The Castle of Porto Palermo — Attraction in Bashkia Himarë

I really can't understand ppl who have very "high standarts" and are turning down this beauty for the price of 300 ALL (less then a beer in most of Europe), or bcs of not beeing able to pay with card (3 Eur with a card?! cmon!). Olso some others wanted to pay in Eur and for some reason that can't accept that Albania is not in EU and they have they're own currency (and will be good using local currency since it might help their industry). I have visited Romania last Febbruary and yes, they have been in EU since 2001 but they still use Lei and not Eur as their currency and in restaurants in the capital, Bucharest, i couldn't pay with Eur. I didn't critisize that, it wasn't a "nightmare" exchanging money and yes, we are guests whenever we decide to go and we have to respect their rules (at least this isn't a rule that doesn't make any sence, is it?!). If you want to have better insights of the historical places you have to get a guide, if no, just make a small research like i did. Enjoy it and thank you.

"A powerful coastal fortress tied to Ali Pasha of Tepelena, who ruled the region in the early 1800s. Though some claim the Venetians had an earlier base here, the castle we see today was likely reinforced by Ali himself as a naval stronghold. Local legends even whisper of hidden treasures beneath its walls."

The exact origins of the fortress are debated. Some claim the Venetians may have built an earlier structure here (possibly late 17th century), or even that it was built upon older fortifications from the late medieval or early Ottoman periods. Around the aerly 19th century, Ali Pasha of Tepelena, the powerful semi-independent Ottoman governor of Ioannina, either restored, rebuilt, or significantly fortified the structure. He used it as a naval base and garrison, given its perfect strategic position on the Ionian Sea, facing both Corfu and the Straits of Otranto.There is no solid evidence that the Venetians fully owned or controlled this specific castle, unlike others along the Albanian coast. It is possible they used the bay or had temporary control, but the current fortress is largely associated with Ali Pasha's regime.who consolidated control of the area during his territorial expansion in the late 18th century, asserting his power independently from the Sublime Porte (Ottoman central government). He ruled this region from his seat in Ioannina, and Porto Palermo was part of his coastal defense. Like many sites linked to Ali Pasha, legends abound about hidden treasures or secret escape tunnels. No confirmed treasure has ever been found, but local folklore says he hid gold and weapons in secret vaults beneath his castles,...

Horror! Albania is a nightmare for tourists. My husband and I wanted to visit the castle on April 23, 2024. We climbed up the inconvenient stones on the mountain. The castle administration didn't even bother to pave a civilized path. Inside the castle, we were greeted by a gloomy man with an indifferent face. The entrance fee for one person was 300 lek. We were ready to pay, but either by credit card or euros. The man refused to let us in, insisting that we must pay in cash and only in local currency. He sent us to the bank to exchange money and then come back to him to pay in local currency for entrance to the castle. Do you think this is a normal attitude towards potential tourists? Where else have you seen besides Albania a requirement to go to the bank and exchange money into unnecessary local currency for tourists?

I want to note that the castle area is terribly dirty. Everything is covered in graffiti. Bottles, napkins, plastic packaging are scattered around... And all this mess is near the clean, incredibly beautiful sea.

Albania is the worst. I will never...

The castle is near the main road SH85 and i dicided to stop and see it while driving from himare to sarande. From the beach it may take 3 to 5 mins to reach the castle. The man who takes care of it is nice. He asked where i from and told me he was in stuttgart messe to introduce the castles to the germans. The rooms are kept original without electric lights, so it is a little dark inside. There are notes near each entrance telling what room they are. The prinson room is very interesting but it must be very bad to stay inside without windows and lights. The panorama view plattform looks like a smaller version of dubrovnic in croacia. Through the small windows of the small towers i took some pictures which look like oil paintings. In the future if there are more tourists they may try making a musuem out of it with some furnitures at the time and paintings on the wall to reproduce what it looked like before wenn it was in use. It may cost a lot though to do this and it may be a...