Last updated on .
Early in the morning, I hopped on a bus in Tirana and headed to the city of Fier (pronounced “fear”). There’s absolutely nothing to see in Fier, but my target was the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Apollonia. They sit just 8 kilometers from the city center.
Fier
The bus was supposed to take two hours but it ended up taking over three. Once in Fier, I was dropped off in the city center and walked around for a bit to look for a furgon to Pojan, the village where Apollonia is located. No luck, so I went to the nearest taxi stand and asked to hire someone to take me there and back. I had researched this earlier and I expected prices to be quite high. Thankfully, I met Selim, who gave me a great price.
Riding with Selim
Selim was a funny guy who loved to threw out a few words of English here and there, and he was very excited to learn that I live in Istanbul. He drove me to the ruins, pointing out a few bunkers from Enver Hoxha’s time along the way, and gave me an hour to explore on my own.
Admission
The site is open daily except Mondays. Adult admission is 600 lek (as of July 2024). Check the official website for more info.
Monastery of St. Mary
My exploration began with the Monastery of St. Mary, which sits adjacent to the ruins. It was built by Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Paleologos in the late 13th century. There was an interesting little church with a few frescoes and some nice stone work.
Apollonia
Next up were the ruins. Apollonia was founded by ancient Greek colonists from Corfu in 588 BC. The Romans took control in 229 BC. Future Roman emperor Augustus was studying at Apollonia in 44 BC when he learned of Julius Caesar’s murder. It was also one of the most important ports on the Adriatic Sea until its harbor silted up in the 3rd century AD. The city was later abandoned.
When I looked at the map at the gate, it looked as if there was a lot to see. For what was such a great city in antiquity, the archaeological site ended up being quite disappointing. Aside from a badly reconstructed temple, a small odeon, a library, and a few other ruins that make up the “port of 17 niches” (whatever that is), there really wasn’t much to see. A lot has yet to be excavated.
Once you pass up the “port of 17 niches”, you’ve pretty much reached the end (at least when I visited – I’m sure things have changed since then). It isn’t worth walking down the other paths to the other ruins indicated on the map because they simply aren’t there yet. On a positive note, there was a team of German excavators reconstructing the theatre that was built into the side of the hill.
Extra Credit?
I ended up walking way further than I should have and saw nothing in the process. The most interesting thing I encountered later on was the agora, which is just a grassy field. At least I was rewarded for my efforts with a nice view of Fier.
The only other point of interest was the hill above the ruins that had some great views. There was also a city gate with a sign nearby that indicated a necropolis, also with some nice views of the countryside. You can relax at a restaurant inside the gates or picnic, like some local Albanians were doing.
Back to Tirana
After my one hour was up, Selim took me back through Fier to catch a furgon back to Tirana. It only took 90 minutes. I guess that made up for the long bus ride in the morning.
