CITADEL OF ROZAFA

Forming a 200-hectare triangle, this citadel (Kalaja e Rozafës) is perched 133 m above sea level, atop the Tepe hill. It offers a 360-degree panoramic view of the town, Lake Shkodra, the Adriatic Sea, the Drin, the Buna, the Kir and the Lead Mosque. Occupation of the site dates back at least to the Bronze Age. The walls, which in places rest on Illyrian foundations, were largely erected by the Venetians in the late ^14th century. On April 25, 1479, after a terrible eleven-month siege, the citadel fell to the Ottoman army commanded by Sultan Mehmet II the Conqueror. It then became the headquarters of the Iskodra pashalik, which covered the entire region, and served as barracks for the Albanian army until 1985. Just before the imposing north gate (ticket office) stands the mausoleum of a family of viziers (Ottoman ministers) from Shkodra. Next are the ruins of the Mehmet-Fatih Mosque, the former ^13th-century Catholic cathedral of St. Stephen . At the western end of the complex are the powder magazine and the museum. The latter is housed in the Kapitaneria, a Venetian captaincy that served as the residence of the pashas until the ^19th century. A small collection of artifacts from all periods, including a statue of a Venetian lion and a superb Roman mosaic from the ^3rd or ^4th century. The Kapitaneria 's broad walls (2 m thick) also house a bar-restaurant: beautiful vaulted room and terrace with uninterrupted views of the Drin and the sea.