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Top Attractions in Durres County

Durres

Durrës is the second largest city and a municipality of Albania. It is central on the coast, about 33 km west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically significant cities of Albania. Durrës is at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari and Brindisi . Durrës is home to Albanias main port, the Port of Durrës, and to the newest public university, the Aleksandër Moisiu University. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Durrës, Ishëm, Katund i Ri, Manëz, Rrashbull and Sukth, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the city Durrës. The total population is 175,110, in a total area of 338.30 km2. The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 113,249. The metropolitan area has a population of 265,330. Moreover, it is the starting point of Pan-European Corridor VIII, national roads SH2 and SH4, and serves as the main railway station of the Albanian Railways .

Krujë

Krujë is a town and a municipality in north central Albania. Located between Mount Krujë and the Ishëm River, the city is only 20 km north from the capital of Albania, Tirana. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Bubq, Cudhi, Fushë-Krujë, Krujë, Nikël and Kodër-Thumanë, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Krujë. The total population is 59,814 , in a total area of 339.02 km2. The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 11,721. Inhabited by the Illyrian tribe of the Albani, in 1190 Krujë became the capital of the first autonomous Albanian state in the middle ages, the Principality of Arbër. Later it was the capital of the Kingdom of Albania, while in the early 15th century Krujë was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, but then recaptured in 1443 by Skanderbeg, leader of the League of Lezhë, who successfully defended it against three Ottoman sieges until his death in 1468. The Ottomans took control of the town after the fourth siege in 1478, and incorporated it in their territories. A 1906 local revolt against the Ottoman Empire was followed by the 1912 Declaration of Independence of Albania. In the mid-1910s Krujë was one of the battlefields of the conflict between the short-lived Republic of Central Albania, founded by Essad Toptani, and the Principality of Albania. In 1914 Toptani managed to seize the town but during the same year it was reincorporated by Prênk Bibë Doda in the Principality of Albania. During WWII it was the center of the activities of resistance leader Abaz Kupi. The museums of Krujë include the Skanderbeg museum, located in the environs of the Krujë castle, and the national ethnographic museum.

Qafë-Shtamë National Park

Qafë-Shtamë National Park resides in the edge mountains Albanias north of Tirana, about 25 kilometers east of Kruja. It is named after the Qafë-Shtamë passage. It has an area of 2000 acres, with a beautiful mountain scenery, some small lakes and major sources consisting mainly of pine forests. The national park was founded in 1996. It is becoming lately a popular attraction for hiking. The parks name translates as pass Shtama. The road from Kruja to Burrel, runs through the park, on an altitude about 1250 meters. North of the pass road, the majority of the park is mostly undeveloped mountain land with forests, in which pine trees, and oak dominate. The black pines are up to 20 meters high and 60 years old - one of the main wood sources in Albania. The forests provide opportunities for retreat for brown bears, wolves, foxes, and various birds, actually being endangered from illegal deforestation. The highest points on which it rises steeply from the Pass to the north, are the Maja e Liqenit and the off peak Maja i Rjepat e Qetkolës . Maja e Liqenit should not be confused with the peak with the same name in Sharr region of Kosovo. In the south of the park is adjacent to the Dajti National Park. The most significant source of water is called Kroi i Nenës Mbretëreshë, known for its clean, clear and healthy water. The legend refers to the Albanian Royal Family, allegedly daily supply from this water source would be after of a laboratory in Vienna had awarded it as the best water in the country in 1932 by performing laboratory tests. The word Queen Mother probably points at Sadije Toptani, the mother of Ahmet Zogu, or Geraldine Apponyis, his wife, who had first visited Albania in 1937. Nena Mbretëreshë is a common name for the kings mother. King Zog, was born in Mat region, originating from the east side of the pass. He is said to have also build a recreation villa in the area. The water is also collected and taken to a bottling plant, residing a little further down from the park entrance. The produced bottled mineral water is sold nationwide under the brand Qafshtama. On 29 April 1997, an underground bunker complex on the east side of the pass was the home of a serious accident. An explosion took place in the tunnels full of ammunition and weapons, which had been stored in a military storage site during the communist era. The sites were dismantled in the 1990s. As a result of the collapse of public order, several people tried to disassemble metals to sell, without applying any care or having proper military knowledge. As a result, there was an explosion in the tunnel. 23 people were killed, including many young people from a nearby village of Selishtë

Royal Villa of Durrës

Royal Villa of Durrës, also known as Zogs Villa of Durrës was the summer villa of King Zog in Durrës, Albania. It was used as the summer palace by the Albanian Royal family during the reign of the Monarchy and still remains a symbol of the Monarchy in the City. It is was restored to Leka Crown Prince of Albania in 2007. The restoration process was accepted and approved by the Albanian lands commission, following all the legal procedures without contest. The Palace was a gift given by the Durrës business community as a sign of prosperity to King Zog. Although in 2012, Artan Lame declared in the Media that the Palace was built by the Italian government. The villa is set on the Durrës hill, 98 m above the sea level. The sea can be seen from three sides of the villa. It is extended in the form of an eagle and was built in 1926. Kristo Sotiri, an architect who had graduated from the University of Padova and the University of Venice, Italy, designed the villa. By the time that Sotiri was designing the building, he had vast experience that included that of being the architect of the Court of Queen Elisabeth of Wied of Romania. The building was finished in 1937, a few months before King Zog married Queen Géraldine Apponyi de Nagyappony. The villa was used after World War II as a government reception building. During Communist Albania, many communist leaders from Nikita Khrushchev to the Cambodian prince Samde Norodom Sihanuk have been guests in the building. Former US President Jimmy Carter also has been one of its guests in the 90s. The interior of the villa was vandalized during the 1997 unrest in Albania. Prince Leka has outlined a reconstruction plan to be implemented in the near future.

Epidamnos

The ancient Greek city of Epidamnus or Epidamnos , later the Roman Dyrrachium (modern Durrës, Albania, c. 30 km W of Tirana) was founded in 627 BC in Illyria by a group of colonists from Corinth and Corcyra (modern Corfu). Aristotle's Politics several times draws for examples on the internal government of Epidamnos, which was run as a tight oligarchy that appointed a ruling magistrate; tradesmen and craftsmen were excluded from power, until internal strife produced a more democratic government. The exiled oligarchs appealed to Corcyra while the democrats enlisted the help of Corinth, initiating a struggle between the two mother cities described by Thucydides as a cause of the Peloponnesian War. Individual trading with the local Illyrians was forbidden at Epidamnos: all traffic was through the authorized city agent or poletes. In the fourth century BC the city-state was part of the kingdoms of Cassander and Pyrrhus. The general vicinity of Epidamnus was called Epidamnia.

Battle of Dyrrhachium

The Battle of Dyrrhachium (near present-day Durrës in Albania) took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118), and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. The battle was fought outside the city of Dyrrhachium (also known as Durazzo), the Byzantine capital of Illyria, and ended in a Norman victory. Following the Norman conquest of Byzantine Italy and Saracen Sicily, the Byzantine emperor, Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), betrothed his son to Robert Guiscard's daughter. When Michael was deposed, Robert took this as an excuse to invade the Byzantine Empire in 1081. His army laid siege to Dyrrhachium, but his fleet was defeated by the Venetians. On October 18, the Normans engaged a Byzantine army under Alexios I Komnenos outside Dyrrhachium. The battle began with the Byzantine right wing routing the Norman left wing, which broke and fled. Varangian mercenaries joined in the pursuit of the fleeing Normans, but became separated from the main force and were massacred. Norman knights in the centre attacked the Byzantine centre and routed it, causing the bulk of the Byzantine army to rout. After this victory, the Normans took Dyrrhachium in February 1082 and advanced inland, capturing most of Macedonia and Thessaly. Robert was then forced to leave Greece to deal with an attack on his ally, the Pope, by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV (r. 1084–1105). Robert left his son Bohemond in charge of the army in Greece. Bohemond was initially successful, defeating Alexios in several battles, but was defeated by Alexios outside Larissa. Forced to retreat to Italy, Bohemond lost all the territory gained by the Normans in the campaign. The Byzantine recovery began the Komnenian restoration.

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