Durrës (or Durres), an ancient strategic port has an exciting, and often bloody, history. Most recently, in 1990, following the collapse of communist rule it was the point of mass emigrations from Albania, with ships being hijacked in the harbour and sailed at gunpoint to Italy by groups of young men eager for a better life. As well as the seemingly endless invasions during ancient, Roman and Ottoman times it was the site of heaviest resistance facing fascist Italian forces landing in Albania in 1939. This blend of histories and occupations is woven into the architectural fabric of the city making it visually, as well as historically, interesting.

Communist era buildings are often in the background of the older monuments in the city and its Ottoman past is left in some remaining walls and the elegant Byzantine Forum (Tregu Bizantin), with its dignified standing colonnades, right in the centre of the city, as well as the sights and sounds of the mosques still in use in Durres.

Durres is the second most populous city after Tirana but it didn’t feel it. Maybe because I circumvented the centre and headed for a port park up in a free car park next to the sea. It was actually really pleasant, with the sound of the waves through the night, once the sound of the youngsters crap music and flirting had passed. I was parked next to the Volga promenade and it was interesting to watch people taking their daily walk to the end, turning round and then back again. Very different culturally from ‘going for a walk’ in England, which often involves a trip to the countryside. Durres is very close to Italy with most residents also speaking Italian so maybe the tradition of the passeggiata, or evening promenade, has been adopted but the times reworked. Of course it may also be an exercise regime left over from communist times that became part of people’s everyday life. Another feature added to this multilayered city.