Travel Guide Gjirokastra

Gjirokastra/Gjirokastër (pronounced "djirokastra"/"djirokasteur") has a population of around 20,000. It is the capital of the municipality (pop. 27,000) and district (pop. 55,000) of Gjirokastra. Also called Αργυρόκαστρο/Argyrokastro in Greek, the town lies 54 km northeast of Saranda, 60 km southwest of Permët, 88 km northeast of Ioannina (Greece) and 178 km south of Berat(via Fier). Numerous bus and minibus connections.Listed jointly with the historic center of Berat as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2005, Albania's best-preserved Ottoman town appears harsh at first glance: a grey-toned monochrome of stone houses, cobbled alleyways and slate roofs spread across the slopes of the "Great Mountain" (Mali i Gjerë, 1,800 m altitude). This impression is reinforced by the austere appearance of the large fortress-houses and the "Silver Castle", the Byzantine citadel that dominates the Drino valley and gives Gjirokastra its name. However, once you enter the old town, the impression of austerity is swept away by the charm of the quirky buildings, the "leaning" streets, the craftsmen's stores and the warmth of the Albanian, Greek and Aromanian inhabitants. It's no coincidence that this multicultural city, so close to Greece (35 km to the south), has given Albania two of its most outstanding personalities: the austere dictator Enver Hoxha and the whimsical writer Ismail Kadaré.