The atmosphere of the end of the year holidays is attracting more and more tourists to Gjirokastra, including visitors to the museums of the stone city.  The house of the writer Ismail Kadare, the Ethnographic Museum of the Cold War, is attracting foreign and local tourists, mainly during the weekends.

“We were free so we decided to visit Gjirokastra, it’s the first time, I liked it very much, the culture, everything beautiful, everything, the construction is completely different, fanatically preserved by originality”, said the tourist from Dibra e Madhe.

Do you think of returning in summer again because now you’re visiting it in the winter season?

“Of course, it is not enough to visit in one day, so I will come again”, said the tourist.

“We are from Dibra e Madhe, it’s the second time, two years ago I actually went to Gjirokastra but we didn’t visit them, today we visited the castle and the house of Ismail Kadare”, said a tourist from Dibra e Madhe.

Did you make a choice to visit the city this holiday season, or was it a coincidence?

“It is not a coincidence, Gjirokastra should be visited not only by us but also by the whole world”, said the tourist.

Museum employees in Gjirokastër state that although the number of visitors is less compared to the summer period, the interest of tourists is still high.

“Taking into account the end-of-year holidays and this year, foreign visitors liked to visit the tunnel the most, of course the influx is not like in the part of the season, but again the most came were mostly foreigners who visited this museum but there were also locals and Albanians,” said Olsi Sinani, curator of the Cold War museum.

“During these holidays, the museums in Gjirokastra, at least the Kadare Museum, have been frequented during the weekends, not forgetting the November holidays, mainly the visitors have been locals, but of course we have also had foreign visitors who have decided to visit the city of Gjirokastra, we cannot leave without mentioning the schools from different cities of Albania that decide to come to Gjirokastra, they never leave here without seeing the house of the genius of Albanian letters, Ismail Kadare”, said Bruno Pjetri, the curator of the Kadare museum.

Museums are now important places for the development of tourism in Gjirokastra, while throughout this year they have welcomed over 30,000 local and foreign visitors.