Korçë

Korçë's Old Bazaar, rebuilt in the early 20th century after a fire destroyed much of the original Ottoman-era quarter, retains a genuine commercial life largely intact from that rebuilding — stone-arched shopfronts and narrow lanes house working craft studios, traditional bakeries and everyday shops alongside the cafés and restaurants that have grown up around visitor interest, rather than a district emptied of its original function and repurposed purely for tourism. Walking through in the late afternoon, when local shoppers and craft workers are as visible as any visitor, gives a genuinely different sense of an Ottoman-legacy bazaar than the more museum-like quarters found in some of Albania's other historic towns.