Situated just outside Saranda (only about a 30 minute drive) is the natural water spring, Blue Eye. It is a popular tourist destination with intense blue water, lush tropical greenery and the home to many brilliant blue colored dragon flies. It is a truly beautiful site to visit and a great place for the whole family to enjoy!
Local Albanian legend speaks about the creation story of the Blue Eye…
It begins with a giant snake, that rose up and out of the sea. Who slithered to and fro, until reaching a small spring in Delvina. In Delvina this snake hungrily devoured a group of women and children, who were gathering water at the spring.
After eating, not fully satisfied, the snake slithered up the Mali i Gjere (mountain). There it destroyed crops, devoured sheep and goats and their two shepherds. When the local people heard about the snakes doings, they were horrified!
But one brave old man had an idea. He decided to load his donkey with sacks of straw on it’s back and go to the cave where the snake made a home. When the man found the snake, he set fire to the hay – which unfortunately was still on the donkey’s back. When the snake swallowed the blazing donkey, the fire was still active in the snake’s belly.
The snake, in incredible pain, hissed for its mother, the sea and its sister rivers to come to its rescue. But they were not fast enough. Now dying, the snake slithered across the mountain, leaving a trail, until reaching its final resting place. This is where the Blue Eye spring is located. And, where the giant snake’s blue eye still continues to cry.
Book your tour of the Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër), with Tea Tours today!
P.S. Want to see more of the Blue Eye from afar? Check out this video, produced by Top Albania!
