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The Town of a Thousand Windows

Albania is a beautiful country, full of wonderful sights and cities. Berat is definitely one of the amazing places to visit in Albania and a UNESCO world heritage site. Situated in the center of the country, Berat is one of the best preserved Ottoman cities in the Balkans. It's known as the city of a thousand windows due to the cityscape with big window houses layering on the hillside.

We visited the old town of Berat with its steep streets and beautiful Ottoman houses and absolutely lovely restaurants and cafes.

We stopped at Homemade Food Lili. It's actually a private house where they prepare delicious homemade dishes. Not only the food is amazing, but the place is fantastic and the host so nice.

The new bridge over Osum River offers the perfect cityscape of "the town of a thousand windows".

We crossed the bridge, had a short walk along the Osum River and stopped for a coffee at Antigoni restaurant. We had a coffee with a great view over the bridge, the river and the old town.

We then hiked to Berat Castle, on top of the city. The castle site includes the remains of a wide 13th century fortress, also Byzantine churches and a mosque. The castle complex is now inhabited by townspeople and there are plenty of restaurants and hotels inside the castle walls. Because it's an inhabited area, you cand visit the castle at any time. We witnessed a nice sunset from there.

At the end of the day we had a walk on Bulevardi Republika, the main tourist street lined with plenty of cafes and restaurants.