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Tirana
Capital of Albania since 1920, Tirana is compact and pleasant enough to explore on foot. It lies almost exactly midway between Rome and Istanbul, and its architecture has been influenced by both, as well as by the Soviet Union. Most visitors to Tirana begin at Skenderberg Square, a great open space in the heart of the city. Mt Dajti, 1612m (5030ft) rises to the east, and the market on that side of town is well worth exploring.
The National Museum of History is the largest and finest museum in Albania, and you'll find it next to the 15 storey Tirana International Hotel, the tallest building in the country. A huge mosaic mural entitled Albania covers the façade of the building. To the east, the Palace of Culture has a theatre, restaurant, cafes and art galleries, and the Soviet influence is apparent in its clunky architecture. The entrance to the National Library is on the southern side of the building. Opposite that is the cupola and minaret of the Mosque of Ethem Mey, built in 1793 and one of the city's most distinctive buildings. Tirana's clock tower, built in 1830, stands beside the mosque.
A statue of Enver Hoxha once stood on the high marble plinth between the National Museum of History and the State Bank in Skënderberg Square, but it was toppled after the return to democracy, and a small fairground now takes up the centre of the square. Over the Lana River to the south are the sloping white marble walls of the former Enver Hoxha Museum, which is occasionally used as an exhibition centre and slated to be turned into a disco. The red star has been removed from the pyramid-shaped building's tip. Further south on Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit are the ultramodern Palace of Congress and the Archaeological Museum, which has a fantastic selection of objects from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages.
The best budget accommodation in Tirana is through private rented apartments or with local families. The formerly cheap state-owned hotels have either closed or been renovated, and now ask substantially higher prices. New hotels are similarly out of the budget traveller's reach. There are plenty of places to eat cheaply on Skënderberg Square and on Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, and small and stylish bars have sprung up all over town.
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Durrës
Unlike Tirana, Durrës (Durazzo in Italian) is an ancient city, founded in 627 BC by the Greeks. It was for centuries the largest port on the Adriatic, and the start of the Via Egnatia to Constantinople. Landings here by Italian troops in 1939 met brief but fierce resistance, and those killed defending it are now regarded as the first martyrs of the War of National Liberation. Roman ruins and Byzantine fortifications embellish this major industrial city and commercial port, Albania's second largest city.
A good place to start is the Archaeological Museum, which faces the waterfront promenade near the port. Behind the museum are the 6th century city walls, built after the Visigoth invasion of 481 and supplemented by round Venetian Towers in the 14th century. The Roman Amphitheatre, built between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD is impressive, and stands on a hillside just inside the walls. The former Palace of King Ahmet Zog stands to the west of the amphitheatre, and in front of that is a statue of Skënderberg and, incongruously, huge radar disks set up by the Italian army. When you're in the centre of town, don't miss the Roman Baths behind the Aleksandër Moisiu Theatre on the central square.
Durrës is 38km (23.5mi) west of Tirana, and is easily accessible by rail. If you're coming from Italy there are direct ferries from Trieste, Ancona and Bari, and there are also services from Koper in Slovenia.
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Shkodra
Shkodra (also Shkodër and, in Italian, Scutari) is one of the oldest cities in Europe and the traditional centre of the Gheg cultural region. In 500 BC an Illyrian fortress was already guarding the crossing west of the city where the Buna and Drin rivers meet. The road to Kosovo also begins here. Shkodra's skyline is dominated by the new and impressive Sheik Zamil Abdullah Al-Zamil Mosque, and next to that is the Muzeo Popullor, which exhibits recent paintings and historic photos upstairs and has an impressive archaeological collection downstairs. Shkodra was also the most influential Catholic city in Albania, and the impressive Franciscan Church on Rruga Ndre Mjeda is now a church again after serving as an auditorium during Albania's official period of atheism.
Rozafa Fortress lies 2km (1.2mi) south-west of Shkodra, near the southern end of Lake Shkodra. Legend has it that a woman named Rozafa was walled in here, and she asked that two holes be left in the wall so she could still feed her baby. Nursing mothers come here today to smear their breasts with the milky water. Below the fortress is the many-domed Leaden Mosque, the only mosque in town to escape destruction during the 1966 Cultural Revolution. Shkodra is accessible by frequent buses and trains from Tirana, 80km (50mi) to the south, and infrequent buses from Durrës.
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Butrint
The ancient ruins of Butrint lie 18km (11mi) south of Saranda and are a real gem if you're into ancient world ruins. Virgil claimed that the Trojans settled Butrint, but no evidence of this has yet been found, and the site has been pored over by archaeologists. Treasure hunters from Italy lifted many of the antiquities before the war, but most have since been returned and are on display at the National Museum of History in Tirana. Greeks settled Butrint during the 6th century BC, although the area had been settled long before by the Illyrians.
Within a century of the Greeks arriving, Butrint had become a fortified trading city with its own acropolis, the ruins of which you can still visit. Just below the acropolis in the forest is the 3rd century BC theatre, also used for performances when the Romans were there. Nearby are public baths with geometrical mosaics, and deeper into the forest is a wall with Greek inscriptions and a 6th century baptistry decorated with colourful mosaics of animals and birds. Overlooking the whole site is a triangular fortress, erected by warlord Ali Pasha Tepelena early in the 19th century. Butrint is accessibly by road from Saranda, which is linked to Tirana and Vlora by bus. The ruins are nearly on the country's southern border with Greece, 160km (99mi) south of Tirana.
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Gjirokastra
Gjirokastra is a strikingly picturesque museum town, perched on the side of a mountain above the Drino River. The town was well established by the 13th century, but the arrival of the Turks in 1417 initiated a slow decline. By the 17th century, however, the town was thriving again, with a flourishing bazaar where embroidery, silk and the still famous white cheese were traded. Above the Bazaar Mosque in the centre of town is the Mëmëdheu ABC Monument, commemorating the Renaissance of Albanian education around the turn of the 20th century. Dominating the town is the 14th century citadel, now a museum of armaments. Enver Hoxha's childhood home houses the Ethnographic Museum, and the old Turkish Baths are in the lower town. Gjirokastra is 120km (74mi) south of Tirana, and as it's on the main highway between Tirana and Saranda it is easily reached by bus.
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Elbasan
Elbasan lies midway between Pogradec and Durrës, and the town has been prominent since 1974, when the Chinese built a steel mill ('Steel of the Party') there. It also has a cement factory and a growing pollution problem, but Elbasan is not completely without charm. It was founded by the Romans in the 1st century AD, and strong stone walls with 26 towers were added in the 4th to protect it against invading barbarians. In 1466 Sultan Mohammed II rebuilt the walls and renamed the town El Basan ('The Fortress') in Turkish. The 17th century Turkish Baths are in the centre of town, on the opposite side of the park from the Ethnographical Museum. Go through the Bazaar Gate near the clock tower and follow a road north past the 15th century King's Mosque to St Mary's Orthodox Church, which has beautiful stone arcades on its walls. Elbasan is 54km (33mi) south-east of Tirana, and buses, minibus taxis and trains make the journey daily.
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Berat
Berat is Albania's second most important museum town, and is sometimes called 'the city of a thousand windows' for the many windows in its red-roofed houses. Along the ridge above the gorge is a 14th-century citadel sheltering small Orthodox churches such as the Orthodox Cathedral of Our Lady, the Church of the Holy Trinity and the Church of the Evangelists. On the slope below the citadel is Mangalem, the old Muslim quarter. A seven-arched stone bridge leads to Gorica, the Christian quarter. The town has several fine mosques, such as the Leaden Mosque, the King's Mosque, the Bachelor's Mosque and the Alveti Tekke, a smaller shrine where Islamic sects like the Dervishes once practised. Berat is 122km (76mi) south-east of Tirana, and the bus journey takes three hours.
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Korca
Korca is the main city of the south-eastern interior, and it sits on an 869m (2850ft) high plateau west of Florina, Greece, 39km (24mi) south of Lake Ohrid. It is Albania's largest carpet and rug producing centre, and has been since the Greeks were there. Fine museums include the Muzeu i Artet Mesjetar Shqiptar (Museum of Albanian Medieval Art), the Muzeu Historik and the Muzeu i Arsimit Kombëtar (the Education Museum). Much of the old city was destroyed by earthquakes in 1931 and 1960, which toppled minarets and flattened churches, but some of the colour of old Korça remains in the bazaar, west of the Hotel Iliria. Korça is 179km (111mi) south-east of Tirana, and you can get there by bus. It is also the first stop in Albania if you enter from Florina in Greece.
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