Places to visit

at the top of a craggy mountain 680 m (2,230 feet) above sea level. From the castle there is a broad view that spans from Mount Tomori in the south to Ulcinj in the north with views of the Adriatic coast throughout.The castle features an arched tunnel as its entrance and once inside you can find castle remnants, the watch tower, two museums, restaurants, and homes that are still occupied. The Dollma Bektashi Tekke shrine is also found within the Krujë castle walls. The shrine was a place for spiritual retreat and character reformation for the Tekke faith. In front of the shrine’s doors, on the sacred grounds, is a large olive tree planted on the day of Skanderbeg’s wedding. The watch tower is one of the few remaining towers found within. It stretches an additional 16 m (53 feet) above the castle walls and once provided a complete view of the horizon allowing the monitoring of enemy movements in three directions while staying protected to the east by Mount Krujë. The bell found inside the tower announced the death of Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero, and can now be seen in the Skanderbeg Museum.

This museum was the home of the Toptani family, built in a style known as Çadak, characteristic of the Krujë area at the time and dates back to the year 1764. The Toptanis were noble rulers of the area up until their move to Tirana. The house was declared a museum in 1959 and was restored by professor Emin Riza. The home allows you to experience daily life in this time period and is complete with interactive cultural displays and original furnishings. Descriptions are available in English and Albanian, and unusually detailed.

This museum was opened November 1, 1982 and is centred on an epic man of the 15th century who held off the invasion by the Ottoman Empire for 25 years. The museum recognizes the lasting strength and subsequent loss of the army of Skanderbeg. The national museum engenders the character of a memorial and opens to a stunning sculptural fresco representing our hero Skanderbeg amongst his cohorts, before moving on to galleries explaining the history of Albania, and numerous murals depicting episodes in the life of Skanderbeg, and further sculptures depicting various historical figures. The museum holds artifacts, writings, and accounts of Skanderbeg’s life and death, while additional displays continue to be added as discoveries are made.

The steam bath is another legacy of medieval life in Kruja. The hamam was built at the end of the 15th century, and consists of four areas: the changing room, the middle room which has remnants of a tank, and two separate bathing areas with water supplied by the well of the square. In the middle of the main room is the kettle where water was heated. This hamam was used by the city’s elite. In 1963, it was proclaimed a first degree cultural monument.

It is thought to have similarity with the mosque in the Castle of Preza. It dates in the end of the 15th century.

The Old Bazaar of Kruja dates to the 17th century and is known by the locals as Derexhiku. It was built approximately 400 years ago and had about 200 shops starting from neat Kruja City Hall to the entrance gates of Kruja Castle. The first shops are thought to have started next to the castle entrance and over the years the shops expanded towards what is now the center of town. The shops line the street on both sides creating roads of roof-covered storefronts whose sloping roofs create an arcade along its length. The main crafts and trades in these shops have been leather working, silk, kitchen utensils, furniture, tailoring, pottery, carpentry, cafes, wood carving, butchers, barbers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and wool workers. In the Old Bazaar today you can find objects and handmade items from traditional artisans as well as antiques collected from Kruja and the surrounding areas.