what if I told you there's a city that has beautiful architecture stunning views
nature it's also a world heritage site from UNESCO
and don't forget it is pretty close to stunning beaches this is Gjirokaster
if you haven't seen my Albania video please do because even if you're heading here you will
still need some more information about the country and there's tons in there so check
that out now the link is up there this is the bad boy that will drive us there
let's go our first stop for the day is going to be blue eye or Syri kalter and it is going to be a
big surprise it roughly took about an hour and a half to get from Ksamil to Blue eye
mainly because of the dirt road that actually slowed us down quite a lot
this is our first stop for the day this is blue eye or Syri I kalter and this is one of the most
beautiful places in the entire country it's definitely one of my favorites it is basically
a fresh water spring um no one really knows the exact depth swimming is not allowed but it's just
absolutely gorgeous to look at and definitely definitely worth a stop on the way
you can easily spend about half a day here is just so beautiful and natural and you can just
sit and look at that beautiful little blue eye that's oozing all this water
the entire area around the blue eye is just so magnificent it's so full of nature and beauty
and there's so much unspoiled nature here it's just breathtaking
for more information on blue eye check my blue eye video the link is above
so it was an amazing half an hour to spend here maybe a bit more if it's
your first time but i've been here before so let's continue on to Gjirokaster let's go
from blue eye it roughly took us about an hour to get to Gjirokaster but we saw some amazing
views on the way and they were wild horses that we spotted totally made the journey worth its while
welcome to Gjirokaster look how cute this place is so the first point is to go up to that the castle
it's a little bit of a trick but it's not too difficult and we just start doing that now let's
go so I am almost at the gate and it took barely 10 minutes but it is a bit of a steep hike bring
some good shoes because it's quite slippery here the fun thing about your caster castle
is it's actually called the silver castle because when it rains the stones turn silver usually gray
it's not raining today luckily so I won't get to see that and i don't mind that honestly
a castle or a fortification has stood at the place of this current Gjirokaster castle since
the 6th century but it took its current form you know 13th century onwards and it is a massive
castle you can roam around here and see the view from all directions all day and it still be left
with some place you know to see it's really cool if you go to the clock tower make sure you go
down it really reminded me of the cell that Tyrion was kept in it's like an open cell then you can
see the entire valley from it it was really really amazing so I’m not entirely sure whether this is
actually part of UNESCO world heritage site I couldn't find anything online um because the
Gjirokaster old city actually is if you find out please do tell me now the view you get from here
is just incredible you see the entire valley in all directions this place is not to be missed
I’m standing in front of some pretty scary dark stairs which is actually an ottoman era prison
I think the most important part and the
biggest you know point for coming to the castle is actually the view of the entire Drino valley
so if you stand near the clock tower you can see the entire valley from one point and you
go in different directions you see different viewpoints and it's just amazing I mean I love
it here and that's one of the biggest reasons I also visited pirate last time by the way if
you haven't been you should also go to Bearat it's spectacular as gorgeous as Gjirokaster if not more
so let's get down I’m a little hungry um I could spend all day here but I need to get some food
now and then we start heading towards some more exciting places including the old bazaar let's go
I am sitting in restaurant Odaja and this is right at the bottom of the castle
and I really really love this place mainly because it's a bay and cuisine but also because the ladies
who make it it's sort of like an old house so you can see the traditional house from Gjirokaster
as well as eat the traditional cuisine from Gjirokaster and the ladies who make it are
absolutely sweet they're like grandmas they're doing it absolutely love it so when you come here
this is called Kifki these are rice balls if you're vegetarian you can still eat it and it's
really nice so definitely come here I already am hungry and excited so I will go finish this
and then I’ll show you the old part of Gjirokaster so see you in a minute don't forget to try
fried cheese with honey it is delicious after that yummy dessert let's go explore
a fun fact while it's called the old bazaar it's actually not that old it
was rebuilt in 19th century after most of the original bazaar was destroyed by a fire
this is why most of the buildings look identical and comes to architecture
the old bazaar is also the place where you can buy some nice handmade souvenirs most of the artists
actually have their own shops here
this is a secret door it's a secret door because it leads to
the most amazing spot in all of Gjirokaster
why is that so it's called the Gjirokaster obelisk by the way if you're looking for it in the map
so it's special because it has the most amazing view you can see everything almost like a 360
view of the entire valley the old city the new city the ford everything in one spot it's the
best place if you want to take photos as well there's one spot not to be missed when you come
to Gjirokaster in fact I would say if you're not seeing anything else in Gjirokaster which would be
a crime you just need to do this one spot so you can see everything here so don't miss this place
the real name of the city is Gjirokastra as the Albanians call it but in English we pronounce
the Gjirokaster Gjirokaster is sometimes also referred as the silver city now this has nothing
to do with the trade of silver it's mainly because the castle turns silver when it rains
the old houses of Gjirokaster while looking similar are not the same in any aspect
the old houses of Gjirokaster belong to aristocratic families the rich and wealthy
who had people working for them and some of these houses are massive while I get to see only one
if you get more time you can venture into other houses but remember these are private residences
so you have to pay and you have to respect that this is a private home
one thing that really doesn't skip your attention are the streets now these are
all cobbled and these are all handmade and generally the architecture here is very
very unique it was entirely crafted from stone and this is why UNESCO chose Gjirokaster to be
the old city of Gjirokaster to be a UNESCO world heritage site this is a place like none other
now we're gonna go see an old house which is really nicely preserved so
you can see how Albanians used to live about 300 years ago
I’m sitting in Skenduli house which is one of the aristocratic houses in the entire Gjirokaster
old center so the old city of Gjirokaster is unique it has a different architecture with
the houses are made of stone which you won't find anywhere else it's definitely not ottoman
this is why the old city of Gjirokaster is considered a UNESCO world heritage site
the houses are massive they have amazing view for example this one has 64 windows
for her mom's just for the house itself and interestingly double glazed windows which
I didn't really pay attention to until a local told me so it's really interesting very different
architecture the ceilings are really beautiful every meter or so there's a chestnut wood which is
pretty elastic this is why for three centuries no house's hair have been destroyed because of that
this is the house of Enver Hoxha who is a communist dictator of Albania for almost 40
years ruled Albania with an iron fist it was so bad that this was actually Albania was sort of
like what North Korea is now extremely tightly controlled people were killed for just listening
to foreign radio stations it was really bad um he created this fear of America and built around 174
000 nuclear bunkers around the country Albania is a small country and so many bunkers for the
fear of Americans attacking it was crazy he was so crazy at one point he actually branded the Chinese
and the soviet version of communism to lineage this is a crazy place who gave birth to a maniac
but I don't think albanians really have decided on that yet so let's give them a bit more time
remember I talked about nature in the beginning of video let's go see some of that now
so a little bit outside Gjirokaster is a small cave which is the other side of
blue eye that we saw in the morning so I’m gonna see what that looks like and wow this
is beautiful I mean this is nothing compared to blue eye but the water is absolutely clear
as you can see Gjirokaster is actually quite hilly and steep
but this is going to be our last stop for the day
so the last stop of the day is Korculla Resort this place is at the very top of the city even
higher than the castle i mean you can look down at the castle from here and I’m going to try
something very interesting here this is oshaf which is local dessert and you won't find it
anywhere outside your caster and it is a special recipe that is only available here
i mean it's not written down it just passed you know verbally from generation to generation and
it is interesting let me try it
wow it's actually made with sheep's milk
which is really different so while I finish this I’m gonna show you the view
while I did this as a day trip I would highly recommend staying a night because
Gjirokaster is totally worth it
so I hope you liked the video I really hope you liked your caster
and I really hope you will come here to visit this gorgeous city i will see you in the next video bye
this is brown boy travels do subscribe
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