Bradt Albania Guidebook
Albania travel guide. Expert travel tips and tourist information including Tirana hotels, restaurants and entertainment, Byzantine history and culture, hiking routes, walks and beaches. Also covers archaeological sites such as Butrint and Byllis, Berati and Gjirokastra World Heritage Sites, Shkodra, Kruja, Korça, Albanian Alps and the Prespa Lakes.
Size: 135 X 216 mm
Edition: 8
Number of pages: 328
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Bradt Albania Guide
The latest edition of the most detailed guide to Albania.
About this guide to Albania
This updated Bradt Albania guidebook, now in its 8th edition, remains the most authoritative and detailed standalone guidebook to what is still a relatively little-known part of Europe.
This Balkan country has much to offer almost everyone – from hiking in unspoilt mountains to gawping at Byzantine churches or plentiful birds, from homestays in traditional villages to backpacking around beaches.
Many visitors rave about spectacular alpine scenery with stellar hiking and cycling opportunities. Others laud the country’s cultural heritage, which reaches back two and a half millennia.
Must-sees include the Ottoman cities of Gjirokastra and Berati (both UNESCO World Heritage Sites), many outstanding archaeological sites and early mosques, Venetian castles dotting hilltops and coastal promontories, and Byzantine religious art in medieval churches and the museums of Tirana, Korça and Berati.
For city slickers, lively Tirana offers shopping malls, fine dining, art galleries and historic buildings. Beaches such as Dhërmiu and Jali in the south are popular with younger travellers attracted by music festivals.
Tourists seeking a return to a simpler, traditional way of life can find it in Albania’s alpine villages, where residents still live much as did their grandparents, tending goats and sheep, hand-spinning wool and making cheese and yogurt. Many villagers have opened up their homes as guest houses, offering visitors a wonderful opportunity to experience local culture first-hand.
Birdwatchers have long been attracted to Albania, even during the Communist period when the country was all but closed to most foreign visitors, thanks to its many different habitats and the fact that it lies on several migration routes. Those interested in other wildlife might seek out Europe’s largest population of brown bear, plus grey wolf, European wildcat and Eurasian lynx.
Visiting Albania is increasingly easy, with more airlines flying from western Europe and fast highways now connecting main cities. Such developments infuse this new edition, whose coverage of natural history and museums has also been strengthened as part of a thorough update.
With its unparalleled wealth of practical advice for the independent traveller, this updated Bradt Albania guidebook remains the ideal companion for a rewarding trip to this fascinating country.
Contents
Introduction
PART ONE GENERAL INFORMATION
1 Background Information
2 Practical Information
PART TWO THE GUIDE
3 Tirana
4 Central Albania
5 The North
6 The Southeast
7 The Southwest
Appendices: Language, Further Information
Index
About the author
Gillian Gloyer studied ancient languages at Wadham College, Oxford. This turned out to be surprisingly useful when she came to learn Albanian. She now speaks the Albanian language well and reads its literature for pleasure.
Gillian lived in Tirana for four years, directing a long-term training programme with political parties. Now based mainly in Edinburgh, she has a holiday home in an Albanian village and spends a few months there each year. She has led groups to the country for several UK-based tour operators and observed several elections there.