Delvine Travel Guide

No sign told where was the spring but it was obvious that if we followed the pupils, we would get to the spring! They joked and played all the way as all pupils do when they are out in a group! And after a short walk (200m) on a narrow path we reach Syri i Kalter, which means “the blue eye” and unlike in 1988, it was really a blue eye!

Syri i Kalter is a Vauclusian spring. A Vauclusian spring is a spring rising under considerable pressure from a deep, vertical or very steep bedrock water-filled passage draining a deep aquifer. Vauclusian springs occur especially in karstic regions. The name of Vauclusian spring have been coined by hydrogeologists from “Fontaine-de-Vaucluse” spring. By pure chance, I happened, two weeks after our visit to Syri i Kalter, to visit Fontaine-de-Vaucluse spring!

After we had visited the spring, we discovered that a newly built wooden bridge allowed to walk back directly to the place where we had parked our car! However, I advise visitors not to use it to go to the spring: you will better enjoy the sight if you go the usual way which is not very long, anyway, not more than 200-300m. Use the bridge only for the way back!

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As I have visited two Vauclusian springs in such a short time, I was able to compare them.

As it has given its name to this kind of spring, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is the reference. It has by far the highest flow with 20 to 80 m3/sec while Syri i Kalter is only 1.4 to 8.8 m3/sec. However, the hydrogeologist will consider the flow as a main feature while the visitor will mostly consider the look.

In Syri i Kalter, all the flow goes out at the main spring and all year long, given that the weather is sunny, you can view directly the top of the duct flowing, lit by the sun, which gives such a deep blue color to the water.

In Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, the duct is heavily cracked under the summit and part of the water flows into the valley by secondary springs, giving birth to the Sorgues river. When the overall flow is less than 20 m3/sec, no water flows out of the main spring and it looks like a small pool a few meters under the rim. Only for a few days between December and April, when the flow is high, does it cascade over the rim, which must be a great but rare sight.

As the flow is smaller in Syri i Kalter, the duct is narrower. The second photo, gives on the right the figure of the duct. It is only 1 to 2m in diameter. I suppose that it has been explored by divers specialized in cave diving as the drawing shows the shape of the duct until 50m, which is not the bottom.

Everywhere in the world, this kind of spring is considered as supernatural and has been the place for rites of offerings for centuries and centuries. I have read that a legend said that Syri i Kalter spring was jealously guarded by a dragon that forbid the access to the water for the villagers. To overcome this ban, pagan rituals were carried out and young maidens were sacrificed to the water gods. I suppose that there is more literature on the subject in Albanian but I have not found more in one of the languages that I can read.

After the terrace of the restaurant, a bridge allows to pass on the other side of the torrent (better seen on the photo of the previous tip).

On our 2007 visit, everything was fine and there were plenty of visitors, all of them Albanians, many schoolboys and girls. We talked with some of them and understood that many classes came here, both for a geology class and also just for the pleasure of going out instead of having a class indoor! Some of them spoke a very good French and were happy to talk with French visitors.

Once you have parked your car, you walk along several shops of souvenirs, a bar and a restaurant. The place is pleasantly fresh because of the water flowing and because of the shade of the old trees. It is such a pleasant place than under the previous regime, the access was limited to the powerful that came here both to relax and to hunt the many game. When I visited it in 1988, groups of foreign visitors were admitted but it was not open to the public. I did not found it impressive: as the weather was very dull, the water was grayish and I wondered why our guide had lead us there!

I have read that after the regime fall, the place was almost abandoned for several years and the shops and restaurant more or less dilapidated.

After almost 2.5 kilometers, the road reaches a stream of crystal clear water shaded by tall trees. The road follows closely the torrent for the last half a kilometer. This is the torrent that feeds the artificial lake standing behind the dam at the entrance of the site.