Visit Berat - The most picturesque city of Albania
The City of a Thousand Windows
Albania, truly a hidden and lesser-known gem on the Mediterranean, is blessed with incredible natural beauty of stunning mountain scenery with snowy hill tops, and beaches that match any other on the Mediterranean, cobbled medieval cities and tiny mountain villages where you feel like you stepped back in time. Yet, Albania is still just emerging as a tourist destination thanks to a 20-year-long, particularly brutal communist era that ended in 1991. Since then, Albania needed two decades just to catch up with the rest of Eastern Europe, but it definitely did, and is doing so, and is steadily becoming one of the top destinations in the Balkan.
Berat, situated a two-hour-drive from the capital of Tirana, in south-central Albania, is set in beautiful natural surroundings on the banks of the River Osum with the rugged, icy tops of Mount Tomorr towering above it. The river cut a 915-metre deep gorge through the limestone rock on the west side of the valley to form a steep natural fortress, around which the town was built on several river terraces. According to an Albanian legend, Mount Tomorr was originally a giant, who fought with another giant, called Shpirag over a young woman. They killed each other and the girl drowned in her tears which then became the Osum River. Mount Shpirag, named after the second giant, is on the left bank of the gorge, above the district of Gorica.
Apart from its captivating natural surroundings, however, the city’s most striking feature is the whitewashed Ottoman houses climbing right from the riverbank up the hill to Berat Castle, thus the name – “Town of a Thousand Windows” or “The City of One Above Another Windows”. The Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a lovely scene of cobblestone streets, white walls and tiled rooftops. Surrounding the town, there are olive and cherry trees on the gentler slopes while you can see pine forests on the higher, steeper parts providing a magnificent backdrop to the city. The Old Town itself has a wealth of impressive buildings of high architectural and historical importance.
Modern-day Berat occupies the site of an ancient Greek settlement called Antipatreia dating back to the 3rd century BC. Then, it was captured by the Romans a hundred years later. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Berat came under the rule of the Byzantines who strengthened the hilltop fortifications in the 5th and 6th centuries until the city was captured by the Bulgarian Empire that renamed the city “Beligrad”, meaning “White City”. The name persisted during the middle ages until in the 15th century the city became part of the Ottoman Empire who renamed the city Berat. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Berat was one of the most important Albanian cities of the Ottoman Empire and a major craft centre specialising in woodcarving. Today, it is one of the main centres of Albanian tourism, though it managed to retain its charm and friendly atmosphere. Surely, not one to be missed.
Sights
The Old City Centre of Berat consists of three neighbourhoods – Kalaja, a residential quarter situated within the castle walls up the hill overlooking the town – Mangalem, situated at the foot of the castle hill, below Kalaja – and Gorica, situated across the river.
Kalaja
The most prominent sight of the city is the Berat Castle, built on a rocky hill on the right bank of the River Osum and in the Kalaja district, a still very much living and breathing neighbourhood of Berat inside the Castle Walls housing a considerable number of the city’s population in buildings built mostly during the 13th century. The Castle, though considerably damaged, remains a magnificent sight. The highest point is occupied by the Inner Fortress from where there are stunning views in every direction. The Castle can be reached with a steep, 10-minute-walk from the town centre and guided tours are available from the entrance gate.
Kalaja was traditionally a Christian district, and it had about 20 churches (most dating from the 13th century) of which only some remain; and only one mosque of which only a few ruins and the base of the minaret survives.
The quarter’s biggest church is the Church of St Mary’s Ascension re-built in 1797 on the foundations of a 10th-century church of the same name. Today, it houses the Onufri Museum which features works of perhaps the most remarkable Albanian iconographic painter, Onufri, who lived during the 16th century. The museum complex consists of the main nave, the altar area and a series of auxiliary rooms. In addition to the religious iconography, the museum also displays some textile and metal objects showing evidence of the very high level of handicraft tradition in the Berat region.
The other surviving churches include – the Church of St Theodore, situated near the entrance gates to the Castle, with wall paintings by Onufri – the picturesque, 14th century Church of the Holy Trinity, situated on a small tree-lined square, on a hillside below the upper fortress, built in the form of a cross – and the little 13th century chapels of St Nicholas and St Mary Blachernae, the latter of which has 16th century mural paintings by the son of Onufri. The Church of St Michael is perched on a cliff edge below the citadel and can be reached by a steep path. It is best viewed, however, from the Gorica district, from across the river.
You can also find the ruins of the Red Mosque, the oldest mosque in Berat and one of the oldest ones in Albania, probably built shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Berat in 1417, situated just outside the citadel by the southern castle walls.
Mangalem
Down in the traditionally Muslim Mangalem neighbourhood, there are three more great mosques. The 16th-century Sultan’s Mosque is one of the oldest in Albania. The Halveti Tekke (a small mosque of the Muslim Halveti brotherhood) behind the mosque has a beautiful carved ceiling and was specially designed with acoustic holes to improve the quality of sound during prayers.
The 16th-century Lead Mosque, the centre of the town, is so-called because of the lead coating of its cupola.
The 19th-century Bachelors’ Mosque was built for unmarried shop assistants and junior craftsmen and is perched between some fine Ottoman shopfronts along the Osum River. It also has some enchanting paintings on its external walls.
The Berat Ethnographic Museum is located in an 18th-century Ottoman house, which is just as interesting as the exhibits inside. The museum has a diverse collection of everyday objects from throughout Berat’s history. On the ground floor you can find displays of traditional clothes and tools used by silversmiths and weavers as well as a model of a medieval street with traditional shops on both sides. The upper floor has kitchens, bedrooms and guest rooms decorated in traditional style, including furniture holding a number of household objects, wall-closets and chimneys.
Gorica
The district of Gorica, situated across the river from the other two districts of the city, is connected by the Gorica Bridge, a seven-arch, 129-metre-long stone bridge. Originally, built from wood in 1780, it was later re-built with stone in the 1920s. According to local legend, the original wooden bridge contained a dungeon in which a girl would be locked up and starved to appeal to the spirits responsible for the safety of the bridge.
Things to do Around Berat
Visit the Cobo Winery owned by the Cobo family who has a long tradition of wine-making dating back to the early 1900’s. Here, you can taste 100% Albanian wine which is among the best in the country. You can take a guided tour of the winery, which consists of several vineyards, the family’s house and a wine presentation and tasting room.
Visit the Bogove Waterfall, situated about a 1.5-hour-bus ride from Berat. Buses leave from Berat’s town centre, roughly every hour to the tiny town of Bogove. From there, you can reach the waterfall by following the creek between the hills. It is a lovely set of waterfalls cascading into a deep, jade-coloured pool. You can swim here too, if you don’t mind the freezing water.
Visit the Mount Tomorr National Park situated just east of Berat, where the ancient home of the Illyrian gods, Mount Tomorr rises some 2416 metres above sea level. The National Park spreads over 4000ha and is a local favourite for camping, hiking, trekking, skiing in winter and even pilgrimage. On top of Mount Tomorr, there is a Bektashi Temple where, in late August, the people of the Bektashi sect make a pilgrimage and organise a religious festival. There are 4×4 trips available to the summit all year around offering magnificent views over rural Albania, clean nature and crisp, fresh air.
The National Park itself is a green area with beech forests and large alpine pastures all around with fields of wildflowers, medicinal and aromatic herbs. The Park is crossed by many trails and footpaths with a dramatic change of pace for all fitness levels. Nevertheless, don’t forget that it is a wild park with brown bears, wolves, wild boars and also various reptile species so do not adventure there without a guide. Various bird species are also represented by several types of eagles, woodpeckers, wild pigeons and many others.
Visit the Osum Canyons, situated not far from the National Park near the town of Corovode, about 2 hours outside Berat. The Canyons are 26km long and are believed to have been formed 2 or 3 million years ago by the erosion of water that penetrates deep into the ground. The Canyons of Osum are a system of gorges masterfully intertwined by nature over time, truly one of Albania’s natural wonders. Here, you can find various water streams, gorges, unexplored caves, extensive limestone cliffs and beautiful greenery all around you on both sides of the canyon slopes. Here, you can experience all different kinds of adventures including hiking along the top of the Canyons or along the riverbed between the slopes, swimming in the Osum River as well as going rafting on it.
Visit Berat – The most picturesque city of Albania was originally published on Freeminimaps - discover authentic experiences!