Set atop a rocky peninsula with the Vivari Channel acting as a virtual moat, the UNESCO World Heritage site of Butrint never fails to delight every one of your senses. The monuments are set among dense groves of pine, eucalyptus, bay laurel, and Judas trees, surrounded by a combination of fertile pastureland, olive and tangerine groves, and marshes. The wet spring ensured there were blankets of red poppies, wild carrot, buttercups, purple mallow, and periwinkle and pink convolvulus under the trees and peeking out between the stones of the crumbled walls. Our visit included stops at the Greco-Roman theater and agora, the Byzantine basilica and baptistery the city walls and the Venetian fortress above the city. The morning ended with a visit to Lekuris Castle above Sarande with a 360˚ view of the surrounding countryside and coast. In the late afternoon, having moved 20 kilometers up the coast to Porto Palermo, we dropped anchor in the bay and went ashore to explore and have drinks atop a small castle built in 1804 by Ali Pasha, the colorful Ottoman governor who ruled the country for 40 years.