Backpacking in Shkodra | Albania

Posted: October 11 2019

Backpacking in Shkodra, Albania visiting the Rozafa Fortress and Xhamia e Plumbit Mosque

​From Tirana, I headed north. Shkodra/Shkodër. 4th largest city in Albania.
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​* ​Tirana has a new bus terminal. See my 2020 Backpacking in Tirana post

The journey takes about 2 hours. Arrival point in Shkodra is the Sheshi Demokracia round-a-bout.

I stayed at the Home Hostel which is about 5 minutes walk from Sheshi Demokracia.

Highlight of the trip to Shkodra is the Rozafa Fortress which is about a 45 minute walk, South West from the center.

On the way, I went to the Xhamia e Plumbit mosque. In English it's known as the Lead Mosque as the dome roof was made of lead. It dates from 1773.

Inscription above the door of the Xhamia e Plumbit Mosque in Shkodra

Birdseye view of the Xhamia e Plumbit Mosque in Shkodra on the walk up to the Rozafa Fortress.

Entrance to the Rozafa Fortress is 200LEK. It wasn't 'til later that I discovered that I had been given a student ticket (60LEK a tidy sum pocketed no doubt by the badly paid guy manning the ticket office).

Shkodra is also the jumping off point for the Valbona to Theth hike which I did in 2020.

I wrote about getting from Shkodra to Kotor on my Backpacking in Kotor | Montenegro post.
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Related posts from The Balkans:

• Backpacking in Kotor | Montenegro
• Backpacking in Tirana, Albania
• Transportation to and from Tirana International Airport​