Our first stop in Albania was the smallish town of El Basan. We walked the narrow streets of the old town and had lunch at a beautiful restaurant situated within the fort walls.
It lies on the north bank of the Shkumbin River, in the highlands at the eastern end of a fertile, well-watered plain.
It was founded in 1466 by the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II, on the site of ancient Scampis, as a base for his military operations against the Albanian commander Skanderberg (more on him later). The town was a principal centre of Albanian nationalism during the Ottoman rule.