inside and around the castle
What to see in Kruja
Everything worth seeing in Kruja lies within a short walk of your room. The castle stands on a limestone hill at 557 metres, and from its walls no beauty of the surrounding landscape escapes the eye: the Adriatic, the lakes and the rivers that ring it like a crown of pearls.
Inside the Castle
Inside the castle
Skanderbeg Museum
The National Museum Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, built to sit within the castle grounds and the mountain landscape around it. It is the icon of the town and the crowning of the country's pride.
Inside the castle
The Clock Tower
Built by the artisans of the Old Bazaar, the tower once organised the time of the whole town: when it opened and closed, and the hours of prayer. Inside hangs the bell that announced the death of Skanderbeg.
Inside the castle
Ethnographic Museum
In the southern part of the castle stands a characteristic house of the 1700s, now a museum of daily life, crafts and costume in old Kruja.
Within the Walls
Inside the castle
Teqja e Dollmes
A Bektashi shrine inside the castle walls, and one of the quietest corners of Kruja.
Inside the castle
Skanderbeg's Olive Tree
Near the Dollma shrine stands a majestic olive, said to have been planted for Skanderbeg's wedding in 1451. It recalls his famous requirement that every newlywed couple plant an olive tree in place of paying a tax.
Inside the castle
The Hamam
A fifteenth-century bath house with a beautiful roof, among the oldest structures still standing inside the castle.
Views and Old Trees
A short walk downhill
The Old Bazaar
Four hundred and fifty years old and built in Byzantine style, at its height the bazaar held more than 150 traders. Along the Craftsmen's Lane, age-old techniques still yield textiles, fine metalwork and vibrant ceramics.
By the northern wall
Taslloi's Plane Tree
By the northern wall of the castle grows the plane tree of Taslloi, with a spring beside it where you can drink in summer. From here you look out over the town and the western slope of Sarisalltik.
A walk up the hill
Sarisalltik
The holy site of Bektashi believers on the slope west of the castle, reached on foot through the hills above Kruja.