Himarë · Vlorë County · Albania

The terrace

The tables that matter are outside, under a frame of iron, cane and thatch, on ground that keeps falling away west towards the sea.

The pergola terrace: fluted black cast-iron columns carry beams hung with cast vine scrollwork, under flat cane panels, a thatch of dried grass and living grape vine, over pale blue tables and white chairs on gravel, with terracotta pots of geranium and the mountains beyond

Cast iron, cane and thatch, vine, and gravel underfoot.

Overhead: Fluted black cast-iron columns carrying flat beams, each beam hung with a run of cast vine scrollwork. Above them, cane panels under a thatch of dried grass; live grape vine trained along the frame, and a string of small lamps down the length of it.
Underfoot: Gravel between the tables, and large pale slabs where the terrace runs up to the building.
The tables: Pale blue tops with white slatted chairs outside; marble tops inside. Bamboo slat mats, white plates rimmed in dark blue, wine glasses and cut-glass tumblers.
The wall: Irregular pale stone in broken courses with wide mortar joints, a gabled niche with a pot standing in it, a window above a projecting sill, and a panelled door painted sage-olive standing open onto a rough stone room.
Planted: Terracotta amphorae and pots of geranium along the edge, bougainvillea over the ironwork at the far end, olives on the slope beyond.

A table laid on the terrace: white plates rimmed in dark blue, wine glasses and upturned cut-glass tumblers on bamboo slat mats, a zinc jug of dried flowers in the middle, and behind it a wall of irregular pale stone with a sage-green panelled door standing open onto a stone-walled room

The terrace tables, laid against the wall.

A green door in a stone wall.

The building behind the tables is faced in irregular pale stone, its courses broken and its joints wide, with a gabled niche set into it and a window standing on a projecting sill. The door is painted sage-olive and opens on to a rougher stone room with a shelf, a chair and a plate hung on the wall.

On the tables: bamboo slat mats, white plates rimmed in dark blue, wine glasses and tumblers turned down beside them, and a zinc jug of dried flowers in the middle.

And past the pots

The slope, the olives, and the bay.

The view downhill framed by an olive branch: scrub in yellow flower and olive trees on the slope, the Ionian beyond them, and a coastal town under the mountains on the far side of the bay

Downhill through the olives, and the bay under the mountains.