Contact Admin. Having survived for thousands of years, nearly disappeared at the beginning of the 20th Century and been brought back to life during the regime, the Bazaar of Derexhik in Kruja, Albania, is today a boutique for tourists.
Despite the loss of traditions, unregulated urban growth and rampant globalisation, it continues to survive in its true spirit. On the list of most visited places in Albania this town is never missing. But its urban form has changed over time and the bazaar been reduced to a single, long street which has survived thanks to the interest of the authorities, both during Enver Hoxha's regime and after its downfall.
Only 32 kilometres from the capital, the town is easy to reach on local transport, going along new, modernized roads which link Tirana to the north of the country, at first on the flat then rising steeply through the trees. The town can be seen from a distance with its medieval castle and the museum of Skanderbeg, built during Enver Hoxha's regime in memory of the Albanian national hero, years after his death. Skanderbeg was in fact from these parts and Kruja was a strategic point in the anti-Ottoman resistance.
Little is left of the Skanderbeg castle, but the fact that it is tied to the legend of the hero who fought against the Turks for about 25 years has meant that the town gained the attention of those in power from the early 60s. And so the castle and the Ottoman bazaar which connects it with the busy, modern part of the town have become some of the most highly regarded places in the country's heritage.
The bazaar has a truly oriental look, multi-coloured and overflowing with goods of every description.
