Hidden Route | I regret not discovering this beautiful stone city earlier.
| I regret not discovering this beautiful stone city earlier. If I had to choose my favorite small town in Albania, it would definitely be Gjirokastër. It takes about 3 hours to drive from Berat to Gjirokastër. The drive through the Drino River Valley is full of picturesque valley scenery, which is no less beautiful than western Sichuan.
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The ancient city of Gjirokastër is built on the hillside of the valley. Its history can be traced back to the first century BC. It is a rare and well-preserved Ottoman historical town. Local residents built houses and streets with stones and used stone slabs to replace tiles to form the roof, forming a major feature of local residential buildings. The city is therefore known as the "Stone City". In other parts of Albania, or even in Europe, you can't see such houses.
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The entire old city of Gjirokastër is within the scope of World Cultural Heritage and is particularly suitable for spending a day exploring this small city. However, because of the mountain city, walking in Gjirokastër is very physical. Walking on the streets of the ancient city, you can see stone steps and stone streets everywhere, which can be regarded as a veritable "city of a thousand steps".
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The following is our route in Gjirokastër Citywalk this time, you can refer to: Homestay → Gjirokastër Castle → Market Center → Zekate House → Kukura Resort → Topulli House → Homestay
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👍🏻Must check in:
✅Gjirokastër Castle: The absolute core of Gjirokastër, you can move to my separate note on the castle.
✅Gjirokastra Bazaar: The center of the old city, where many ancient commercial streets intersect, there are various souvenir shops, specialty shops and small tea houses on both sides, which are particularly lively at night.
✅Zekate House: This is the mansion of a politician during the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. It is an Ottoman twin-tower structure house, very distinctive, and the view from the roof is very good.
✅Kukura Resort: Located at the commanding height of the small city, you can overlook the entire old city of Gjirokastër + castle, which is very out of the picture.
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⭕ Practical strategy
🏨Accommodation: Gjirokastër is divided into old and new urban areas. The old urban area is on the mountain and the new urban area is under the mountain. It is recommended to live in the old urban area because all the attractions are in the old urban area. The Guest House Juald we booked is pretty good, very close to the market, the landlord is a young man, and the family is very nice.
💰Price: The price level of Gjirokastër is generally the same as that of Berat. The old city is relatively expensive because the items here are mainly for tourists, but you can bargain. I drank the unforgettable smoothie here.
🚗Internal traffic: The old city of Gjirokastër is very narrow and the slope is steep, so driving is a bit difficult. We parked the car at the homestay and then walked around on foot.