Berat
This journey will take you to Berati city, 120 km south of Tirana, for you to explore a mix of history, civilization, culture, architecture, art, religion. Highlights of the tour are Old Mangalem town, Goritsa bridge, towers and walls of the citadel, orthodox churches, Mosques and Onufri Museum.
Meet our driver and guide at your hotel and leave Tirana toward Berat, through towns of Kavaja and Lushnja. The bus will stop close the first main gate of the fortress. Stroll upward the stone pathways into the next gate, to see the ruins of the white mosque, towers, panoramic views of the river valley, churches within the walls, red mosque, and the former quarters of the Turkish garrison. Proceed to Onufri Museum, where the museum guide will walk you through the heritage of the art effects, stone and wood works. Board the bus and continue to city center for an optional lunch or snack. After a short sightseeing of Mangalem quarter, with its striking architecture of the houses, continue to see the Lead Mosque, king Mosque and the St. Demetrius Orthodox Cathedral, newly build. Board the bus in the city center and proceed along the river to see Goritsa bridge. Back to Tirana.
Good to know
- Location: Berat
- Duration: 10 hours
- Schedule Times: the tour will start at 09:00am and finish at 19:00
- Available days/Dates: Every Monday
- Pick up/ Drop off: Tirane
- Service type: Escorted bus tour with professional guide
- Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Including:
- Transportation AC vehicle, including all taxes, parking and road tolls
- Professional Local Guide English speaking – according to the program
- Entrance fees as detailed in the program
Not Including:
- Extras out of program
- Drinks
- Gratuities
- Mother Teresa (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu) is generally celebrated as the only Albanian to win a Nobel Prize, though born in Skopje in 1910 (now in Macedonia but then in the Ottoman Empire).
- Between 1950 to 1985 around 600,000 bunkers were built in Albania, they are nearly impossible to destroy so many are still in existence.
- Noding your head in Albania is a disagreement while shaking the head means “yes”, so it can get pretty confusing for tourists.
- At its closest point Albania is only 10km away from Corfu across the Ionian Sea.
- Hoxha’s official title was ‘Comrade-Chairman-Prime Minister-Foreign Minister-Minister of War-Commander in Chief of the People’s Army’ – quite a mouthful!
- Under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania was declared the world’s first atheist state in 1967.
- Xhiro is the name for an evening walk in Albania. Some of the towns close roads to cars at certain times of the evening so locals can talk their daily stroll.
- Norman Wisdom was a cult figure in Albania where he was one of the few Western actors whose films were allowed in the country under Hoxha’s dictatorship
- Officially 70% of Albanians are Muslim but the number who actively practice is much lower.
- George Kastriot Skanderbeg
- Mother Teresa
- Fan Noli
- Pope Clement XI
- Gjon Mili
- Ismail Kadare
- Ferid Murad
- Inva Mula
- Eliza Dushku
- John and Jim Belushi
- Ermonela Joha