Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Albania
Gjirokastër
The stone town above the Drino valley
City · Albania
Discover Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër is the stone town: its Ottoman tower houses are built of grey stone and roofed with stone slabs, stepping up the mountainside above the Drino valley. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 2005 and added Berat in 2008.
At the top is Gjirokastër Castle, one of the largest in the Balkans, with a clock tower, a weapons museum and views over the valley and mountains. Below it is the old bazaar, with cobbled lanes and shops of crafts, carpets and copperwork, and the Ottoman Bazaar Mosque. The Skenduli or Zekate houses show a tower house from inside.
Gjirokastër is about an hour and a quarter from Sarandë, so it is a day trip from the southern coast or a stop on the road between the coast and Tirana.
Albania
