Unfinished Artillery Bunkers

Northwest of the city of Vlorë, a ridge of rocky hills overhangs the sea. At some point it was decided to build coastal artillery positions here. Tunnels were excavated, but only a single gun shelter was ever completed. The tunnels are partially collapsed due to poor geology and the absence of any vault reinforcement. On the hilltop stands a bunker with an observation point and the ruins of a communications bunker. Inscriptions on the concrete read 1955, which may indicate the year of construction — making this battery one of the earliest examples of Albanian mass fortification. Why construction was abandoned remains a matter of speculation.

On the reverse side of the hill sits an abandoned house — likely something resembling a general’s dacha — beside which an entrance leads into a long tunnel passing through the hill to the sea, emerging onto a path toward the pillbox and the gun emplacement itself. A family of badgers has taken up residence in the tunnel.

On the headland there is an observation pillbox, reached by trails from two hotels at the base of the hill.