Përmet

The church of Saint Nikolas is a beautiful orthodox church in the town of Permet. It was built in the year 1757 and its walls were repaired and painted in the year 1967. The church is set in a beautiful, peaceful garden, surrounded by colorful cypresses and flowers. The church is usually closed to tourists but the outside view is also beautiful.

An attractive, old church in the town of Permet. The word “Paraskevi” is the Greek word for Friday and Saint Paraskevi was a Greek saint, who was martyred by decapitation, the saint is often shown in various icons, with a head on her shoulders and another head in a bowl. The name of this church in Albanian is Shen Premte (Saint Friday). The church was built in the year 1776, the shape of the building is long and low with a beautiful colonnaded porch, the roof has been made on a single level, which is very unusual as most of the roofs of the narthex are built on a lower level than the nave. There is an interesting architectural feature in the church, underneath the paved floor, there is a small channel which collects water from the font and leads the water to the rainwater drain outside. The wall paintings were painted in the year 1808 by the Albanian artist and painter Terpo Zografi, some of the paintings are in need of conservation but most are beautiful. The original door to the church was destroyed during the atheism campaign and has been replaced by a modern, carved door that a local craftsman carved.

The upper district of the town of Permet is called Bolenga. The remains of the castle of Bolenga, are not more than a few stones, located at the top of the large rock of Permet.

A teqe is a small place of worship for those practicing the Bektashi branch of Islam.

 The Church features outstanding iconography paintings. Probably the most spectacular church in Albania, it was not burned in World War II because it resembled more an art gallery than a church.

The huge stone is impossible to miss, and is considered to be a monument of culture. There are many stories about the stone, one story says that the town of Përmet was named after a hero who was called Premt who decided to throw himself off the “City Stone” rather than die at the hands of the enemy. The stone was also used as a watching point to check over the caravans during 18th-19th century. The area surrounding the huge rock is said to be unlucky, and local myths advise not to approach the rock after dark, for bad things could happen.

The beautiful Ottoman bridge of Benja with the natural thermal springs is still in very good condition. If you walk to the middle of the bridge, you can take some brilliant photographs of the river and the surrounding countryside. This bridge is also known as The judge's bridge (Ura e Katiut). The Turkish word "Katiut" means "judge" and there is a story that while Albania was under the Turkish occupation, a judge fell of the bridge and was killed. The earliest archaeological traces recorded in the area, consisting mainly of flint tools and pottery fragments, seems to belong to the Neolithic (7000-3000 BC) and Eneolithic (3000-2100 BC) periods, and are recorded in the cave settlements, near by the village of Bënjë, at the rocky canyons of Lengarica, an affluent of Vjosa River, which is about 2 km to its southeast direction. The Bronze Age (2100-1100 BC) is presented by the fortification of Dedejan, at the foot of Nemerçka Mountain range, while other find spots from the same period are discovered during agriculture works in the fields of Piskova village.

A group of hot springs, from which small pools with water of different sizes have been created. Each pool is used for treatment of a specific problem, for example, acne and other skin diseases, rheumatism and diseases of body, or stomach; more folklore than science. A more specific aspect is the existence of the basin with healing mud, which the elderly say it is a key to keep the skin fresh and young. In the waters of Bënjë one can find visitors from all over Albania, coming to be cured. However there are many others who visit even just to get the sun rays. The hottest of all pools can be found further into the Langarica Canyon, around the corner, after about 300 m on the right. It can also be reached from then small road going up the hill.