds the hilltop at Apollonia. The Byzantine monastery, basilica, and campanile are in the background.

A mosaic uncovered in the ruins of a Roman villa in Apollonia.