Coastal Artillery Bunkers V-LO

An abandoned coastal artillery battery with four gun emplacements. Access may be complicated by the need to pass through a townhouse construction site or to climb a steep slope from the shore. A standard protected firing position designed for four artillery pieces. Above the gun emplacements stands a tower built for a rangefinder. The quality of construction is very rough — everything looks as though the position was built in haste, which is typical of the late period of Albanian isolation, when the sheer number of defensive positions was prioritised at the expense of their quality. No metal has survived apart from the hinges of the protective shutters on the gun shelters. The gun emplacements themselves are very clean. In front of them, exploratory boreholes have been drilled; the extracted core samples are laid out in boxes that have survived in one of the shelters. In the past, a winding dirt track led directly from the highway, descending through overgrown slopes without obstacle. Today those slopes are being developed at pace with resort villages, upmarket villas and fashionable hotels, so you will have to either pass through a construction site or make your way up from the beach along a path through the coastal rocks. It is worth the effort — the views from the position are magnificent.