Fier · Albania

Apollonia Archaeological Park

ruinsarchaeologyhistorygoogle verified

easy

9/10

best: morning

historic, serene, mysterious

A local would say...

One of the ancient world's great cities, now largely forgotten in a field — with ancient statues in the church garden.

A vast Greek and later Roman city that flourished as one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient Mediterranean world, now half-buried in the Albanian countryside. The site includes a well-preserved bouleuterion (council chamber), an odeon, the Byzantine Monastery of St Mary with gargoyle columns, and scattered ancient statues in the church garden. Best visited as a day trip, the site has a haunting quality enhanced by its relative obscurity.