KORCA FULL DAY TRIP FROM TIRANA
Korça, in the southeastern region of Albania, is one of the most beautiful and important cities in the country. Because of its beauty, French-style villas and coffee culture, Korça is also called the ‘little Paris of Albania’. Apart from the museums and monuments, Korça is the city where the largest carnival in Albania is organized, taking place before Orthodox Easter. Musically, the city is known for the local songs, called serenata. In the city you will find many taverns with tasteful traditional cooking such as various types of pie which perfectly combines with the good music and the traditional drink, raki.
Tour description
Meet at 8:30 AM at your hotel in Tirana. Head towards Korca and begin to explore its main attractions. Renovated since 2017, Korca Old Bazaar is one of the most pleasant in Korça with its stone houses, cobbled streets and terraces. Craftsmen were grouped there by trade, shops and caravanserais attracting merchants from all over the Empire. After the destruction of the commercial center of Moscopole in the 18th century, the Shariah captured the European merchants of Trieste, Vienna and Venice. At that time, there were as many as a thousand shops, occupying three times as much space as today. It extended as far as the present Shën-Gjergji pedestrian boulevard with bridges spanning a river later covered by the Fan-Noli Boulevard. Initially built of wood, the district burned several times before being built of concrete. Activity declined after independence (1912), when Korça lost the traditional outlets of the Ottoman Empire. Then we will visit The National Museum of Medieval Art. This museum is a national museum dedicated to medieval art and history in Korçë, Albania. The museum is located on Fan Noli Boulevard in the south-east of the city of Korçë. It was established on April 24, 1980 and the building was reconstructed on October 4, 2016.
The museum has over 7,000 art and cultural items, mainly icons, stone, wooden, metal and textile work, representing various moments in Albania’s iconography development. In the principal hall there are many works from anonymous artists of the 13th-14th centuries and well-known ones including Onufri, Onufër Qiprioti, Teacher Kostandini, Jeromak Shpataraku, David Selenica, and the Zografi Brothers. Then we will visit The Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral of Korçë which is the main Albanian Orthodox church in Korçë, Albania. It is painted in pink, blue and brown. The cathedral was built by Albanians in 1995. A previous cathedral in Korçë named after St. Geroge was destroyed by the Communist authorities in 1968. Inside, the modest white interior is dominated by a huge carved wooden iconostasis. Then we will visit Birra Korça which is the first beer brewed in Albania. The brewery was established in the town of Korçë, Albania, in 1928. It was founded by an Italian investor Umberto Umberti and Selim Mboria a local investor. The initial capital for the company was 950,000 francs. The initial production capacity was 20,000 Hl per year. It produced Blonde Ale Beer, Dark ale, bottled water “Kristal” and ice.
Return to Tirana..
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