From the Port of Durres to Apollonia Archeological Park and Ardenica Monastery

Duration: 8 hours

Highlights: Visit the fascinating ancient city of Apollonia, once learning and cultural center of the Roman Empire

Description

Meet with the local guide at your cruise ship in Durres and drive towards the Archeological Park of Apollonia, one of the most well-known archeological sites in Albania and recently a National Archaeological Park. You will have a guided visit of the Odeon, and the courtyard of the Monastery where there is a Byzantine style church believed to have been built in the 14th century. Here you can see some monuments like the Encircling Wall, the Bouleterion, the Mosaics House and the Nymphaioum.
Cicero, the famed Roman Orator, was captivated by the beauty of Apollonia and in his Philippics, referred to it as “magna urbs et gravis,” or “great and important city.” Archaeological excavations have shown that Apollonia achieved its zenith around the 4th-3rd centuries BC.
Optional lunch can be organized on Apollonia, in a local restaurant located right at the park.
On the return way to Durres stop for a visit to the Monastery of Ardenica. Ardenica Abbey (church) it was in the Middle age argued by a stone in entrance dating back to the 1417, but the first building belongs at the beginning of XVIII century. Today inside the church you can admire pictures of 1743-1745 years, by Albanian artists such as Konstandin andAthanosZografi, as well as KonstandinShpataraku. It is also said that our national Hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg married at the chapel of this monastery.
Return to the port of Durres.