Shkodër – A City of Bicycles and Broken Time

In Shkodër, the bicycle is not a trend — it’s tradition. You’ll see men in fedoras pedaling past Venetian facades, grandmothers coasting to market, lovers riding double down tree-lined boulevards. It feels like the city breathes in rhythm with two wheels.

Our ride started beneath Rozafa Castle, where the legend of a woman buried in the walls still haunts the wind. You feel it as you climb — that bittersweet mix of sacrifice and strength that defines Albania.

Down in the city, the Marubi Museum captures this emotion with photographs that seem to look back at you. Black-and-white portraits of old Shkodran families, horsemen, brides, rebels.

Then we rode north, where the Buna River splits from Lake Shkodër like a silver tongue. In Shiroka, fish grills sizzle by the lakeshore. The carp here tastes of reeds and fire. We watched children chase swans under willow trees. It felt like a lullaby written in water.

“Shkodra nuk është qytet, është një ndjenjë.”
(Shkodër is not a city, it’s a feeling.)

And when you leave, it follows you.