City of Stone, Gjirokastër - Stone's Stairmaster
- Joanna Leung
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
Gjirokaster is a beautiful city made of stone with a deep-rooted history and culture. The only downside is that the old city is built on a hill. To access anywhere from the new town to the old town, within the old town to the castle, bazaar, or any sites, you need to hike up very steep slopes.
The slopes are so steep that we think twice about going out for dinner or getting heavier items from the stores.
Some of the slopes felt like they were over 30 degrees.
It's impressive how many old people still live here and manage the slopes day to day.
Setting aside the slopes we had to battle through, the stone-made city is striking. It is impressive how the Gjirokastrit built all the constructions with just stones - even the roof of the building. On average, the roof of the buildings weighs between 20-40,000 kg.
Because most of the buildings are constructed by stacking grey limestone, and only lime mortar can be easily separated to seal gaps for the interior and partition walls, they can disassemble and reuse the stone for other buildings - unlike cement used nowadays. One of the aqueducts from Mount Sopot to the Gjirokastër Castle, built by Ali Pasha, was dismantled, and the stone was reused to build the prison inside the castle. An early upcycled building.
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