Tour to Tirana the Capital of Albania

Meet with our staff at Durres Port. Depart for Tirana the capital of Albania. Tirana is relatively a new city founded in 1614 by Sulejman Pasha of Mulleti. The city began to grow at the beginning of the 18 century, but it remained an unimportant town until it was proclaimed Albania’s capital in 1920. It wasn’t until the late 1920 when Italian influence became quite strong that the center of the city took the appearance of a capital city. Italian planners and architects build the main square named after the national hero Scanderbeg, the huge boulevard, ministry buildings, national bank and the town hall. Today Tirana is not only the most populated city in Albania but also the most important political and economic center in the country. Just in the center, at Scanderbeg Square, there is the Clock Tower (35 m high) built in 1830, The National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the National Library and the National Historical Museum. An area called “Blloku” situated in the middle of vegetation where the villas of the communist elite used to be, has become the hotspot of nightlife in the capital with trendy bars, pubs, cafes and nightclubs. In the last 7 years Tirana has seen substantial changes in its appearance. The dull communist-style buildings have been transformed by an artist turned Mayer, through the ingenuous idea of painting their facades in bright colors, and abstract patterns.

Arrive at Tirana where we take a driven tour of the city to see the main sites, the boulevard, the university building governmental buildings and the colorful apartment blocks Tirana has become famous for. Stop at the bllok to see the area of the villas of the politburo once forbidden to ordinary Albanians. Afterwards stop in the center where we will see Ethem Bey Mosque and Clock Tower, that have become the postcard symbols of Tirana.

Visit the National Historic Museum with artifacts and testimony of Albania’s history from prehistoric times to present day.

Visit the National Gallery of Arts where the realist socialism art is of absolute intriguing to western visitors as it describes through art, how far would a dictatorship regime go to keep its power. Depart to Durres. Get back to the port.