Feature, feature, feature
Kruja
Kruja, an evocative town set 600 metres high on a mountainside, 30 kilometres north of Tirana, is a recommended destination to visit for both its stunning location and importance to Albania’s history. With origins stretching back to the Iron Age, the town has the distinction of being the capital of the first autonomous Albanian state at the end of the 12th century and the place where the noble warrior and national hero Skanderbeg held the Ottomans at bay during the 15th century. Kruja features a handful of interesting sights to keep visitors busy for a few hours, including an inhabited ancient citadel holding a faux medieval castle built in 1982 to house a Skanderbeg museum, and a better-than-average Ethnographic Museum. The town is also a popular destination for shoppers, as the Old Bazaar beside the city walls has the best range of traditional Albanian gifts and souvenirs in the country. Kruja is particularly lovely during the winter when the town is often covered in snow. The restaurants at the top end of the citadel offer great views
View over Kruja
18 Tirana In Your Pocket
of the surroundings and serve traditional Albanian food at tourist prices. Turkish coffee comes in a traditional copper pot and is best enjoyed curled up on the pillows that surround the low tables of some restaurants. There are a few hotels scattered around town, plus one or two more secluded places to sleep on the surrounding mountainside and a camping site on the winding road up from the valley below. Most easily reached by driving a short detour via the airport road or Vorë, Kruja is indeed easily visited on your way to or from the airport. On the way there, don’t miss Europe’s only statue of President George W. Bush. Minibuses to Kruja depart from Tirana regularly and cost around 300 lek; a taxi ride will costs around 3000 lek.
PLACES OF INTEREST KRUJA CITADEL (KALAJA E KRUJËS) Kruja’s legendary fortress is perched on an outcrop of rock overlooking the valley. Its walls withstood waves of Turkish sieges, only finally being conquered well after Skanderbeg’s death. Entering the city gate from the Old Bazaar, you first come across the ruins of the old mosque of Sultan Mehmet Fath, dating back to 1478, just below the Skenderbeg Museum. Beyond that stands the Ethnographic Museum. Take a right down some lovely cobbled lanes to enter the inhabited part of the fortress; you’ll pass the hamam from around 1480 and finally the Dollma tekke, a Sufi shrine built in 1780 by the Toptani family (being renovated at time of writing). Outside are the graves of several babas and a dervish (holy men), shaded by a 500-year-old olive tree, said to have been planted to commemorate Skanderbeg’s wedding. A hole in the city wall near here offers great views over to the Adriatic Sea.
