Apolonia

Another day, another UNESCO World Heritage Site (although we stopped off briefly to visit one of the many hundreds of bunkers the lunatic Hoxha built across the countryside. This one appeared to be used as a farmer's personal dressing room. He treated us to some plums and apples from his trees). Apolonia does not disappoint. We were guided around the site by an archaeologist, along with the old church and the new museum that he and his father (also an archaeologist) founded.

They have done such an amazing job with such scarce resources. It was clearly a labour of love. It's quite exciting to think what else is hidden on sites like Butrint and Apolonia that might be uncovered in years to come.

Many pictures of taken of our day HERE

The information we were given about Apolonia was as follows:

It was "rediscovered" by European classicists in the 18th century, though it was not until the Austrian occupation of 1916-1918 that the site was investigated by archaeologists. Parts of the site were damaged during the Second World War. After the war, an Albanian team undertook further work from 1948 onwards, although much of the site remains unexcavated to this day. Some of the team's archeological discoveries are on display within the monastery, known as the Museum of Apollonia (opened in 1958) and other artifacts from Apollonia are in the capital Tirana. Unfortunately, during the anarchy that followed the collapse of the communist regime in 1990, the archeological collection was plundered and the museum was closed. The ruins were also frequently dug up by plunderers for relics to be sold to collectors abroad.