Sightseeing stop in Elbasan: discover beautiful places in Albania

Elbasan highlight

We at Monterrasol Transfers specialize in private car transfers. Together with the transfer itself, we propose that you visit some beautiful places along the transfer route. We call such places optional sightseeing stops (short excursions).

One of the places we selected to propose as a sightseeing stop is a beautiful Elbasan in Albania. Sightseeing stops are a perfect easy opportunity to see new places during your transfer across Albania, especially during long distance transfers. Take it as a great option to get in touch with local culture and history. It's good to combine transportation and sightseeing together!

Elbasan is a city and a municipality in central Albania, attract visitors by ancient walls of the castle, tuins of the Basilica and ancient theater.

Last reviewed: 24 October 2021

Elbasan description

In the second century BC, a trading post called Mansio Scampa near the site of modern Elbasan developed close to a junction of two branches of an important Roman road, the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic coast with Byzantium. It was one of the most important routes of the Roman Empire. By the third or fourth century AD, this place had grown into a real city protected by a substantial Roman fortress with towers; the fort covered around 300 square meters. This city appears on late antique itineraries like the Tabula Peutingeriana and Itinerarium Burdigalense as Scampis or Hiscampis.

Ottoman army built a military camp there, followed by urban reconstruction under Sultan Mehmet II in 1466. Mehmet constructed a massive four-sided castle with a deep moat and three gates. He named it Elbasan, meaning "conquered country" in Turkish. He had built the castle in order to fight Skanderbeg (an Albanian nobleman and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire), due to an ongoing conflict between the Ottomans and Albanians.

Later the city became a centre of Ottoman urban civilisation over the next 445 years.

Before the Second World War, Elbasan was a city with a mixture of eastern and medieval buildings, narrow cobbled streets and a large bazaar.

In the middle of the city is found the Saint Mary Orthodox Church. The church was built in 1830 on the foundations of an older church, which had partially burned in 1819. Paintings and frescoes of Onufri can still be seen. The church has been an important religious and cultural center for the Albanian language. The church building served as the first Albanian school of Elbasan in modern times, which opened in 1909.

In August 2010 archaeologists discovered two Illyrian graves near the walls of the castle of Elbasan.

We know good things to see in Albania. We know the roads, well-known tourist attractions like UNESCO sites, and off-the-beaten-path places.

If you would like to learn more about Albania and explore it by visiting different attractions, come with us for a private tour. We can travel all across Albania and we will show you all the important tourist attractions together with the hidden gems of this beautiful country. Feel free to contact us!

We have developed numerous itineraries for private car tours in Albania as well as in neighboring countries, including tours passing through several countries as one journey. Solo private tours and tours for Seniors are available also.