THE DESIGN REVIEWER
IT'S WORTH A SECOND LOOK
KRUJË
REMEMBERING SKANDERBEG
A HALF DAY TRIP to KRUJË
Kruja was the capital of the first Albanian state and it is at Kruja where the Albanian national hero George Kastrioti Skanderbeg has held its ground to defend Albania from invading Ottomans between 1450 and 1467. At 600m above sea level, it is 40km away from Tirana and reachable within an hour by public bus from the roundabout of Zogu-Zi. The bus terminal is about 15minutes walk from Skanderbeg Square in Tirana. Buses leave hourly or 2 hourly for Kruja, though one could take a bus to Fushe-Kruja or F.Kruja in short, then do a car-share with other travelers to Kruja from Fushe-Kruja if one had missed the direct bus. Fushe-Kruja is the town at the base of the mountains leading up to the mountain town of Kruja.
There’s not much to do at Kruja apart from window shopping at the old bazaar which unfortunately didn’t cater to a backpacker’s interest. The Skanderbeg museum which showcased the history of Kruja was the other sight to see. It was designed by the daughter of the Enver Hoxha, whose was first secretary of the Albanian government for some 44 years. After spending some 3.5hours at Kruja of which 1.5hours involved dining, and an hour at the museum, it was not difficult to get onto the bus to return to Tirana.
Kruja on a shoestring, how much did I spend?
- 60leke – Bus from Tirana to Fushe-Kruja
- 50leke – Car-share from Tirana to Kruja
- 550leke – Two pasta portions for my appetite
- 200leke – Entry to the Kruja Castle Skanderbeg Museum
- 50leke – Donation to attempted unlicensed guide
- 100leke – Bus back to Tirana
- I didn’t buy any souvenirs and it would be too much to carry on my travel-light trip.
What should I have done?
- Check out bus schedules online before.
- Skip entering the Skanderbeg museum as the exhibits are not well curated and captioned. A history lesson can always be obtained from Wikipedia or Google.
- Could be done as a half day trip by starting earlier.
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Verdict: 3 Stars
While the view on top of Kruja Castle was a breather, the Skanderbeg museum was not up to expectation. While getting to Kruja was straightforward, it was not as simple as hopping onto a metro to get off, though the bus station is near to the Tirana Ring Center, a mall with a large supermarket. I also had the chance to walk through the Embassy Row to get to the bus station from my accommodation.