3 Days in Berat

Mangalem is the quarter at the foot of the castle hill, on the south bank of the Osum, and it's the one on every postcard. The tall white houses have large windows stacked in rows to catch the daylight, which is where the "one window above the other" nickname comes from. It was the traditionally Muslim part of town, and the mosques nearby show it. In the 1960s and 70s Berat was kept as a "museum town" and spared the concrete rebuilding that changed most of Albania, which is why this slope looks the way it does.

Don't hurry to the top. Walk Rruga Antipatrea, the street along the river, named after the ancient city, and look up the slope. The best view of Mangalem is from the opposite bank, and you'll get there tomorrow. Today, climb the lane toward the Kala.

On the way up, the Ethnographic Museum sits in an 18th-century Ottoman house, and the house is half the exhibit. The ground floor has a recreated medieval bazaar street with tiny wooden shops, plus an olive press, a forge and a raki still from the home crafts. Upstairs is the çardak, the open wooden gallery that was the family's main living space in warm months, and a guest room with a carved fireplace and built-in cupboards. It's the clearest answer to what the white houses outside look like on the inside. It's small, so 45 minutes is plenty.

Berat Castle is the reason the city exists. The hill was settled long before the Romans burned the town in 200 BC. The walls were strengthened under Theodosius II, rebuilt under Justinian I in the 6th century, and rebuilt again in the 13th century by Michael I Komnenos Doukas of Epirus; his work shows as a red-brick monogram in the wall. The castle once held around 20 churches, most from the 13th century, and a single mosque for the garrison, of which only ruins remain.

What makes it unusual is that it never became a museum. The people of Berat lived inside these walls, and families still do. Lanes run between stone houses, and now and then you'll walk into a courtyard you thought was a ruin. Walk the whole circuit rather than just the main street. The Church of the Holy Trinity, from the 14th century, stands in a small treed square and is built in the form of a cross. The Church of St. Mary of Blachernae, from the 13th century, has 16th-century murals by Nikollë Onufri, the son of the great painter, though expect some church doors to be locked.

The honest warning: the walk up from town takes 15-20 minutes on slippery stone, and it's a real climb. A taxi to the gate saves your legs for the walking inside.

The Onufri Museum is inside the Dormition of St. Mary cathedral, the biggest church in the Kala. It's named for Onufri, the 16th-century painter from Berat who trained in Venice and became the most important icon painter of Albania's post-Byzantine period. He signed a church in Kastoria in 1547 as "from the town of Berat". Look for his reds: the museum's own guide praises the famous red of Onufri against gold backgrounds. The collection has about 200 icons and liturgical items from the 14th to the 20th century, taken from churches and monasteries of the region.

The other star is the iconostasis, the carved wooden screen made in 1807 and called one of the finest pieces of Albanian woodcarving, with Baroque touches mixed into Byzantine tradition. The famous Berat Codices, two ancient gospel manuscripts found hidden in the cathedral's crypt in 1968, are not here: the museum shows copies and the originals are kept in the National Archives in Tirana. Audio guide tickets are separate at 500 ALL.

Several restaurants and guesthouse terraces in the castle quarter serve Albanian home cooking, with views over the river. Order the dish the tourism office says you can only have in Berat: Vienezi i Beratit, a rolled steak stuffed with melted kaçkavall cheese, breaded and fried. Without meat, try pispilia, a cornmeal and greens dish topped with white cheese. Finish with MonBlan, the local meringue dessert.

Stay up in the Kala for the last light, which in November arrives around 16:35 early in the month and 16:15 late. From the walls you look across the river at the lit windows of the town below, which is when the thousand windows stops being a slogan.

Walk down before it's fully dark. The lanes are uneven, so carry a phone torch and take the main way down.

The seven-arch Gorica Bridge links the two halves of the old town across the Osum. It was built in wood around 1780, after 1777, for the local ruler Ahmet Kurt Pasha, and was rebuilt in stone in the 1920s. It's 129 meters long and 5.3 meters wide, and stands about 10 meters above the usual water level. A local legend says the wooden bridge once had a dungeon where a girl was starved to please the spirits that guarded it. The municipality renovated it in 2015.

Walk across slowly and stop in the middle, where you can see both quarters at once.

Gorica is the traditionally Christian quarter, on the left bank of the Osum. It's quieter than Mangalem, with narrow lanes and the same stacked, many-windowed houses.

Walk the lanes behind the bridge and look back across the river: from here you get the long facade of Mangalem with the Kala above it, the view you came for. Go in the morning, when the light is on that far bank.

Cross back to Mangalem and walk Rruga Antipatrea east. The Bachelors' Mosque was completed in 1828 and has a painted portico of flowers, plants and little houses; the name comes from the young shop assistants of Berat's merchants. The King Mosque, from the reign of Bayezid II (1481-1512), is the oldest in town. A few minutes on, the Lead Mosque was completed in 1553-54 by Ahmet Bej Uzgurliu and is named for the lead covering of its domes; it was restored in 2014 with Turkish funding.

The interiors are not always open, so treat these as a walk with a bonus; if a door is open, ask first and cover your shoulders and knees. Nearby in Mangalem is the small Solomon Museum, on Jews in Albania: during the Second World War, families in Berat hid Jews in their homes.

The river promenade and the main boulevard are where Berat goes to walk, especially at sunset. Albanians call the evening stroll the xhiro, and coffee is the excuse. In November it's smaller and earlier, but it's the best flat walk in town and a good break for the knees after yesterday's climb. Sit for a coffee and look at the slope across the water.

Roshnik is about 12-13 km east of Berat, below Mount Tomorr, and Alpeta is the best-organized winery visit near the city. It calls itself the first certified agrotourism in Albania and has run tastings since 2012. The wine tasting tour takes 1 h 40 to 2 h: a walk through the vineyard, a look at how raki is distilled, a visit to the winery and a tasting of three wines and two rakis with cheese, olives and fruit. The reds use Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon plus the local grape Pulëz.

The tour runs daily, starting between 16:00 and 18:30 depending on the month. The easy way is the package with pick-up in central Berat, dinner and a drop-off, about 4 hours in all. A meal at the restaurant is about 27 EUR (2,500 ALL). Çobo, the other well-known winery, is a family producer in the Dimal municipality on the road toward Tirana. Its site has a button for booking tours but no prices, so write ahead.

Skip this if you took Alpeta's dinner package. Otherwise, back in town, eat in Mangalem or along Rruga Antipatrea: grilled meat, tavë kosi or a clay-pot tavë dheu, and the local pispilia. The best dishes in November are the warm, slow-cooked ones. A glass of the local red or raki me arra (walnut raki) is the right finish.

Berat's tourist office lists Antipatrea Traditional Restaurant, White House and Antigoni among places to eat. Check hours, as small places often shorten them in the off-season.

Where Berat is white, Gjirokastër is grey. The old town climbs a steep slope beneath a fortress, and the houses are tall stone towers with roofs of flat stone slabs, which earned it the name "City of Stone". Most of what you see dates from the 17th and 18th centuries, and more than 500 houses are protected as cultural monuments.

The Old Bazaar was first built in the 17th century and rebuilt in the 19th after a fire, and the mosque that dominates it dates from 1757. Park below and climb on foot: the lanes are steep and polished. Craft shops sell copper and handmade items.

Zekate House was built in 1811-12 by Beqir Zeko, a local administrator in the government of Ali Pasha. It's among the grandest Gjirokastër tower houses, with two towers and a wide double arched facade, and it shows the standard layout: a stable and cistern at ground level, family rooms above, a guest room with a fireplace. The view of the town from the top floor is good.

Opening is informal. Some visitors report the door being shut and the owners coming back in half an hour, so don't build the schedule around it.

Close to Zekate House, the Ethnographic Museum was built in 1966 on the site of the house where Enver Hoxha was born; from 1966 to 1991 it was the Anti-Fascist Museum and today it shows the traditional life of the town. Gjirokastër was also the birthplace of the writer Ismail Kadare. The entry includes a guided tour, in English if available.

Gjirokastër's own dish is qifqi, small fried rice patties made of cooked rice, eggs and dried mint, cooked in a special multi-cavity pan. One explanation says it was made for women who had just given birth; another says it began as a way to use leftover wedding pilaf. The town is also known for white cheese, and a listed old-town restaurant serves baked cheese with honey and sesame.

Eat in the old town; Kujtim's and Restaurant Odaja are two listed options, so check which are open.

Gjirokastër Castle stands at 336 meters over the whole valley. The citadel is older than the 12th century. Ali Pasha of Tepelena rebuilt and extended it after 1812, and King Zog's government expanded the prison in 1932; under communism it held political prisoners. The Armaments Museum inside has field guns, and the stage of the folk festival is within the walls.

The reason to come is the view over the roofs and the valley, not the exhibits. Winter hours conflict between sources, with several giving 16:00 as closing, so go right after lunch and take cash. Walk down through the lanes, and be at the car by 15:00.