Kanine Castle
High on Shushicë Mountain, about 380 meters above the bay, Kaninë Castle has been fought over since the 3rd century BC. The Byzantine emperor Justinian I rebuilt it in the 6th century; centuries later it became the seat of the Principality of Valona. Its most dramatic moment came in 1690, during the Morean War, when Venice seized it to back a local uprising — only for Ottoman forces to retake it the very same year, setting the course for the next two centuries. Today the climb up is as much the point as the castle itself: the higher you go, the more of the Bay of Vlorë opens up beneath you, a view worth the same steps travelers and soldiers have climbed for over two thousand years.
