The afternoon and evening of my third day in Albania continued as I made my way even further north from Krujë to the city of Shkodër. Come along with me as I try some traditional northern Albanian food there and share my first impressions of Shkodër!
My afternoon began in the village of Krujë! From there, I’d drive one hour north to Shkodër, the cultural capital of Albania! It’s also the center of Christianity in the country and is located on Lake Shkodër, near the Albanian Alps. I couldn’t wait to get there and explore the town!
Along the way, the four-lane highway changed to a two-lane highway. To my right were amazing mountains, while there were flatlands to my left. I also passed farmland and vineyards. It’s so beautiful! The landscapes were stunning and reminded me of Umbria, Italy.
The Balkans is one of the first regions I visited in my career as a travel content creator. Visiting Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro early on changed my life! I arrived in Shkodër and passed the bridge and mosque along the main street. In the city center, I met up with Andy from Travel Albanian Alps, who would be showing me around for the next couple of days. I’d be staying at his guest house in Shkodër!
It was starting to rain, which makes it harder to film, but it was fine. We passed through the Old Town and passed a pedestrian street with restaurants, bars, a museum, and nightclubs. It’s the heart of the city!
We arrived at Hotel Restorant Tradita Gegë & Toskë. It’s a hotel and restaurant that serves traditional northern Albanian food in Shkodër. There’s also a souvenir shop inside! You can buy local clothing, traditional qeleshe hats, pillows, musical instruments, and more!
In the back of the property is a huge terrace, which is how traditional houses were built. There’s a main dining hall with stone walls with wine hanging from them. There are instruments there as well. I watched the cook grill up a traditional flatbread called kulaç that’s similar to a roti, as well as some pork. Up a narrow wooden staircase is the second level, where you can visit the bar and listen to live music. It was my type of restaurant!
John, the owner of Hotel Tradita showed me lots of mannequins wearing traditional clothing! In the back of the kitchen, they were preparing vegetables, pasta, seafood, meat with mushrooms, beans with tomatoes and pork, and more!
I started with some strong but amazing rakija with a grassy flavor. Then, we got kulaç, cheese still sizzling in the tava, wild pork sausage, pork, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh goat cheese, beef with mushrooms in a tava, and more rakija!
The sausage had a different flavor and texture and was gamy and really tasty! The best sausage I’ve had in the Balkans! The green peppers were super juicy and exploded in my mouth! The roasted vegetables were so unique!
The regular pork was fatty and had a nice, smoky flavor. It wasn’t gamy like the sausage. I liked having pork here, as I had none in Tirana, where we mostly had lamb. The kulaç reminded me of naan and was amazing with the cheese from the tava. The cheese had some yummy herbs in it!
Next was the fresh goat cheese, which was amazing with the juicy, flavorful tomatoes. The cheese was so similar to feta! Finally, I had the beef and mushrooms, which blew my taste buds away! It was juicy with a delicious wild mushroom sauce. Cooking it on a tava changed the flavor completely! My favorite tava dish in Albania so far! I cannot stress how incredible the northern Albanian food in Shkodër, Albania is. It will blow your mind!
Embark on an unforgettable journey in Shkoder, Albania with our handpicked selection of things to see and do.
Huge thanks to my friends at Balkan Pearls Tour Operators, Rental Car Albania, and Travel Albania Alps for making these first few days in Albania truly unforgettable!
I hope you liked coming with me to have northern Albanian food in Shkodër, Albania! If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell so you don’t miss any of my travel/food adventures around the world!
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