Beautiful Berat is a town of two halves. Down on the river bank houses are clustered up tight against the side of a forested hill, their windows bouncing sunlight off the water. Take the steep climb up towards the summit of that hill though and you’ll arrive at Berat’s other – and much older – half. A restored medieval gateway leads into the Kalaja, or fortress, where wildflowers sprout from crumbling walls and a clutch of centuries-old churches and mosques have been turned into museums.
