Gjirokastër: the back story

About Gjirokastër: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Tirana Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

In the far south, above the Drino valley, Gjirokastër is built almost entirely of stone: grey houses like small fortresses, roofs of stone slabs, cobbled lanes polished by centuries of feet.

The stone city

Gjirokastër grew under the Ottomans as a market town for the south, and its wealthy families built fortified tower houses called kullas. UNESCO listed the old town in 2005.

The castle

The castle crowns the ridge above the town, vast and atmospheric, with long vaulted galleries. It houses a museum of arms, a US Air Force jet that landed in Albania in 1957, and the open-air stage of the National Folklore Festival.

Gjirokastër’s houses are roofed with slabs of stone.

Tower houses

Skenduli House and Zekate House are the finest tower houses open to visitors, with painted rooms, carved ceilings and views over the town.

Kadare’s city

Ismail Kadare, Albania’s most celebrated novelist, was born here in 1936, and his novel Chronicle in Stone portrays the town. His family house is now a museum.

When to go

Spring and autumn are ideal. Gjirokastër is four hours from Tirana, so stay at least one night, and combine it with the Blue Eye spring and the Riviera.

Our advice: stay in the old town, walk up to the castle in the late afternoon, visit Skenduli and Zekate houses, and read Chronicle in Stone before you go. Wear shoes with grip: the stones are slippery.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Gjirokastër: the back story before you go.