Tirana is starting to be ranked among the coolest cities to visit in Balkans. I had a day to explore the city and I did like it. It's a dynamic and interesting city. It's actually easy to visit as the main attractions are pretty close to each other. 

I started my day in Tirana with the main square, Skanderbeg Square. It's the biggest public plaza built just a few years ago. It's an interesting plateau that it's not flat ground. It has a small inclination as in hot days, they use to pump water running through the paving

Situated on a side of Skanderbeg Square, Palace of Culture includes Tirana’s Opera and Ballet Theatre and also the National Library. 

National History Museum, also pretty close to Skanderbeg Square, has an impressive facade mosaic looking towards the square. It gathers a big collection of artefacts belonging to different area up to post-communist Albania.

Et’hem Bey Mosque is a 18th century mosque. It somehow managed to survie the communist era in Albania. It's a beautiful mosque with fine exterior frescoes with motifs rarely seen in the Islamic art.

Pyramid of Tirana is an unofficial symbol of Tirana. Built towards the communist era, it was supposed to be a museum for the despotic dictator, now transformed into a conference center. 

 Blloku is a colourful neighbourhood. It's nice to walk along the streets and admire the nice buildings. In communist times, it was an the area for communist leaders and friends, ordinary people were not allowed in the neighbourhood.

Sky Tower Tirana is the highest building in Tirana and offers nice views from the top over the city. 

At the bottom of the sky tower, there's Komiteti Kafe Muzeum. It's a nice cafe with objects belonging to the communist era. It's a picturesque place to have a coffe.

Toptani Street is Tirana’s main pedestrian area. It's a wide, paved street with bars and ice cream shops. It's a nice neighbourhood where people walk and talk especially in the evening.

Fortress of Justinian is a renovated fortress, actually transformes into a dinig area. It's a lovely spot to end the day in Tirana with a dinner in an old fortress. There are plenty of restaurant you can choose there. 

One Day in Tirana

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.

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