4 nights from
£895
Following the success of our Classical Tour of Albania, we are delighted to introduce this condensed tour of carefully chosen highlights, a leisurely short break, staying in one place, with departures during the quiet spring and autumn seasons. Our base is Albania’s second-largest city, Durrës, strategically sited on the Adriatic coast, and tracing its roots to 627BC. Wars, earthquakes, and a chequered past have left few historic monuments, but those still standing are impressive, from a Roman amphitheatre to ancient city walls and a Venetian fortress tower. We travel to Kruja, its castle the home of 15th-century national hero and nobleman Gjergj Kastrioti, known and revered as Skanderbeg; its superbly preserved medieval market resembling a living museum. Tirana uses its past as a backdrop to its present persona of chaotic, colourful capital, with avenues of Ottoman, Italian and communist era architecture; mosques, Orthodox and Catholic churches; and a modernist museum hemming the hub of the city, Skanderbeg Square. And, crowning a hilltop, Berat’s 13th-century citadel gazes down on the photogenic, UNESCO listed, ‘town of a thousand windows’, the tiers of multi-paned houses among the best Ottoman examples outside Turkey.
This itinerary includes visits on foot including some uneven surfaces and inclines.
Air travel and taxes, transfers, 4 nights’ accommodation, breakfast daily, 2 lunches, itinerary as described, services of guides and local representatives. If our specially negotiated airfares are unavailable at the time of booking, a supplement may apply.
Travel insurance, optional excursions, tipping, any government taxes or compulsory charges introduced after publication.
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