GJIROKASTRA

Gjirokastra is a city in southern Albania.The new town includes the old town with the castle and the old neighborhoods according the old ottoman style. This city is part of UNESCO since 2005 like one survived example of ottoman empire style. The queen of this city is the Castle.Locals baptized it by name Argjiro.This name belongs to a princess wich in order to fall into enemys hands decide to prance from the castle with her child.The castle first of all had a military function,however the castle had some old flats inside but they were in military function for the soldiers.During the Middle Ages the city developed outside the castle.During the XVI and XVII the city was the centre of Albanian sandzak.One thing that stands out in this city is the architecture. Gjirokastër features an old Ottoman bazaar which was originally built in the 17th century, it was rebuilt in the 19th century after a fire. There are more than 500 homes preserved as “cultural monuments” in Gjirokastër today. The Gjirokastër Mosque, built in 1757, dominates the bazaar. Another interesting reason to visit this city is also the traditional food.Its worth mentoning Pashaqofte the most popular dish, also another interesting and  delicious food in this city is Qifqi that is very popular here specially for the way of coking they use a big pan with 10 pits wich they fill with meat rice and spices.