CategoriesKorça By Salah Noor

Korce Bazaar

Strolling along the alleys of Korce Bazaar is one of the best things to do in Korce. The bazaar is certainly the place to go for your Albania souvenirs, but there is much more to it. If you are curious about the Balkan – and in particular, the Albanian – tradition of bars and cafés, then this is the right place to visit.

The Bazaar features dozens of small cafés and typical taverns. The place gets even more alive in the early evenings when people of all ages, families, and groups of friends gather in the Bazaar area to share local food, coffee, or a glass of local drinks.

CategoriesKorça By Salah Noor

Old Town

Beautiful cobbled alleyways on the old side of Korce hide unexplored area of the city made of French aristocratic villas, attractive tiny houses and beautiful corners, making it perfect instgrammable place.

CategoriesKruja By Salah Noor

Bilaj’s Thermal springs

These springs are located on the national road Vora ¬ Fushë Krujë

 In the village of Bilaj, near the Gjola bridge. They are the closest sources to Tirana. The springs of these thermal waters emerge from the deposits of the Ishm valley. These springs are rich in minerals such as calcium, salts, potassium, iron, magnesium, etc. The water temperature is 55 degrees Celsius. Thanks to these waters, it can cure rheumatism, skin, and nervous system problems.

CategoriesKruja By Salah Noor

Old Bazaar

 The Old Bazaar of Kruja dates to the 17th century. It was built 400 years ago and had about 200 shops starting from neat Kruja City Hall to the entrance gates of Kruja Castle. The shops line the street on both sides creating roads of roof-covered storefronts whose sloping roofs create an arcade along its length. The main crafts in these shops have been leather working, silk, kitchen utensils, furniture, tailoring, pottery, carpentry, cafes, wood carving, butchers, barbers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and wool workers. In the Old Bazaar today you can find objects and handmade items from traditional artisans as well as antiques collected from Kruja and the surrounding areas.

CategoriesKruja By Salah Noor

Medieval Hamam

The Hamam is located on the southwestern edge of the castle. The steam bath is another legacy of medieval life in Kruja. The Hamam was built at the end of the 15th century, and consists of four areas: the changing room, the middle room which has remnants of a tank, and two separate bathing areas with water supplied by the well of the square. In the middle of the main room is the kettle where water was heated. This Hamam was used by the city’s elite. In 1963, it was proclaimed a first degree cultural monument

CategoriesKruja By Salah Noor

Skanderbeg Museum

This museum is centered on an epic man of the 15th century who succeded to stop the invasion of the Ottoman Empire for 25 years. The museum recognizes the lasting strength and consequential loss of the army of Skanderbeg. The national museum engenders the character of a memorial and opens to a stunning sculptural fresco representing the national hero Skanderbeg amongst his cohorts. The museum holds artifacts, writings, and accounts of Skanderbeg’s life and death.

CategoriesKruja By Salah Noor

Ethnographic Museum

This museum was the house of the Toptani family, built in a Çadak style, characteristic of the Krujë area at the time and dates back to the year 1764. The Toptanis were noble rulers of the area up until their move to Tirana. The house was declared a museum in 1959. The house allows the visitors to experience daily life during this period and is complete with interactive cultural displays and original furnishings.

CategoriesKruja By Salah Noor

Kruje Castle

At the top of a jagged mountain lies the historical castle, where there is a broad view that spans from Mount Tomori in the south to Ulcinj in the north with views of the Adriatic coast throughout. The castle features an arched tunnel as its entrance and once inside you can find castle remnants, the watch tower, two museums, restaurants, and homes that are still occupied. Inside the castle, on the sacred grounds, is a large olive tree planted on the day of Skanderbeg’s wedding.

CategoriesGjirokastra By Salah Noor

Historical Houses in Gjirokaster

More than 500 of Gjirokaster’s distinctive traditional houses have been designated as cultural monuments under the UNESCO scheme. From the fortress, you can see some of the most intricate symmetrical houses pressed into the hills that rise up above the bazaar.

None are more spectacular than the towering fortified houses.

Most of them date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Inside, sleeping quarters, guest rooms and hammams are woven together by a network of passageways and secret doors, wrapped in multiple internal and external staircases. The flat stones used for rooftops are the reason Gjirokaster got its nickname, ‘The City of Stone’.

The traditional houses recommended to visit are:

Zekate House

With its twin towers and gravity defying double-story stone arches, is absolutely worth viewing from the yard outside.

 Skenduli House

 Built in the early 1700s, it’s the most opulent and the best-preserved house

The house has a bunker (made to protect its residents from canon fire rather than nuclear attack). Skenduli contains an impressive six hamam baths and 12 winter and summer rooms, plus a hidden mezzanine where women could sit and spy on their betrothed

CategoriesGjirokastra By Salah Noor

Ismail Kadare House

The house of the world-famous Albanian writer, Ismail Kadare, has been turned into a museum. This is where Ismail Kadare was born and raised.

The house will be familiar to anyone who has read his book ‘Chronicle in Stone”, in which Kadare describes every corner of this house. During your visit you will imagine Kadare as a little boy, sitting close to the windows and witnessing the terrors of World War II.

The house was first built in 1799, and classified as a Cultural Monument in 1991. Recently, UNESCO and Albanian’s Ministry of Culture, repaired and rehabilitated the building under their auspices.