Kruja Old Bazaar

The old bazaar at Kruja is a single cobbled street of low wooden-fronted shops running down from the castle gate, restored after a fire and now the most-visited market street in Albania, and it has been trading on the same site since the Ottoman period, when Kruja was a stop on the road north. What it sells now is aimed squarely at visitors: antiques and reproductions, filigree silver, copper, carved wood, felt caps, embroidered textiles, kilims and the traditional woollen socks and slippers of the north, along with a good deal of imported material sold as local. A few workshops still make things at the back. The setting, with the castle above and the plain falling away below, is the reason it works.

What you actually see

• A cobbled Ottoman bazaar street - wooden shopfronts below the castle gate.
• Filigree silver and copper - the metalwork the market is known for.
• Felt caps and woollen socks - northern textile traditions on the stalls.
• Workshops at the back - the few makers still working on site.

When to go

April to October. Two hours. Mornings before the tour buses from Tirana arrive, or late afternoon after they leave. It is very busy in the middle of the day in summer.

Honest expectations

Much of what is sold is imported and passed off as local; genuine old pieces are expensive and rare. Prices for foreigners start high and haggling is expected. The street is packed with tour groups at midday. It is a shopping street rather than a heritage site.

Nearby

Kruja castle and the Skanderbeg museum are at the top of the street.