Apollonia

Getting there

car. About twelve kilometres west of Fier, roughly halfway between Vlorë and Berat, which makes it a stop on a driving day rather than a destination. There is no useful bus, and the last stretch is a signed side road.

Parking: Car park at the entrance.

Photography

Best light: morning, golden.

An open hill with a long view over the Vjosa plain toward the sea, so the site works in raking light and goes flat in the middle of the day. The monastery courtyard holds shade when nothing else on the hill does. Check drone requirements with the AAC before travelling.

Drone: not confirmed. Albania's registration requirement is reported differently by every secondary source, so verify with the AAC before you fly.

Apollonia was founded by Greek colonists in the sixth century BC and grew into one of the larger cities on this coast, with a harbour on a river that has since silted up and moved. What is left is a hillside of excavated streets, the restored front of the bouleuterion that is the site's one famous image, and a great deal of unexcavated ground.

In the middle of it stands the monastery of Saint Mary, built in the thirteenth century out of the classical stone around it, with a museum in the cloister. It is the two layers sitting on each other that make the site more interesting than its size suggests.

There is a fee at the entrance. Come in April or in October: the hill is open, there is no shade on it, and in July it is a hot climb with flat light on everything.