Berat, the city of a thousand windows where Albania slows down

The city that watches you with a thousand eyes

When you arrive in Berat for the first time, the reaction is always the same: you stop, you look up, and you stand there motionless. The white houses of the Mangalem quarter climb the hillside one above the other, and their enormous windows — orderly rows of dark rectangles on immaculate walls — seem like a thousand eyes watching the Osum river. It is for this image that Berat is known as the «city of a thousand windows», and it is for this image that UNESCO declared it a World Heritage site in 2008.

Berat is reached in two hours by car from Tirana (120 km) along a road that improves year by year. Buses depart from Tirana's south station roughly every hour and cost less than five euros. From Vlorë, an hour and a half.

The three historic quarters

Mangalem

The Muslim quarter spreads along the right bank of the Osum, below the fortress. The Ottoman houses of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have remained practically intact: stone walls on the ground floor, upper floors in wood and white plaster with their characteristic multiple windows. The King's Mosque (Xhamia e Mbretit, 1495) is one of the oldest in Albania. The Lead Mosque (Xhamia e Plumbit) takes its name from the lead-plate roof and shelters interior decorations of rare elegance.

Gorica

On the left bank, connected to Mangalem by the seven-arched Ottoman bridge (rebuilt in 1780), the Christian quarter of Gorica offers the city's most celebrated view. From here the houses of Mangalem are mirrored in the river and the fortress crowns the hill. Walking through Gorica at sunset, when the stones turn orange, is one of the most beautiful moments Albania can offer.

The Castle (Kala)

The fortress of Berat, continuously inhabited for 2,400 years, is a living quarter where families still live today. Inside the walls you'll find:

- Church of the Holy Trinity: Byzantine frescoes from the thirteenth century in good condition.

- Onufri Museum: housed in the Church of the Dormition, it gathers works by Onufri, the greatest Albanian painter of the Renaissance, famous for his inimitable red.

- Roman cisterns and Byzantine fortifications: two thousand years of layered history visible as you walk along the walls.

- Inhabited houses: families living inside the fortress offer Turkish coffee to visitors from their doorstep.

What to eat

Berat is one of Albania's finest cities for food. Local cuisine combines Ottoman, Mediterranean, and peasant traditions:

Tavë kosi (lamb baked in yogurt and egg sauce) is the Albanian national dish and in Berat they prepare it superbly. Also worth trying: qofte (spiced grilled meatballs), byrek (filo pastry with djathë cheese or spinach), fergese (peppers, tomatoes, and cheese baked in the oven), and bakllasarem (fried walnut-filled pastry typical of Berat).

Restaurants in the Mangalem quarter offer terraces overlooking the river and the city. A full meal with local wine (the Shesh i Bardhë white is excellent) costs between eight and fifteen euros.

When to go and practical tips

The best months are April–June and September–October. Summer is very hot (Berat sits in an enclosed valley) and temperatures easily exceed 35 degrees. Spring is ideal: the river is full, the gardens bloom, and the temperatures are mild.

Berat can be visited in a full day, but spending one night here allows you to see the city illuminated from below — the thousand windows become a thousand lights, and the fortress stands out against the starry sky. Accommodation in restored Ottoman houses from twenty-five euros a night. Albania remains one of Europe's most affordable destinations, and Berat may be its most lustrous jewel.