Shkodra (https://albania.al/destinations/shkodra/)
Shkodër, known with the latin name of Scodra, is the most historic town in Albania. The oldest wall of the Shkodër castle dates from the 1st millennium BCE. The Roman historian Livy cited the town as the capital of the Illyrian king Gentius and the center of the Labeat tribe of Illyrians, who surrendered to the Romans in 168 BCE. The town was subsequently held by the Byzantines, Bulgars, Serbs, and Turks.
Shkodër was the chief Roman Catholic centre of Albania, with a cathedral, a pontifical college, and Franciscan and Jesuit convents, libraries, and publishing houses. Shkodra is well known for its religious harmony among its different communities.
The city can be a great base to discover some incredible nature in the northern part of the country.
Some highlights to vist include the renewed Marubi National Museum of Photography famous for its big and rare collection of photos over Albanian history, walk along the Pedonalja, the so called Kole Idromeno street that is the old center of Shkodra passing through mosques and churches, the Rozafa citadel and its ruins where remnants of the Illyrian wall, medieval cisterns, and Venetian residences can be observed, magnificiently situated 135m above the point where the Buna river meets the Kir, birdwatching in the Shkoder lake the largest lake in the Balkans where around 280 kinds of birds live (around 50% of bird species in Europe), Mesi bridge a perfect example of Ottoman architecture over the river Kir and more.
