Tirana is in a perfect position to explore some of the most interesting cultural, archaeological monuments found in Albania.
Durres, Kruja, Lezha, Shkodra, Berat, Apollonia etc. are easily reachable within 2 hours drive from the capital. The most popular options are:
a. Daytrips from Tirana
Daytrip 1. Tirana - Kruja – Durres – Tirana
Visit Tirana
After early breakfast we will take a driven tour of the major landmarks of Tirana including, Ethem Bej Mosque, Clock Tower, Scanderbeg Square, Castle of Tirana, Main Boulevard with ministerial and University buildings and drop by to visit the oldest Tirana houses of Ottoman architecture. We will pay a visit to the National Museum of History which will give you an introduction into Albanian culture and history from antiquity to present day.
Visit Kruja
Afterwards drive to Kruja – a small characteristic town perched on a hill, centre of Albanian resistance against the Ottoman Turks under our national hero Scanderbeg. He kept them from crossing into Western Europe for 25 years, thus earning the title “Champion of Christ” given by the Pope of the time. We will visit the Castle of Kruja, Scanderbeg Museum, one of the best kept museums in the country, a very rich Ethnographic Museum situated on an original house of the 17th century and the Old Bazaar. Traditional Albanian lunch in Kruja.
Visit Durres
Afterwards we depart for Durres one of the oldest and most important cities in Albania. It was established under the name Epidamnus in the year 627 B.C. by Korintha and Korkyra colonists on the area of an ancient settlement of the Illyrian tribe of Taulant. It was one of the causes of the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century BC. Later, as Dyrrachium it became a very important staging post for the Roman Empire. During this time it also became a major trading centre and the main port on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. In the middle ages it was coveted by many different intruders from all over Europe. The fact that this city has been inhabited throughout its history, means that very little of the ancient city has been excavated, as it exists under the newer buildings. However the archaeological museum is well stocked and presented. The famous Roman orator, Cicero called Durres an admirable city, while the poet Catullus called it the tavern of the Adriatic. We will take a sightseeing tour of the Amphitheatre situated in the middle of the modern city, and the Archaeological museum rich in artefacts found in the city and its suburbs. Return to Tirana.
Daytrip 2. Tirana – Berat - Tirana
Visit Berat
After breakfast we depart for Berat one of the most fascinating Albanian towns with a mixture of cultural influences. Being more than 2400 year old the town it is one of the most attractive towns in Albania. Established in the 3rd century B.C by an Illyrian tribe of central Albania with a protective castle, it was known as the fortified city of Antipatrea. In 1417 the town was occupied by the Turks who build quite a few mosques in the area below the town’s old castle. Berat is situated at the foot of Tomorri Mountain and on the shores of River Osum. Built almost all, in white on a slope of green with the river at its feet, it offers a striking view as soon as it becomes visible. It is famous for its white-washed houses with their many windows which, seem to have been build on top of each other, that give it the nickname “town of a thousand windows”. Because of these the town retains a unique style of architecture, with narrow and stone paved streets. The castle is the only one in Albania and perhaps one of the few in the World that still has houses and inhabitants within its walls, going about their daily life in exactly the same place their predecessors did centuries ago. We will visit the Fortress, Onufri Museum and several churches and mosques. In the downtown we visit the Leaden Mosque, the King's Mosque, the Bachelor's Mosque and the Alveti Tekke. Onufri was an Albanian master painter of the 16th century who painted many church icons in Albania and Greece and is famous for its red colour named after him. After visits at the castle we make our way down to the scheduled place for lunch, where we will sample the delicious cuisine of this town. After lunch we will have some more visits to the Kings Mosque, Alvati Teke, Bachelors Mosque etc. Afterwards return to Tirana.
Daytrip 3. Tirana - Lezha – Shkodra - Tirana
Visit Lezha
After breakfast we depart for Shkodra the ancient capital city of Illyria. We stop in the small town of Lezh known as Lisus in ancient times. This is the town rendered famous by the Albanian Oath Document in 1444, which was an agreement where the most powerful Albanian feudal lords of the time pledged alliance to each other and to Scanderbeg as their leader in the war against the ottoman Turks. Here we will be able to admire the symbolic tomb of Scanderbeg within the Illyrian walls of the town inside an old chapel.
Visit Shkodra
Afterwards proceed to the northern city of Shkodra with the most important town of north Albania and the Illyrian capital, in the 3rd century BC. We visit the Marubi Museum (Master photographer of the end of 19th century). It has an exposition of old prints starting with the oldest photograph in the Balkans in 1856. We will also visit the House of Oso Kuka a traditional Shkodra house that hosts the town’s archaeological museum. Afterwards we visit the Mesi Bridge an old bridge built in the mid 18th century with beautiful mountain scenery as backdrop. Lunch in Shkodra by the lake of Shkodra the largest in the Balkans where the local carp is absolutely delicious. Afterwards we visit the Castle of Rozafa where Queen Teuta of the Illyrians reigned during the Illyro-Roman Wars of the III century B.C. After the visit to the castle we head back to Tirana.
Daytrip 4. Tirana - Apollonia – Ardenica - Durres– Tirana
Visit Apollonia
After an early breakfast we depart for the ancient city of Apollonia one of the most important ancient centres in Roman times on the famous Via Egnatia. The Roman Emperor Augustus Octavian himself studied there, a testimony to the development of this city in general and its cultural importance in particular. We will be able to visit the ruins, including the library as well as a nearby Monastery of the 14th century turned into the archaeological museum where objects from the excavations are displayed.
Visit Ardenica
After the visits to Apollonia we head back to Durres. On the way we will stop for a visist to the Monastery of Ardenica. Ardenica Abbey (church) it was in the Middle age argued by a stone in entrance dating back to Today inside the church you can admire pictures of 1743-1745 years, by Albanian artists such as Konstandin and Athanos Zografi, as well as Konstandin Shpataraku. It is also said that our national Hero Gjergj Kastrioti Scanderbeu married at the chapel of this monastery.the 1417, but the first building belongs at the beginning of XVIII century.
Afterwards we depart for Durres one of the oldest and most important cities in Albania.
b. Museums and Art Galleries in Tirana
Museums in Tirana are among the main tourist attraction based on the simple fact that Albania is a country rich in history yet little known to outsiders. As a result the Historic and Archaeological Museums are the first stops for visitor to Albania and Tirana.
The National Historic Museum is one of the best museums in the country and offers an in depth exploration of the country’s history from the ancient Illyrians to the recent communist regime which ended in 1991 after 45 years of brutality.
The Archaeological Museum offers a panorama of the country’s ancient past through a depiction of archaeological artefacts uncovered in the different archaeological sites spread all over the country.
The National Art Gallery worked in two main directions, exhibiting the permanent collection and opening temporary exhibitions of Albanian and foreign artists. The new visions on the development and display of fine arts, as well as the new acquisitions increased the number of artworks at the Gallery’s disposal and brought about the need for a larger and more functional new building. The new venue opened on 29 November 1974; it was situated on the Boulevard "Martyrs of the Nation" and it is the existing building where the Gallery of Arts stands today. This new opening is the moment of reorganization and of the first rebuilding program which consisted in establishing an administrative structure made up of several departments dealing with artistic activities. The fund of the new gallery, up to this time, counted 340 artworks and its archives counted 240 registered artists. From this moment onwards the Gallery of Arts functions as the only and most important national institution of exhibiting, conserving, studying, restoring, publishing, documenting and archiving the works of art in Albania. Furthermore it offers a special pavilion on the Socialist Realism, a powerful propaganda tool of the dictatorship through an art form which idealized only the positive aspects of the regime. Paintings of happy workers, villagers, families, youth and children dominate this art style.
c. Opera and Ballet in Tirana
In the centre of Tirana on the East side of Scanderbeg square is situated the National Opera House. It is an institution which during communist times was highly regarded and produced many famous lyrical singers and ballet dancers due to strict Russian style, study regimes. Many of the teachers had studied in famous schools in the ex Soviet Union and the tradition has carried on. During the opera season diverse world famous operas and ballets are performed on the stage of this institution. Due to the fact that classical music was seen as entertainment of the masses during the regime Albania has inherited more than 9 symphony orchestras and ticket prices for classical music plays are cheap in price but not on talent. In terms of stage and set design they may not be the most artistically accomplished, but they offer great live performances.
d.Monuments & Cultural Sites in Tirana
Kalaja (The Fortress) of Tirana was a road station of the Via Egnatia of the type Mansio-Mutatio. It composed the center of inhabitation with a variety of names since the first centuries of our era.
Tirkan (in 4-th century AD), Tergiana (in 1272) when in it was placed the chancellery of its ruler Karli I Anzhu and in today’s form according to Barleti, Tyranna (1505).
The fortress, a testimony of the city’s ancient past is found in the place where the two streets, the old and new crossed and which linked the capital with all Albania, north and south, east and west. Furthermore a castle or a fortress dominated each of the old ways through which one entered Tirana.
The Castle of Lalmi (2-th century of our era) in the hill where Erzen River took the turn and permitted the road passage toward Petrela.
The Castle of Tujan, where life traces are encountered since the first period of iron is a stony fortification in a quadrangle shape. Reconstructed in the 4-th century of our era it was the entrance gate of the corridor Dibër-Tiranë-Durrës.
On the other side, near the mountain of Vila, in the straits of Krraba, there is the Illyrian city of the Parthins-Persqopi (3-th century before our era), whose inhabitants were later displaced to Petrela. Petrela Castle is one of the imposing monuments that can still be visited.
The Castle of Dorëzi that passes through the river of Treza and Piolli (the first period of iron age), then the castle of Ndroqi, Preza, Ishmi, altogether these antique and medieval castles made the defensive fence of Tirana.
The castle of Tirana was and remained the historic kernel of the area of Tirana and an administrative residence during middle Ages. It continued to do so during the 17-th century, when the city of Tirana expanded around it by having a filtered citizen centre (the social –cultural complex) built by Sulejman Pasha, the crafts and commercial trade from the north view, Namazgjanë and the bridge of Tabakëve from the east side, the government main buildings inside the location of the castle. The two other sides were raised upon the sides of Lana River. It is thought that in 1640, Ahmet Beu made the restoration of the walls raising the height in antique structures. The long tower that still has a partially good condition was also a work of his. The castle is damaged again in the period between the inter- feudal wars of the 18-th century, where the troops of Ahmet Kurt Pasha of Berat collided with Bushatllinjtë. The immured people of Tirana defended it with heroism and the castle was not invaded by any of them. To this time belongs the system of embrasure for the fire guns in the highest part of the enclosing walls.
After 1814, the fortress of Tirana becomes residence of its new invaders; Toptans, who came from Kruja and built two houses, one for inhabitation and the other for reception, a function it continues to perform today. During the 20-th century, when its original function for defence was lost, big damages were observed. It lost a part of the enclosing walls and its full stylistic formulation of the building is almost unnoticeable from the rests. In our days in its territory are situated the Academy of Sciences, the Parliament and the National Gallery of Arts. ( Source: “Municipality of Tirana”)