“Bujtina Sidheri”:https://bujtina-sidheri.business.site/ Bujtina Sidheri is a seven-bedroom hotel, situated in a quiet cobbled residential street, a 10 to 15-minute walk from the centre of Korçe, a town in south east Albania.
Our room was on the top floor up three flights of steps, with no lift. It was a reasonable size with beams on the ceiling and rugs covering the wooden floor. The double bed was comfortable with plenty of pillows, marble topped bedside tables and lamps with a plug point on either side. There was a wardrobe and two chairs, one which could be transformed into a single bed, and in the absence of any shelves, was used for our clothes. An ornate gilt picture frame surrounded the TV and a useful free-standing coat rack. There was lots of ‘bric a brac’ and it was all a bit quirky.
There was no bathroom as such. The ornate handbasin was in the room, however, it was impossible to stand directly in front of it due to the positioning of the mini bar. There was a separate toilet (with a toddler sized trainer seat which was much smaller than the bowl). The shower room was so small that as soon as you stepped out of the shower, you were virtually in the bedroom where you had to dry off. However, the water was hot and powerful (apart from on the final night, when the water was lukewarm at best) and the shower simple to use. There were small plastic bottles with shampoo and shower gel and rubber slippers were provided.
WiFi was complimentary but with a poor signal in the room. However, as soon as we stepped onto the landing, where fortunately there was an armchair, it kicked in again. There was no AC, but it wasn’t necessary.
There were ‘sitting rooms’ on a couple of the landings, and we had access to a terrace as well as a balcony with chairs and a table overlooking the street.
We’d been asked on arrival what time we wanted breakfast and plumped for 8am (served 8am to 11am). A delightful young waitress spoke a little English, more so than the rest of the staff so we could make ourselves understood, although ordering anything was not required as it just arrived. The long table was simply set for six which we shared with an American couple. Lukewarm, strong filter coffee was served in a teapot with another pot of cold milk. Then it was a boiled egg (a long time since either of us had had one) but it turned out to be hard boiled. Next came individual plates with a sausage, piece of cheese, two melon balls, butter and jam along with a basket of lightly toasted bread. Then we were served a large plateful of small donut-like buns and a bowl of porridge with cubes of cheese on top. All very bizarre and not your usual breakfast. Finally, we were asked if we would like freshly squeezed carrot and apple juice.
We returned after our first full day of sightseeing to find our room hadn’t been serviced. The manager told us rooms were only done every two days and when I suggested they need to make us aware of this, he suggested leaving the key in the door. When I looked aghast, he suggested handing it in to reception (we’d decided against this as the front door key was on the same ring).
All in all, this was a hotel to provide an experience, but the location was good for visiting the many places of interest in the town.
