Kruja Day Trip from Durres

About this tour

Start your journey from the city that lies on the shore of the Adriatic Sea, Durres. From sea to History, the Kruja Day Trip from Durres will leave you breathless. Visit the town of Albanian History and learn untold stories. Meanwhile, find yourself in the cobblestone streets that are as old as the town itself. Kruja has a lot to offer.

From the Ottoman-style bazaar, where you can find everything that is handmade to the modern part of the town. Kruja is the town where a lot of historical events happened. Learn how the Ottoman Empire conquered Kruja, and how they lost when Scanderbeg became the head of the Albanian Army.

Kruja Day Trip from Durres – Back in time

Observe the museum of Scanderbeg and the Ethnographic Museum of Albania. While Albania is a country that still respects its traditions, in the Ethnographic Museum you will see how different, yet the same the country has remained. Witness how Albanians lived, how they decorated their homes.

The Ethnographic Museum is located near Scanderbeg’s museum. It resides in one of the characteristic dwelling houses of Kruja, this one dating back to 1764. Within, you can find 16 rooms, each exhibiting original historic ceramics, wood, cotton, wool, silk, stone as well as folk dresses. Together, these give you a clear picture of the history of the district as you become acquainted with its traditions and customs.

The museum is in a lovely old house built in 1764 which belonged to one of the wealthy families living in the castle. It is set in a walled courtyard with two gateways. It is a typical Ottoman-style house with storage rooms on the ground floor and with the living quarters above. Most of the items are original.

On the porch is a quern (traditional equipment for making leather). One of the rooms contains a forge. Another has a small water-driven mill to grind flour. There is also a display to make the traditional felt hats worn by Albanian men as well as a machine for washing the feet. Another room contains a large oil crush operated by donkey power, and a press to extract the oil.

The doorways are low so people have to bow to enter or leave the room, thus showing respect. There are display cases on the landing area with wedding clothes of both bride and groom. The men’s room has a fireplace and examples of weapons and musical instruments are hanging on the walls.

Above the doorway is a gallery where the women could sit and see if the men wanted anything to eat or drink. As marriages were arranged this was often the first view a girl would have of her future husband. As well as being used for cooking, grandparents would often sleep on low mattresses near the fire.

Kruja Day Trip from Durres – The castle

Kruja Castle was built in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. Charles I of Anjou rebuilt the walls in the 13th century and the Turks rebuilt them again some centuries later. In 1617 an earthquake caused great damage to the walls, after which they were reinforced with 9 towers. The highest and most well-defended part of the fortress is a clock tower. It used to serve as an observation platform during times of war.

The Museum of Scanderbeg was designed as an ancient fortress. It is composed of separate pavilions, each representing a piece of Kruja, Albania’s heroic struggle against Ottoman invasion. These include the pavilion of antiquity and early middle age, the Albanian princedom pavilion, the pavilion of the ottoman invasion, the medieval fortress pavilion, and the Albanian resistance pavilion.

Book now the Kruja Day Trip from Durres, and the tour will be memorable. The heroic town of Kruja awaits you.