Elbasan Castle

Elbasan stands on the line of the Via Egnatia, the Roman road from the Adriatic to Constantinople, and the castle in the middle of the modern city was built by Mehmed II in 1466 on late Roman foundations as a base for the campaigns against Skanderbeg, a rectangular circuit of walls and towers about three hundred by four hundred metres. What makes it different from other Albanian castles is that the enclosure was never emptied: houses, lanes, a church, a mosque and cafes are inside the walls and people live there, so it functions as a quarter of the city rather than a monument. Stretches of wall and several towers survive to good height, and a section has been restored with a walkway.

What you actually see

• A lived-in walled quarter - houses and lanes inside the fortress.
• Ottoman walls of 1466 - built on late Roman foundations.
• The restored wall walk - a section opened along the ramparts.
• The Via Egnatia line - the Roman road the city sits on.

When to go

April to October. Two hours. The enclosure is open street and free at all hours. Evenings when the cafes inside are busy. Elbasan is hot in summer.

Honest expectations

It is a residential quarter, not a monument, and there is no ticket, guide or interpretation. Parts of the wall are in poor condition. The modern city around it is industrial and unattractive. There is little to enter.

Nearby

The Via Egnatia route runs east toward Ohrid; Tirana lies north-west.