Gjirokastra
Gjirokastra represents one of the most typical albanian tradition and the way of living of albanian in the past. Gjirokastra is a town in the south of Albania with its unique arcitecture and look. Gjirokastra is called and the Town with thausend stairs and the city of stone is developing every day more and more and is becomming an an important centre of cultural and historical tourism.
Gjirokastra is situated in the Drino valley which lies between the dramatic Lunxheria mountain range to the east and Mount Gjerë to the west.
Gjirokastra is not such a big town, it has a population of 35.000 citizens and is a centre of the district called also Gjirokastra with many other small towns. The mayority of population in Gjirokastra are ethnical albanians with minority of other nations, like Greeks, Romas and Vlachs. In the 19 th centuty Gjirokastra was an important centre of the region and was populated by the land owners who built the tower houses called "Kulle". Those kind of houses in the city og Gjirokastra are around 500 and they in the best possible manner describe the way of life in that in Albania.
The stone lower sections of the tower houses were both defendable fortresses and serviceable storehouse. Traditional Albanian unique iso-polyphonic music is divided into two major stylistic groups as performed by the Ghegs and the Tosks and Labs. This divide comes from depending from which part of Albania it comes. If it comes from north, than it is Gheg, and if it comes from south it would be Tosks and Labs. This music of Albanians was put in 2005 in UNESCO list of world cultural and historical heritage.
