Day 1: Tirana
Airport reception and transfer to town.
Founded in 1614 by General Ottoman Suleyman Pasha, Tirana long remained a small town (12,000 inhabitants in 1910). Promoted capital of Albania in 1920, Tirana continues to grow since then and now 1 million of inhabitants!
City tour: Skanderbeg Square, the Palace of Culture, the Opera, the national library. We will also visit the Et'hem Bey Mosque, which contains fine paintings, and the clock tower (35m high) built in 1830 ...
Visit the historic National Museum, dedicated to the history of Albania.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 2: Tirana, Lezha, Shkodra
After breakfast, visit of  the Archaeological Museum summary of the early history of the country.
Road to Lezha.
Visit of the archaeological site of Lezha, city founded by Dionysius of Syracuse in 335 BC, then occupied by the Illyrians.
Drive to Shkodra, former capital of the Illyrian king Gentius (third century BC) and today's main city of northern Albania. In the fourteenth century, the Venetians occupied Shkodra to Suleyman Pasha that they abandoned in 1473. In the eighteenth century, taking advantage of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the city became the capital of a semi-independent Pashalic.
Lunch during the visit.
Dinner and overnight in Shkodra.

Day 3: Shkodra, Kruja, Durres
Two kilometers from the city is the mighty fortress of Rozafa founded by the Illyrians and rebuilt by the Venetians and the Turks. According to the legend, the fortress was named after a woman who was walled up as an offering to the gods. The Citadel offers a splendid view of Shkodra and the surrounding countryside.
Then we will discover the main attractions of Shkodra: the lead Mosque, the house museum of Oso Kuka, and the clock tower. Walk around Lake Shkodra, which offers a panoramic view of several fishing villages scattered along its lake.
Departure for Kruja, the former capital of the kingdom of Skanderbeg. Walk through the city and explore the citadel, the ethnographic museum and the local bazaar.
Road to Durres, Albania's second city, founded in 627 BC by the Greeks, then capital of the kingdom of Illyrian Taulentins and important Roman city came when Cicero. Durres (Durazzo) at that time was the main port on the Eastern Adriatic.
Discover the city with the archaeological museum tracing the evolution of arts and crafts of the first Illyrian populations to the Roman period included. We will admire varieties of amphoraes, reconstruction of kiln pottery, funerary stones,  and the famous mosaic "The Belle of Durres."
Lunch during  the visit.
Dinner and overnight in Durres.

Day 4: Ardenica, Apollonia, Berat
Visit the monastery of Ardenica (1474)  the only Orthodox monastery currently operating in Albania. Defined by a triangular original enclosure, this beautiful convent complex reveals architecture of the most characteristic styles and, despite a very turbulent history, still retains a magnificent carved iconostasis and frescoes of the eighteenth century. Here got married Skanderbeg, Albanian national hero, with the Byzantine princess Donike Comneme.
Then we will  discover the largest archaeological site in Albania: Apollonia. This famous ancient city was founded around 600 BC by colons from Corinth and Corfu. In Roman times, the city became a major cultural center well known for its school of philosophy. Apollonia was bestowed  by Caesar with  the status of "free city" in recognition of the  support in the war against Pompey, he sent his nephew Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus, to complete his education there . The remains of this ancient prosperity remain impressive: walls (fifth and sixth centuries AD), gates, gates, temples, Odeon, Library, triumphal arch, monument or bouleuterion Agonothètes, gym, home, tavern, fountain , theater ...
Road to Berat.
Lunch during visit.
Dinner and overnight in Berat.

Day 5: Berat, Vlora
Visit Berat "museum town" hanging houses on the slopes of a steep hill. Berat had its glorious days  during  the sixteenth century: knowing as  a period of great prosperity, it ensured the development of a brilliant school of Byzantine art under the direction of the painter Onufri. This art boom was ongoing  throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Berat bears still many testimonials: the citadel that houses the museum Onufri installed in the cathedral, but also the magnificent Trinity Church, the district of Gorica around the church of St Spiridon.
Visit the Archaeological Site of Byll.
Drive to Vlora.
Visit to Vlora: Museum of Independence and the small mosque that Murat  which was built after a plan of the great Sinan, the architect of the great mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent in Istanbul.
Lunch during visit.
Dinner and overnight in to be spend in Vlora.

Day 6: Vlora, Llogara, Dhermi, Saranda
Visit of the mosque of Murat  before departure.
Drive to the famous neck of Llogara, located in 1027 m altitude at the foot of Mountain Cike (2018 m). The view on the Ionian coast, from the cervix, is striking.
We will then by Dhermi, next to the ancient PALESTA where Caesar landed Jan. 4, 48 BC during the war against Pompey.
Visit the archaeological site of Pheniks.
Arrival in Saranda, a coastal city where one can see the island of Corfu.
Discovery of the early Christian basilica followed by a visit around the city and its walls.
Lunch during visit.
Dinner and overnight in Saranda.

Day 7: Saranda, Butrint, Gjirokastra
Discovery of the Butrint archaeological park that houses the remarkably well preserved remains in a magnificent natural setting.
Inhabited since the tenth century BC, the site of Bouthrôtos (Butrint) was founded by Aeneas, while, according to Racine, Pyrrhus would have met Andromache. In lush vegetation, you can admire the imposing walls of the fifth century BC, drilled beautiful doors as the Gate of SCEE and the Lion Gate, the sanctuary of Asclepius, a magnificent theater of the third century BC, perhaps the most beautiful monument of ancient Albania, baths, a sixth-century baptistery, with 64 beautiful mosaics of animals, a basilica of the same period, a nymphaeum fountain, a fort built by Ali Pasha in the early Tepelena nineteenth century.
Visit to the Church of Mesopotamia.
Drive to Gjirokastra.
Lunch on the way.
Dinner and overnight in Gjirokastra.

Day 8: Gjirokastra, Korca
Visit to Gjirokastra, a rare example of a perfectly preserved Ottoman town. Birthplace of the writer Ismail Kadare, once an ancient village, it is now one of the most important cities of southern Albania as well as one of the most beautiful and typical of the region. The city has  two floor fortress-houses with the Kulas, covered with slate gray, mostly built during the  seventeenth century. The heritage of Gjirokastra is very rich: the Chateau Argjiro, the National Museum of Arms, the Ethnographic Museum, the home of former dictator Enver Hoxha.
Road to Korca. This Albanian  city experienced many vicissitudes, around the First World War and was captured by the Greeks before being occupied by the Austro-Hungarian and again by the Greeks. The French finally took control of it during 1916 to 1920.
Visit the Museum of icons.
Lunch during visits.
Dinner and overnight in Korca.

Day 9: Pogradec, Tirana
Departure for the city of Pogradec on the shores of Ohrid lake. Centre  of vegetables , fruits and wine, the city was a popular resort at the time of communism.
Departure to Tirana.
Lunch during visits.
Dinner and overnight in Tirana.

Day 10: Return flight
Transfer to the airport and fly to Paris.

OUR SERVICES INCLUDE:

- Transfer from airport to hotel and back
- Accommodation in hotel 3 * or 4 *
- Full board
- Entrance fees for museums and all visits program
- All transportation with driver
- Local guide
Excludes:
-International flights
-Tips for use
-Drinks

Idea of ​​the budget:

From 946 euros per person (based on a price of a group of 10 persons)

Not far:
-Next to Korca: Village Dardha with typical stone houses at 1300m altitude
- Next to Korca: Voskopoja village with its churches and monastery