Nivice, the Hidden Village

Nivice is a good spot for a weekend escape for everyone, because it is close to Saranda.

It is not easy to recognize this small village from Saranda-Himara national road but worth to keep the eyes on the sign.

Nivice is a mountain village, is located 750 meters above sea level like a “natural fortress” arched by the Rrupaqa forest. Nivice wants to hide and stand out from the mountain stones at the same time, situated on the slopes of the Shënd ëlli mountain. But, like all stories, this village also has some white spots in its memory.

The loneliness of the minimalist tombstone is dedicated to the martyrs of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War. The memorial standing on the main square is not suppressed by the silence under the huge sycamore tree next door. As the locals said, the village’s famous tree is hundreds of years old and has always played an important role in the life of the village. The village square is also designed so that everyone can relax and talk about their problems under the sycamore tree. Give and take from those who have and share with those who don’t have.

And the tree has been growing, year after year, generation after generation, until the ll. During World War II, the village became a prime target it was repeatedly bombed by the Germans from the neighboring mountains, day and night, but there was not much place to hide, until the last time the the tree caught the impact of one of the sieges, saving the shops on the main square and the neighboring residential buildings. Out of gratitude, one of the local craftsmen cleaned up the damage to the tree and lined the trunk with stones from the inside to keep the tree in place.

In the last few years that have passed since then, there is still a lot on the sycamore he witnessed everything in the life of the then even more populous village. For example, the fact that the church was transformed into a village cinema during the communist decades.

And the fact that it welcomes those who enter it as a church again. Next to the raft stands the old village school, which is more than 100 years old and has been reconstructed several times by the villagers, and in front of it is a special architectural bell tower. In the same courtyard as the school is the church of St. Dimitri, built in the 16th century but rebuilt several times over the centuries.

If you visit Nivice you have to stop at Taverna Muzhaqi Villa Muzhaqi and visit this family runs business since 2015 in the village.

The Taverna founders Orest and Vasilika just returned from Greece where Vasilika had worked as a cook for many years in Athens, it was Orest’s idea to open a local business here. What life needs beyond luck then, when it was courage, even audacity to come home. But Orest really wanted to keep the village alive, at that time tourism had not developed. Nowdays their Taverna popular among locals and tourists, with warm hospitality and catchy and cosy enteriour with family memories inside and in the garden. Since opening the Taverna, there is already the second generation, nowdays their daughter Maria keeps eyes on the daily works, who also a returner. She was back to the village to get involved in the business, also her two daughters have been working here when they don’t go to school.

To eat in Nivice for a lovely lunch to understand the tradition of the locals „Becasue food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It’s not about nutrients and calories. It’s about sharing. It’s about honesty. It’s about identity”. Almost all their products come from a small farm in the village, meat from shepherds here in the surrounding villages, the bureks/ pies are traditionally made by Maria’s mom.

History, tradition, natural beauty, hiking in the village or forest Rrupaqe, visit beautiful monastery of Panagia or swimming at Kakome Beach calling visitors to close to many hidden gems of Albanian Coast side nowadays for staying in the village longer than an afternoon there are three guesthouses as well run by family of the Taverna Muzahaqi.

CONTACT:
Taverna Muzhaqi
Nivice , Saranda, Albania
+355 69 826 4070
maria.papagjika@gmail.com

Villa Muzhaqi
Nivice , Saranda, Albania
+355 69 826 4070
maria.papagika@gmail.com

First published in Travel Magazin Balkan in 2023/39 Nr