Downtown Durres

 Today we were heading Downtown. Durres is a huge city. It is the second most populous city in Albania. It is also one of the oldest inhabited cities in the Balkans although you wouldn’t know it by looking at it now. It has been an important military and commercial site since antiquity. Founded by the ancient Greeks and expanded by the Romans it has continued to be important ever since. It was particularly important to the Romans as a major halting post on the Via Egnatia. The major road that ran from Rome to Constantinople and was a continuation of the Via Apia. In fact they named it The Tavern of the Adriatic. Crispy knows only too well that I have a passion for Ancient Rome and anything related to it. One of my favourite pastimes when travelling is to search out sites related to this period of history. Today I was in my element. Durres is the home to the biggest amphitheatre in the Balkans. Built in the 2nd century bc by one of my favourite emperor’s. Marcus Ulpius Traianus, better known as Trajan. In its hey day it could seat a crowd of 20.000 people and accommodate 12 pairs of gladiators fighting simultaneously. Crispy loves it. She relishes trudging miles in extreme temperatures to gaze in awe at these wondrous relics of the past and satisfy my wants. I remember taking her to see a marker stone left by the seventh legion in some remote corner of  northern Greece. A rare thing indeed. We walked several miles over fairly hostile ground in extreme temperatures to find it. After a couple of hours and lots of colourful language we managed to locate it. It was a big as a loaf of bread and the inscription, although faint, was legible. She was ecstatic and talked about it for days. She’s a good old bird and a trooper. Today wasn’t as extreme. The amphitheatre is in the old part of Durres within the Byzantine walls. But it was still a hike from our hotel.

(As a footnote 7th Legion, or Legio Claudia, we’re also here at the Battle of Durres)

It was impressive but unfortunately in a poor state of repair. Only discovered in 1966 it has had no preservation and is looking a bit worse for wear for such an important site. It appears that things are changing for the better and the local council is going to demolish the houses on its periphery to try and preserve it from any more decay. In fact quite a lot of preservation is going on around Durres. The small remaining portion of Byzantine walls and towers are currently being restored to their former glory and we witnessed this important work being carried out. While we were at the amphitheatre I spied people on the top of one of the few remaining Byzantine towers. It seemed a fair way away and high up in the town but I wanted to see it. Crispy was thrilled at the thought of walking another several miles to stand upon this pile of “rubble”. We set off and climbed the streets trying to locate it. There were no signs guiding us and after a while and several dead ends we located the path leading to it hidden in a housing estate.  It was only small but afforded amazing views over the city. A more modern reminder of the city’s military and political  history were the dozens of disused machine gun posts and artillery emplacements scattered throughout the town.  

After several hours walking the streets searching out rubble it was getting very hot. Crispy alerted me that it was time to put history on a back burner and head to the beach. We strolled the coast road back to the hotel and a well deserved sun lounger. We passed some old railway engines on an overgrown railway line.

Before arriving here I had considered taking the train to our next destination but looking at the engines I am glad we decided on the bus option. The railways still run but due to the poor condition of the track they can only operate certain routes and achieve a maximum of 15mph. 

The rest of the day was spent on the beach and chilling in the sea in front of the hotel.

Tomorrow is a long travelling day. We need to catch the bus back to Tirana and find the bus that will take us 5 hours South to Saranda and the fishing village of Ksmil. This will be our base for the next few days. Ksmil will be our final stop in Albania before moving into Greece. Northern Albania has been amazing and we look forward to more adventures in the south of this fantastic country.

Bare and Crispy signing off, still on the beach, Durres, Albania