Korca Old Bazaar

The old bazaar at Korca was the commercial centre of the city from the nineteenth century, a grid of cobbled lanes with low stone and plaster shopfronts organised by trade, and it declined badly in the twentieth century before a restoration completed in 2016 rebuilt the fabric and brought the quarter back into use. It now holds cafes, restaurants, craft shops, carpet and antique dealers and a hotel in a converted inn, and it is the social centre of the city in the evening. Korca has a distinct character within Albania: it was an Orthodox and Aromanian trading town with strong French and Greek connections, it claims the first Albanian-language school and the first Albanian beer, and the bazaar is where that shows.

What you actually see

• Cobbled lanes of low shopfronts - the restored nineteenth-century grid.
• Trade organisation - the quarters the market was divided into.
• Carpet and antique dealers - the Korca weaving tradition on sale.
• Evening cafe culture - the quarter as the city's social centre.

When to go

April to October for the evenings outdoors; the bazaar works year round though Korca winters are cold and snowy. Two hours. Evenings are when it fills. The beer festival in August is the busiest week.

Honest expectations

The restoration was thorough and some find the result too neat, with new stone where old fabric was. It is now largely cafes and restaurants rather than working trades. Prices are higher than elsewhere in the city.

Nearby

The Medieval Art Museum is a short walk; the cathedral is nearby.