December 12, 2024, 6:23 am | Read time: 4 minutes
Berat in Albania looks back on more than 2,400 years of history and is considered by many to be the most beautiful city in the country. Its nickname, the “city of a thousand windows”, is surrounded by a bizarre legend. TRAVELBOOK takes you on a tour of discovery and reveals what you should definitely see when you are here.
Around 120 kilometers away from the Albanian metropolis of Tirana lies a city that is praised in countless travel reports online as probably the most beautiful in the entire country. We are talking about Berat, a place that can look back on more than 2,400 years of history. However, it is its nickname that has made it famous, as Berat is also known as the “city of a thousand windows”. Shaped by both Christian and Muslim influences, visitors can expect a journey into the past here.
Today a city with around 40,000 inhabitants, Berat was founded as a Greek settlement in the 4th century BC, according to the website “Albanian Getaway“. Various powers, such as the Ottomans, later left their mark on the beautiful city on the Osum River over the centuries. Picturesquely situated in the gorge named after the river, which is the largest in the country, the town has been dreaming away ever since. But at the latest, since Albania has repeatedly been considered the insider tip in Europe by travelers, the “city of a thousand windows” has also experienced a visitor boom.
Whimsical Window Legend
The romantic nickname refers to the unique view, as the houses in Berat really do seem to have a particularly large number of windows. The website “Feel Albania” tells a bizarre legend about their history. According to the story, in times long past, the citizens of Berat once wondered how to attract more visitors to the city in order to boost trade. So they decided that every citizen should build exactly five windows in their house, so that in the end there would be a total of 1000. One man, however, built a house with six windows, which enraged the other inhabitants of the town.
Weighing him down with weights, they threw him into the Osum River and decided never to talk about the 1001st window in Berat again. Instead, the town subsequently gained fame as the “city of a thousand windows”. At some point, however, the son of the murdered man took revenge by revealing the secret. However, this did not damage the town’s image but led to even more visitors, as everyone now wanted to find the 1001st window in Berat.
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Unesco World Heritage Site and Museum City
Berat was declared a museum city back in 1961 due to its thousands of years of history and its beauty. It has also been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. Of particular interest to visitors are the two historic districts of Gorica and Mangalem. The former is Christian, the latter Muslim. Although the Osum River separates the two districts, they are connected by a stone bridge with seven arches, which was built in 1780.
In the city itself, the sights include not only the ancient quarters, but also several churches and the remains of the so-called “Red Mosque”. The proverbial highlight, however, is the old castle above Berat, of which only ruins remain today. Nevertheless, according to the city’s official tourism website, people still live within its walls. The castle originally dates back to the 13th century and is the largest in the whole of Albania. The ancient Church of the Holy Trinity is still located within its walls.
Countless stores, restaurants, and cafés await visitors in the cobbled streets. A popular vantage point for views over the city and sunset pictures is the hill in the Gorica district. According to the tourism website, the costs for overnight stays are also lower here, as Gorica is not as crowded as Mangalem. Nevertheless, the historic center of the city is only a ten-minute walk away. If you want to see more of the area, you can explore the Osum Gorge by climbing or rafting, for example. Welcome to Berat, the picturesque “city of a thousand windows”.