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declare it as an administratively independent region or prefecture (see Marko 2006: 195). (see
Appendix 2).
Most of the villages of Himarë/Himara area, such as Palasa, Dhërmi/Drimades, Ilias/Lates,
Vuno, Qeparo/Kiparo, are scattered along the national coastal road while the other two
villages, Pilur which is located on the foothills of Çipthit Mountain and Kudhes situated on
the foothill of Gjinvlashi Mountain. Coming from Vlorë, after the mountain pass of Llogara
(1025 metres) the national road opens to a great view on the first two villages of the area,
situated on the hills that stretch behind the Çika Mountain. The first village of Himarë/Himara
area is Palasa, which was according to the local people originally called Palesti. The legend
tells us that somewhere in the 12 th or 13 th century, pirate attacks drove the “autochthonous”
population to flee from their coastal settlement Meghalihora (Big space) and settle in the
inland Palesti. Throughout the time the population of Palasa grew and moved further along
the coast to other villages.
One of these villages is Dhërmi/Drimades, situated one kilometre south of Palasa. Similarly to
Palasa the village lies on the hills that extend about 150 and 200 metres above the sea level.
On its south-western side it opens up into gravel beaches that together with the beaches of
Himarë/Himara and Vuno represent the main tourist attraction in the summer months.
Nowadays tourism provides the main income for the village beside remittances.
Narrow coastal road leads further south to the village of Ilias, which lies behind the mountain
of Mjegulloshi, a kilometre away from Dhërmi/Drimades. Many locals say that its name
derives from the word Lates which is said to be the name of the patriline that founded the
village. Nowadays Ilias is known by the legend of Saint Kosmas who passed the village on
one of his missions through Himarë/Himara area in 1778 and 1779 (see Bixhili 2004: 160).
Because of the water shortage the villagers could not offer him any when he asked them for it.
Insulted by their arrogance Saint Kosmas condemned the village and its people to have no
more than 39 houses ever since. Many locals believe that this is one of the main reasons that
the village stayed relatively small, populated nowadays by only 118 inhabitants (population
registration 2005 of the Municipality of Himarë/Himara). When people of Himarë/Himara
area list its villages they often skip Ilias with the explanation that the place is too small to be
called a village. Therefore they often conjoin it either with Dhërmi/Drimades or Vuno (cf.
INSTAT 2004), both of which are its neighbouring villages.
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