🦐 BAR RESTORANT FERRA SHIJAK: https://www.instagram.com/ferrashijak 🇦🇱 DAVID’S BEEN HERE ALBANIA SHIRTS: https://teespring.com/stores/davids-been-here My second full day in Albania continued after I arrived in the seaside port city of Durrës, the second-most populous city in the country! I hit the ground running immediately to dive right into the incredible sites and flavors of this beautiful city. Join me as I try some amazing Albanian seafood and explore the ancient attractions of Durrës, Albania!
Durrës is an ancient city with Hellenistic roots that was founded on the Illyrian coast back in the 7th century BC. There’s so much history there and I couldn’t wait to explore it all with my friend Ani from Balkan Pearls Tour Operator.
We started at the Venetian Tower, which was built in the 15th century on top of the ruins of a Byzantine tower. It’s is connected to the Roman Byzantine walls, which had been built and rebuilt several times. There’s only a small section of wall left.
Through part of the walls is an arch leading to the Amphitheatre of Durrës, built by Emperor Trajan in the second century. It used to seat 20,000 people and was converted into a church in the 5th century! Underground, we saw some of the original stairs and the interconnected hallways, as well as a chapel and some beautiful mosaics.
In the center of the amphitheatre is a grassy area, which also serves as a graveyard for members of the church. Parts of the amphitheatre have been restored, but most of the seats are weathered and worn. The amphitheatre was completely covered until 1966!
Then, we visited the Emperor’s entrance tunnel, which had super high ceilings and was really wide. You can get great views of the amphitheatre from the street above the theatre.
Next, we went to eat at a small restaurant called Ferra Shijak. Along the way, I could see lots of restaurants, bars, lounges, and businesses. It was super hot out, but Ani told me it gets even hotter! Luckily, the restaurant was on the boardwalk right next to the beach!
I could see lots of seafood on ice including fish, mussels, shrimp, clams, and crab. They also have pasta because of the Italian influence. In the kitchen, I watched them cook clams, mussels, risotto, bruschetta, and more! It only costs 400 leke (about $4 USD) for a massive plate of mussels! It was an Albanian seafood extravaganza!
At our table, we had seafood linguine, octopus and shrimp crudo, steamed mussels, grilled and fried fish, and bruschetta! The linguine was overloaded with shrimp, squid, and mussels. It was insanely good and one of my favorite pasta dishes ever. It was so creamy, fresh, and salty!
I enjoyed it with some amazing white wine called Duka. Then, I went for the raw shrimp crudo, which just had an oil-and-lemon marinade on it. It was the most succulent thing I’ve ever eaten! It was tangy and citrusy and so unbelievably fresh! The crudo octopus also had some nice oil on it. It was super basic but so phenomenal!
Then, I jumped on the mussels and ate about 20 of them in a row. The broth at the bottom of the platter was the best! I went non-stop!
The bruschetta topped with tomato and cheese was also amazing. I also loved the fried fish. You have to be careful removing the spines, but the crunch and oiliness are so worth it! The baked fish was beautiful and so meaty. It tasted different from the fried and grilled fish! Then, I ended my meal with a lot more mussels!
My name is David Hoffmann. For the last 12 years, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,100 destinations in 77 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
I'm gonna eat so many of these.
Let's go non-stop guys. This might be the best seafood I ever had in my life. It might be.
Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. This is David Hoffman from David's bin here coming at you from beautiful, super sunny
Durres, Albania, the second largest city in the country. It's also the largest port city in Albania, and it's ancient. Look right here.
Tower. We have the walls of the city. We have the Roman Amphitheater.
And today what I want to do is I want to explore with you guys.
We're gonna walk around, see all the attractions, see the beach, and then we're gonna have some delicious fish lunch.
Obviously, we're here at the Adriatic Sea. We have to eat some fish. You ready?
I'm ready. My friend's always ready. Let's do this. So this tower, we call it now Tora Veneziana.
It is built in the 15th century, and it was built in the ruins of the Byzantine tower that existed, built by
Byzantine Emperor Anastasios I. It has a diameter of 16 meters and altitude of 9 meters, and
for a very, very long time now in the city of Durres, it is known as a bar-café.
And it connects to the walls. And also connected, it was part of the Byzantine walls that surrounded the city of Durres.
So these are really, really high walls, and these are the Roman walls, right?
Roman Byzantine walls. But after they have been reconstructed many times, they have been reconstructed by Justinian.
And if you guys don't know about history, the Roman Empire had a huge domination
2,000 years ago, right? They owned all of Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East.
They broke off East and West. East became known as the Byzantine Empire.
Why? Because the first emperor of the Byzantine Empire was Constantine the Great from Nis, Serbia, and he was also a Christian.
He was the first emperor to be converted to Christianity. And the capital was in Constantinople, which is nowadays Istanbul.
But this is huge walls, ancient, obviously reconstructed. They've fixed it up.
Beautiful. And it's just this part, right? It's not like the whole city, just like this area has the walls.
Yeah, this is the only part that remains.
My friend, there was an earthquake recently?
Earthquake in November, and the epicenter was the city of Durres, and the walls that you see now, part of the surrounding walls of Durres has been destroyed.
So now they're working out to reconstruct again the surrounding walls.
So you follow the walls, and when you get to this arch, you cross in, and the Roman amphitheater is right over here to the left.
This is the amphitheater of Durres, built in the 2nd century by Emperor Trajan, and as you can see, all rubble.
Right here we have buildings, over there we have the amphitheater.
The difference between an amphitheater and a theater is a theater, there's a stage.
Amphitheater goes completely around. Little different, right?
And you have modern day buildings everywhere, so they can't really excavate deeper into the area.
This is what you got. Let's go inside, let's see it.
As soon as you walk into the amphitheater, go straight to the right, and you get this beautiful view over the entire thing.
Over to the top, you have houses, you have a mosque, a minaret, then you have different layers, right?
So there's like three different levels, you can go all the way to the top, you can go to the middle, and you can go to the bottom.
And here you have, you know, grass and trees, they put some lights so it's lit up at night.
What's funny is that like 2,000 years ago, people would walk up and down this, and the stairs were like this thin.
Yeah, right here we have part of the original stairs.
Over here, these are like hallways, right? They connect to each other.
So one thing Annie was telling me is that right here in this hallway, it feels very like low.
Seating level is very low, but the reason is because they couldn't excavate deeper,
because if you go just another foot deep, you're already hitting the water.
The sea level has risen in 2,000 years.
Annie, you were telling me that this place was converted into a church at some point in its history?
At the 5th century, yes, it is converted into a church.
And the main object that proves it are the little chapel that we see here.
In the 5th century, the emperor Hanor stopped the gladiators from fighting.
He basically shut down this place, said no more gladiators, and then he converted it into a church.
And right here we have a tiny chapel.
Oh wow, and you have mosaic right here.
Oh wow, that is gorgeous.
This is super unique. I've never seen this in any of the amphitheaters I've ever been to.
I've been to so many, never seen a church inside.
So David, this is the well. This is where the people get water.
As soon as you walk out, you can see right here in the middle, basically the grass has grown.
And when they converted this into a church, they also turned this area into a graveyard for some of the members of the church.
So obviously no more fighting in here, so they turned it into a graveyard.
And over here you can see all the seats of the amphitheater.
Obviously they haven't fixed them right here.
This is all reconstructed, restored over there.
It's just falling apart, but I love it because that's the real authenticness to it.
It's still ancient. It's gone through so much.
This was completely covered until 1966. That blows my mind.
Because imagine, in 1966 people were just walking through here, walking over it, didn't even notice.
This tunnel right here is thought to have been the emperor's entrance.
As you can see, huge tunnel, super high ceilings, very wide.
He would obviously come through here in a chariot, I'm sure, with horses, come all the way through.
It's huge. It's pretty good. It's pretty intact.
I mean, in comparison to the rest of it, everything looks better.
I mean, obviously up there they fixed it up a little bit here as well, but these are the original stones.
So if you want to enter the amphitheater, you can. You can go to the bottom and you come right back up.
There's actually no way to get to the middle or the top.
So if you want to get a higher view, you go straight outside and you go on the street that's right above the amphitheater.
And from there you get epic views as well. It's pretty incredible.
I've been to so many amphitheaters and Roman ruins around the world and I've never seen one like this.
Like in the center of the city, like you literally could live right here and this is your view behind you.
What a view. Wow. The amphitheater, the city, the mosque, the sea. Beautiful.
It is scorching right now. August here in Albania is really, really hot, especially along the coast.
You're going to the mountains, colder, but here, really hot.
Priceless views. I would definitely buy an apartment here.
Most people that come to see the amphitheater don't actually go inside. They stay outside.
They get this view, they get their photos and they go.
But I suggest going inside, taking a tour around, seeing the chapel, going to the tunnel, the emperor's tunnel, and that's it.
Okay, let's keep exploring. I'm getting really hungry. I can't wait to eat some fish.
Now we're going to eat in a small restaurant called Fera.
Fera? Fera, yes.
So it's just fish?
Hungry, hungry, fish.
Durres is a beautiful beach town. Lots of buildings, palm trees, the beach is right here.
And along the beach, there's restaurants, lounges, cafes, and people from Toronto come here.
They go to the beach, they'll have some fish, and that's it.
And maybe on the weekend, they might come here and go out at night.
Lots of bars, nightlife is really popping here.
So, and yeah, I'm hungry. I need some fish.
It's already 1pm and it's hot.
And she's saying this is not that hot. This is like mild.
It usually gets really, really, really hot in Albania.
And here we are.
The restaurant is right next to the beach.
This beach is packed.
Wow, lots of people here.
I mean, obviously, it is August, right?
So this is restaurant Fera. It's here on the boardwalk, right next to the beach.
Let's go inside.
So as soon as you walk into the restaurant, you walk up the stairway, and over here to the left and the right is a dining hall.
Over here to the right, we also have the fish.
The fish that they bought today.
So they keep it on ice.
You have clams.
You have huge fish.
You have shrimp.
Wow, mussels, crabs.
Oh, I can't wait.
And they also have some pastas here.
Because obviously the Italian influence, they have pastas.
So you can have like linguini al vongole.
So like clams and linguini.
Super good.
I don't know.
We're going to get a mix of stuff.
All seafood.
All fresh fish.
Right here from the Adriatic Sea.
I love when you eat fish, and you can see the actual sea.
It's the best.
All right, we're in the back.
And here we go.
All the fish, crab.
Wow, risotto.
Oh, that looks amazing.
The mussels being steamed.
Ciao.
The chef just let me know that this huge, monstrous plate of mussels costs 400 lakh.
Which is roughly 4 US dollars for this plate.
I want this plate.
Like right now.
This is the best.
And here we have cheese.
We have vegetables.
I mean, they have never any stuff we have.
They're currently making like 20 things here.
They're doing the mussels.
They're doing a huge seafood dish here.
That is like shrimp, squid.
What else is in there?
Squid and octopus.
They also have clams in there.
Next to it, he's making some like soup.
Over there, he's making linguini.
He's frying fish.
And then over here, I mean, just like never ending amount of stuff happening.
For me, what I'm most excited about has to be these mussels.
4 US dollars for this.
I mean, unreal.
Look at our seafood feast.
What an incredible amount of food.
We have the seafood linguini.
Over here, we have shrimp.
Tartare, basically.
Crudo.
Over there, we have octopus.
Crudo.
So, all raw.
Then we have mussels.
Steamed mussels.
Over there, we have bruschetta.
And then we have fish.
Grilled and fried.
Amazing.
I'm going to start off with linguini.
I'm starving.
I cannot wait to eat some pasta.
And these guys just don't hold back.
I mean, they give you a lot of linguini.
Look at this.
The amount of seafood here is insane.
It's so, like, overloaded.
It's amazing.
Shrimp, squid, mussels.
Get whatever you want.
Like, a big bite like that.
Yes, yes, yes.
And this pasta.
This is, like, one of the best pastas I've ever had.
This is insane.
My God, I've eaten so much pasta in Italy.
I gotta say, this is unreal.
Wow.
It's, like, creamy.
You can taste the seafood.
It's salty in there.
I was told that Albania is, like, the second best place in the world to eat Italian food.
And they're right.
Wow.
I'm in awe right now.
This is too good.
I'm going to just destroy this whole plate right now.
So now I'm going to get a mix of all different seafood.
Got shrimp.
Got some tentacles there.
You know what it is?
It's the freshness of the seafood.
The fresher it is, the better it is.
And there's no better way to eat seafood than looking over at the sea, the ocean.
And you have to pair your seafood with some white wine.
White wine from the area.
This is called Duka.
That's another thing that people don't know about.
The wines in Albania are phenomenal.
People don't know about the wines in the Balkans mainly because they don't export so much.
It's sold internally.
And it's, like, never tasted these flavors before.
You know, I have a big plate of mussels, but I would never leave these.
I usually try to get, like, two or three.
Pull them out.
Mix a little bit of pasta in here.
More seafood.
And Andy served me everything we have on the table.
We have the grilled and fried fish.
We have the amazing mussels.
Never any amount of mussels.
This is going to be the best.
Prosciutto.
We have a squid.
And we have shrimp.
I'm going to jump on a shrimp.
This all has its marination.
That's the most delicious succulent thing I've ever had.
Oh, wow.
Everything was so good.
It was, like, tangy, citrusy.
Oh, man.
Okay, I'm going to have the other one.
This is too good.
This, it's been a while since I've eaten seafood this good.
Like, it's been so long.
I'm from Miami.
We have seafood, but we don't have it this fresh.
We don't have it this basic.
Because the thing about it is that this is just straight from the sea here.
And all they added here was oil.
That's it.
I'm going to have some of this.
Grilled octopus.
Just oil.
Also fresh.
Not too thick.
Nice and dense.
Oh, my God.
The one thing you have to do in your life,
come to Durres and have some seafood.
If you like seafood, add to your bucket list now.
Next up, let's dive on all these mussels.
I go really fast with them.
As long as they're empty.
And remember, if they're still closed, like, tightly closed, don't eat it.
That means the mussel's not good.
But all these are so nice.
You have to go to the bottom.
Bottom, very south of Albania.
There's actually a mussel farm right there.
Right in front of Corfu.
I'm going to have to have more of these.
I could eat, like, a thousand of these.
Every bite.
I know, I know.
That's the best part, is that we have this entire...
Like, you know what?
Man, if you want to go, like, crazy,
you go in here and you get some of this, right?
Wow.
It's like a mussel broth.
I need more.
I need so much more.
This is...
I can't even believe how much this plate costs here.
Anywhere else in the world,
it would cost way more.
Wow.
I'm going to eat so many of these.
Let's go non-stop, guys.
And see, this one,
it's almost closed, but
not quite closed.
So it's still good.
Don't leave any.
Not one.
The good thing is that that plate,
I can eat the whole thing.
Then I won't be full at all.
This might be the best seafood I've ever had in my life.
It might be.
Like,
god damn.
And then here we have the bruschetta.
Always the same.
On top, they added tomato and some cheese.
Tomato has basically gone down.
It's, like, been absorbed by the bread.
Super mushy.
Wow.
Mmm.
And lastly, we have the fish.
This one's really easy.
Just got to open it, right?
And what you see right there
is the spine.
And the spine has all
the bones,
the little spines, right?
So you open it up like that,
take off this.
As you do that,
you get all the flesh.
You got to be really careful, guys.
Remember,
you don't want to get a spine stuck in your throat.
I've been in a situation before.
Never again would it happen.
But this one is easy.
Just go.
Mmm.
Oh, yeah.
Oil's burst out.
You have the crunchiness because of the fried.
Mmm.
And then we have this dish,
which has been on the grill.
And again, with this one,
you probably just go the same.
Just go in.
Wow.
The amount of spines I just went through
is crazy.
And then you just...
Mmm.
Love the fish.
I don't even know what fish this is, but...
Mmm.
Nice and meaty.
So,
taste test.
Spines right there.
Go on the side.
Get rid of all the spines.
And then pull from the middle.
All that flesh.
So, I think this one was baked.
This one wasn't fried.
Mmm-hmm.
Each fish
has a different taste.
You got the fried one, the grilled one,
and the baked one.
Mmm.
So much meat.
Guys,
I think I'm done.
But,
I'll eat some more of these mussels.
Let's end it with this.
Mmm.
It's too delicious.
This,
the view,
and wine,
I gotta say,
this day in Durres has been epic.
Even though
it was a short day,
only a few hours,
we explored,
we saw the walls,
the tower,
Roman amphitheater.
Really amazing.
Going up to the top,
seeing it from, you know,
somebody's balcony, basically.
Beautiful view.
Then we came over here,
explored
the restaurant,
saw a little bit of the beach,
and
ate lots
and lots of seafood.
Probably the best
pasta,
seafood pasta I've ever had.
I mean,
I've had amazing ones in Italy,
but this one
is so good.
And,
right now,
I'm literally going all out.
I've had like 20 mussels in a row.
Alright,
where else am I gonna put it?
Keep going.
Oh my god.
This one has a little bit of garlic.
Mmm.
When you're in Albania,
come to Durres,
eat seafood,
see the beach,
see the ruins,
and drink the wine.
Guys, if you love this video,
give me a thumbs up,
leave me a comment below,
and subscribe to the channel
because you know you'll love it.
Cheers.
I'm not stopping.
I'm like not stopping.
Mmm.
