Korça is an Albanian town on the borders of Albania

Korça is an Albanian town on the borders of Albania, Greece and Macedonia. It is known for its bazaar which unfortunately is now in a semi-abandonned state.

In fact it is often associated with the music which for centuries was composed and sung whilst walking with a guitar on the kalldrëm, the round cobblestones, or in the warmth of a han or kafené.

They seem indifferent to the Ottoman architecture interlaced with the Western style of the early 1900s, to the ancient doors, the town scape which has resisted the waves of time for a good three centuries. The Pazar no longer feels like a place to settle in to spend a few hours chatting, meeting friends and passing some of the day, but just somewhere to dive into the crowd and the garish goods on display, to shop, say hello and hurry away. Can this really be the Bazaar of the Serenades, the heart of the most romantic and advanced town in the country? The answer comes pragmatically from a seller of spices, poor and badly dressed, crushed by the weight of survival: “What are you going to buy?”