These historic defenses ensured the city within would survive hundreds of years of occupations, sieges, and invasions.

The elliptical citadel resisted the advance of the mighty Ottomans several times, thanks to the military prowess of the "Dragon of Albania."

What happens when you cross a mayor and a painter?

Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers crowd Albania long after the fall of Communism.

An Albanian monument to the Communism that nearly crushed the country is now a crumbling wreck.