Tepelena sits where the Drino meets the Vjosa, under the walls of Ali Pasha's castle. It's a base for the south's quieter corners — old caravan bridges, the aqueduct the pasha built, and the dramatic canyons of Nivica high up in the Kurvelesh.
Two and a half hours south to Tepelena. The walls of Ali Pasha's castle, the historical museum, Lord Byron Square — the poet passed through in 1809 — and the camp memorial to the communist era, with the Vjosa valley spread out below at dusk.
A day by the water: the Drino river under its green canopy, the cold springs where locals swim through the summer, the old Lekël and Dragot bridges, and a tasting of the valley's honey, cheese and yoghurt.
Up into the Kurvelesh: the arched Bença aqueduct, the Peshtura waterfall with its swimming pool, the deep canyons of Nivica, and a long lunch of Labëria mountain cooking before the road home.
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