The Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard runs south from Skanderbeg Square through the city's monumental heart. It was the showpiece avenue of the king's planners in the 1930s and the communist regime in the 1950s — each layer left a row of important buildings.
Walking south you pass, in order: the National Gallery of Fine Arts, the Prime Minister's Office, the Pyramid, the Parliament, the National Archaeological Museum, and the Polytechnic University. The whole boulevard ends in the Grand Park. The mile-and-a-half walk is the best short architectural tour of the city.