"Durrėsi, the main harbor in Albania" a Durres Travel Page by JLBG

Durrėsi is one of the oldest cities of Albania. It was founded by Epidamnos, king of the Taulants, an Illyrian tribe. He gave the city his name. In 627 BC, Illyrian invaders from Corynth and Corfu took control of the region and rebuilt the city as Durrakhion. In 229 BC, the Romans took control and changed the name to Dyrrachium which gave later the name of Durrazzo in Italian, Durrės in Albanian and Drač in Croat.

For the Romans, Dyrrachium was highly strategic: it was the cross road between the marine route from Brindidi and the inland route that led to Thessaloniki and Byzance, the Via Egnatia. The city kept its strategic importance along the centuries. It explains why it is very difficult to dig for ancient buildings: the ancient city is underneath the modern town.

Durrėsi is 33 km from the capital, Tirana. It is the first harbor and the second most important city in the country. It has now more than 200,000 inhabitants.

I had built a Durrėsi page from my 1988 travel in Albania. Instead of mixing 1988 and 2007, I have preferred to build a new 2007 page. I have transferred my 1988 page to Rrethi i Durrėsit.

This is an entirely new page!