Venetian Tower of Durres

The Venetian Tower stands where the city wall of Durres met the sea, a round bastion of the fifteenth century built onto the earlier Byzantine defences that Anastasius I had raised in the sixth century, and it is the most substantial surviving piece of the circuit, with stretches of wall running inland from it. The tower is now used as a bar and terrace, so the way most people experience it is with a drink on the roof looking along the seafront and out over the Adriatic, which is either a sensible reuse or a waste depending on the visitor. Sections of the Byzantine wall can be walked nearby, and the amphitheatre and the archaeological museum are within a few minutes.

What you actually see

• A fifteenth-century round bastion - the corner of the sea wall.
• Byzantine wall stretches - the earlier sixth-century circuit inland.
• The seafront terrace - the tower roof used as a bar.
• The Adriatic view - the coast and the port from the top.

When to go

April to October, and evenings for the terrace, which is when locals use it. One hour. It is free to look at and the roof requires buying a drink. Summer evenings are busy.

Honest expectations

The tower is a bar and the interior is fitted out as one, with no interpretation. Roof access effectively requires a purchase. The seafront around it is heavily built up and noisy. There is little else of the wall to see.

Nearby

The amphitheatre is a short walk inland; the archaeological museum is on the seafront.