Old Bazaar of Korçë

The Old Bazaar is the heart of historic Korçë, a grid of cobbled lanes lined with two-storey Ottoman buildings, restored within the last decade. The ground floors are workshops, cafes, and small restaurants; the upper floors are houses. It is the most photogenic part of town and the place to eat lunch.

Wednesdays and Saturdays are market days, when the area around the bazaar fills with stalls selling produce, cheeses, and household goods from the surrounding villages. In the evenings the bazaar cafes are busy with students from Fan Noli University and locals out for the xhiro, the traditional evening promenade.

things to do sight market shopping
A story
The bazaar dates to the 15th century, when Iljaz Bey Mirahori — a local boy who rose to become an Ottoman court official — endowed both the bazaar and the mosque next door as a charitable foundation. The cobbled lanes you walk today are essentially his town plan, 500 years on.

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