What to do in Korca
Korca, this lovely city located in southeastern Albania is one of the cities that attract visitors all year round. Being a romantic gateway but also an escaping adventure for friends Korca Albania amazes everyone.
The little Paris, the city of the serenades that once a year wears a white veil to celebrate everyone who comes to visit it. Korca offers outstanding beauties, that you as a tourist will understand when you step foot in the entrance of a city where the dialect is as sweet as it can be.
What makes Korca Albania extraordinary and so sought after?
Visit the bazaar of Korca
The old bazaar is one of the main sights of Korca Albania. Whoever goes to Korce, goes straight to the old bazaar. Walking around the cobblestone streets and the colorful buildings you will find yourself in awe and in search to sit outside a coffee shop with your favorite coffee in your hand. You will queue to find the spot that is closer to the sun or the spot that is closer to the fire during winter days. Everybody fights to sit outside and enjoy a summer breeze or a winter day.
Try the Raki of Komiteti
In the bazaar, you will find one of my favorite personal spots for a break which is the Komiteti Kafe-Muzeum. This coffee shop is special, Komiteti used to be the committee of the communist party back in the dull days of communism. Even though communism was a gray period for the country, it was part of us, it made history, and it needs to be remembered, for the bad, the good, and the traditional. Komiteti nowadays is a place where everyone goes to have a coffee and celebrate their freedom. In a place like this, that once prohibited people from their right of speech, people go nowadays to celebrate their freedom.
The once a bad time that persecuted everyone from their speech, today a place where everyone can speek freely. A period when every house had the same setting and traditions. These traditions are held alive by Komiteti, with their old-style setting that looks like you have jumped in the past without thinking twice, and of course their different ranges of raki. What makes an Albanian more Albanian no matter where they are? The fact that they will drink 60% of alcohol and call it a day. Also, in Komiteti you can find some Albanian snacks and the most important coffee.
Eat at Tradita, Shend e Vere, or Hani Pazarit
You can choose one of those places as the view, the food, and the setting is incredible. The variety in the menu is wide and all you can do is order traditional food. Korca is known for its Kofte but also for kidney beans, burek, beer, and more. I advise you to go lightly on the order as the things are too yummy and fill you very quickly. The music makes you wanna sing and dance to the rhythm and the fire during the winter days is so cozy. 10/10 FOOD AND ATMOSPHERE.
Buy a souvenir
In the old bazaar, you will find many small shops that offer handmade things and souvenirs to take home with you. The details of each piece you can buy are unique and traditional of Korce Albania. When buying one, make sure you buy another one for a close friend back home.
Visit the Cathedral
I know everyone likes a good cathedral when visiting a new place, including me. I love cathedrals, they look majestic and magnificent and I do not know why. However, Korca Albania has one of the most picturesque cathedrals in the country. It is a modern cathedral with a magnificent nave crowned with a dome. On the sides, there are two square towers. The interior is made of mahogany wood and there are carved out a huge iconostasis. Such an interesting thing to see, no?
Check out the National Museum of Medieval Art
The National Museum of Medieval art needs to be checked out when in Korce Albania. This place houses 7000 historical and cultural objects that are dedicated to medieval art. The paintings and icons have been removed from churches probably in Enver Hoxha’s communist times. Moreover, there are icons and paintings from the Balkans as a whole area also.
Have a look at National Museum of Education
When visiting Korca one must know a little bit of background history for it. Instead of spending your time reading on the internet what Korca offers, we offer you the chance to read this article because, why not, and then because we are informing you what to see in Korca Albania.
The educational museum back in the time was the first Albanian School and was opened in 1887. When the Ottoman army invaded the country it banned everyone from reading and teaching. They wanted to assimilate the country with their traditions and culture. But Albanians loved their country and their language and secretly they held teaching classes in this place which is otherwise called Mesonjetorja.
This museum is really important to visit as it shows the history of Albanian writing, the different alphabets that led to the one we have today, the pictures of the first students, and the modernization of Albanian education during the post World War II era. It is a beautiful testimony for such an intellectual city like Korca Albania.
Witness the works of Gjon Mili
Gjon Mili was an innovative photographer from Korca Albania. In this museum dedicated to him, you will find 240 of his pieces of art during the 20th century and also you can make your piece of art and print it out for the price of 5 euros. He is the first photographer who used a flash and stroboscopic flash. Which makes it very interesting to visit.
DO NOT FORGET THE KORCA BEER
Korca is a beautiful city, with a promenade, cathedral, old bazaar, serenades, culture but also beer. Beer Korca is one of the most famous beers in Albania. Each year during the month of August there is a celebration which is named the beer fest, where each bar offers places to sit and have a beer and accompany it with something traditional. The music is calm, the weather is warm and you will feel like you are in a village in Italy during medieval times and you are looking at your crush and thinking how to ask them to dance? Does it make sense or is it my imagination? However, the brewery offers beer tasting and you can do that. We advise you to do that.
Walk the boulevard of Korca Albania
Walk the boulevard of Korca Albania and learn a serenade on the way, because this is as beautiful as this place gets. There is a song that goes “ The boulevard of Korca, is full of girls who go out for a walk without their mother’s permission”. Well might not be like that, but worth a walk,=.
Enjoy the Serenade. Enjoy culture. Visit Korca Albania.
