10 Things You Didn't Know About Durrës

Durrës is Albania's second-largest city and one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on the Adriatic coast. Founded in 627 BC as Epidamnos by Greek colonists from Corinth, the city has witnessed the rise and fall of empires — and it wears every layer of that history on its sleeve.

The Roman amphitheatre, discovered only in 1966 when a local was digging the foundations for his house, is Albania's largest. It once seated 20,000 spectators — nearly the population of the ancient city. But the real surprise lies beneath: early Christian mosaics in the underground galleries, and a small chapel decorated with frescoes that most visitors walk right past.

Durrës was once the starting point of the Via Egnatia, the Roman road that connected the Adriatic to Constantinople. You can still trace fragments of this ancient highway through the city's streets. The road shaped trade, migration, and warfare across the Mediterranean for centuries.

The city's Venetian Tower, standing at the entrance to the old port, has been a lighthouse, a prison, and a café — sometimes all three within the same century. Today it's one of the most photographed landmarks in Albania, and the espresso you'll drink at its base might be the best on the coast.

Durrës sits atop a network of underground tunnels built during the communist era as part of Enver Hoxha's paranoid defense strategy. While most remain sealed, a few sections have been opened to visitors, offering an eerie glimpse into Cold War Albania.

The city's Archaeological Museum, perched on a hill overlooking the sea, houses one of the finest collections of Greek and Roman artifacts in the Balkans. The star piece is a mosaic known as "The Beauty of Durrës" — a haunting portrait from the 4th century that still stops people in their tracks.