We had been to the Pindos Mountains in Greece again, initially spending two nights in Bourazani, then crossing the Sarantaporos River into Albania via the small Konitza-Leskovik border crossing described above and driving on SH 65 towards Korça.

At Leskovik we switched to SH 75 because we also wanted to visit the "Farma Sotira" campsite again. Since we wanted to spend a day in Korça this time, we spent the night at Farma Sortira because of the happy reunion, despite only having covered 40 kilometres. The following day we reached the city of Korça after a good hour's drive. We quickly found a parking space and so we set off to explore.

Korça - former trading town followed by industry

The centre of the town of Korça and thus also of business life was and is the Bulevardi Republika, which was laid out around 1900 with linden trees and wide sidewalks, at the northern end of which there is an observation tower and at the opposite end is the Resurrection Cathedral. At that time the town was a nationally important trading centre. At the end of the 19th century, wool, felt and carpets were mainly produced. In the 1920s there were small factories for knitwear, flour, soap, cigarettes, a printing press and a sawmill. In 1926, brown coal mining began near Mborje.

Residential buildings in the historicist style are reminiscent of Germany

The close contact with Central Europe and the influence of returning emigrants from North America can still be seen in the townscape today, as many wealthy townspeople had houses built in the historicist style, which was particularly common in Germany and Austria. Rich merchants from Korça regularly visited the trade fairs in Leipzig and Vienna. Numerous multi-storey houses and villas set back from the street by front gardens are still preserved on the side streets, which are also laid out as avenues, and in the district south of the cathedral. There are classicist architectural forms (capitals, fascias) and even Art Nouveau details. As long as they are still inhabited, they are relatively the best preserved buildings in the city.

On the western edge of the centre lies the Mirahor Mosque, donated by Ilyas Bey in 1484 according to the inscription. It is the earliest surviving example of a single-dome mosque in Albania. The outer walls of the square main room are carefully proportioned by window openings and profiles. A minaret has been added to the southwest. The vestibule, which is vaulted by three domes, was recently open, but was unfortunately closed at the time of our visit. It is visually impaired by the newly added glazing. The clock tower has been rebuilt next door.

Old bazaar with still cobbled streets

Also, to the west and further north lies the Ottoman quarter "Old Bazaar", known in Albanian as Pazari i Vjetër, which was once separated from the rest of the residential buildings. Some of the streets are still cobbled and are laid out outside the rectangle. The two- to three-story houses had shops and workshops on the ground floor, and apartments above. Of the 16 caravanserais that once served as accommodation for caravans and as market places, two still exist. One of them is hardly recognizable anymore due to modern conversions into a shopping arcade. The Han i Elbasanit from the 18th century has been preserved in poor condition. The building surrounds a pentagonal courtyard with a well. This served as a place for horses to stand and as a market. The ground floor served as a storage room. Above this is a wooden gallery with access to the chambers. The latter can still be used as accommodation to a limited extent.

During the period of communist rule, the city became an industrial centre. A coal-fired power plant was built to exploit the nearby brown coal deposits, textile and carpet production was industrialized, a copper processing plant and a brewery for Birra Korça, known throughout the country, were also built.

Short trip to Gur i Capit

As we were "done" with our tour relatively quickly, we spontaneously decided to drive to the Drenova-Sinica nature reserve before continuing towards Lake Ohrid to Camping Rino. The interesting field formation Gur i Capit can be found in the approximately 20 square kilometre forest area. A little further away in the mountains at 1300 m above sea level is the village of Dardha, which still has a lot of historical buildings, but unfortunately, we didn't have enough time for that this time, even though Albania's only ski lift is supposed to be here.

The Prespa National Park is also just 25 kilometres northeast of Korça, it is the fourth largest national park in Albania, and is already well known to us as we have often been on the Galicica mountain range between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. The 27,750-hectare area includes the Great Prespa Lake and the Small Prespa Lake and forms the border lake between Greece, Albania and North Macedonia. The lakes are an important habitat and breeding ground for endangered bird species. The region can be reached from Korça via the Zvezda Pass, but we prefer to explore the area around Lake Prespa more closely from North Macedonia.

After the trip to the Drenova nature reserve, we head back to Korça to reach Camping Rino that evening on the E 86 via Pogradec; it is only about 80 kilometres on a well-paved road. From Pogradec, the road leads along Lake Ohrid, which also gave us a wonderful sunset. Now just the pass and the border crossing to North Macedonia and we are almost "home" again, because that is Camping Rino for us.

Please read as well:

Trip to the mountain lake Syri I Kalter - the Blue Eye

2nd tractor and vintage car meeting in Burgholzhausen