Durres is many things: it is the most important port in Albania (and one of the most important on the Adriatic); it is a city rich in history with several archaeological sites; it is an economically and touristically rising place thanks to the sea and the coastline.
The port, as we said, is a leading commercial and maritime hub. In fact, a large part of the goods circulating on the national territory pass through the port of Durres. This, in part, is also due to the proximity to the capital Tirana (just 30 kilometers away), the political-administrative heart of the small Albanian nation.
As for the history, however, it is sufficient to take a tour of the city center and find the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman traces that draw the landscape. Just think of the Roman Amphitheater , or the imposing walls to realize that the history of Durres comes from afar.
The period of maximum splendor was certainly in the second century AD. The construction of the famous Via Egnazia, a commercial road that connected Rome and Byzantium, placed Durres at the center of trade between the West and the East. Obviously the subsequent historical vicissitudes have canceled the glories of the past, except that for at least twenty years the city has begun to gallop again.
The merit, in addition to the maritime sector, is also tourism. Durres boasts about six kilometers of seafront with wide and sandy beaches, without forgetting the other seaside resorts that follow one another along the southern coast up to Vlora, the third most important city and number of inhabitants in Albania.