The timeless castle and the quiet lake

Today's Shkodër is the result of a change in nature: The town was founded below the Rozafa hill that surmounts the confluence of the 2 rivers Buna and Drin. The first settlement was located at the north side of the hill. Due to the limited space at this side of the hill the city grew towards the south of the hill. During the 19th century the Drin began to change its stream bed so that the city was often overflooded. As result the old town had to be abandoned and a new town was built where it is today. Therefore the houses of the town are relatively new but the inner city is nevertheless pleasant (see the next post).

Before we start a walk let's tune on Thievery Corporation - Illumination.

It was very hot and everybody who could avoid to go out of the houses did so. It was funny that people offered me water commiseratively because they thought I was forced to walk in the heat. Walking from the town center to the famous Rozafa castle is only 2 km through the city. If necessary you will always find some shadow.

The castle seen from the town.

The entrance.

The castle is large and for the most part a ruin. Since thousands of years there is a fortress on top of the hill. Therefore its history is interesting. The current castle was destroyed during the very cruel Siege of Scutari. (About 20.000 casualties - this was about 10 % of the population of Montenegro that time!)
At the innermost part of the castle is the house of the commander which is now a small museum about the history of the castle and also of the town. I can recommend this museum because, in contrary to the museums in Belgrade and Cetinje, you get a lot of information also in English. One can even ask a historian. It was exciting that he could explain almost everything about Albania's history. OK, no other tourists were in the museum and he was happy to talk.
History is a good reason to visit the castle and another one is the breathtaking view to the Lake Skadar.

The lake.

The old bridge over the Buna.

The pictures cannot describe the gorgeous view (the sun hindered me to take better picture) and the sundown was absolutely amazing! I thought this cannot be topped. But this is Albania and this was just the start!

It is unbelievable to see such a large lake and absolutely no vessel on it; just pure nature. One reason is that the border between Albania and Montenegro crosses the lake and in the communist era it was forbidden to enter the border zone. Another one is that the Montenegrin part of the lake is a national park. Also, the water level of the lake is changing during the year by about 5 meters while its average depth is only 5 - 9 meters. The size of the lake is therefore varying a lot. A side effect is that the Buna flows is different directions - sometimes from the Drin towards the lake and sometimes from the lake towards the sea. (For the experts: The lake fills a so called Polje.)

Confluence of the Drin (left) and the Buna (right)

The Buna an the new swing bridge.
Until 2011 there was only a single bridge over the Buna!

View to the former location of the town.

View along the Drin.

 

View to the town and the Prokletije.

The museum.

The area around the Buna is the recreation area of Shkodër. There are playgrounds, good restaurants and bars. One exception is the neighborhood at the old bridge on western river bank. The people there are very poor and some houses are in a horrible state. The childs there were begging quite aggressively. This was the only place where I felt a bit uncomfortable in Albania. There is a long promenade from the old bridge into the center of Shkodër. It is nice to walk there because one one side you find several restaurants where you can sit outside in gardens, on the other side you have the river and the promenade is full of people. It is a bit like a catwalk where people want to see and to be seen. The darker it gets in the evening the more people are on the promenade and also all over the inner city.

The Buna seen from the swing bridge.
There are many nice large restaurants and
playgrounds along both river banks.

The urban area at the old bridge.

Incredible that this old and narrow bridge was for
decades  the only point where the Buna could be crossed

The promenade.

The important lesson to learn was:
In summer in Albania almost everybody is out in the evening but not in the night. During the day you have most places for yourself.
(This sounds trivial but is important to know as you will notice in the next posts.)