Persqop

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Illyrian Stones and a Lofty Summit

Summary: Many visitors come to Petrelë, primarily to visit the restaurants and the "Petrelë Castle", and this is good so. But Petrelë has other secrets awaiting the more intrepid visitor. The hill behind Petrelë is the site of the ancient City of Përsqop, and some ruins have recently been freed from shrubs and overgrowth. Moreover the commune of Petrelë is cutting new paths to make the sites more easily accessible and a new circular road was built. If you came for lunch or a view to Petrelë, why not take your car for a short excursion to the sights of some of the remaining ruins of Përsqop, thousands of years old? The hiker can also climb to the summit of the hill previously enclosed by the castle's walls. The route from the main castle walls to the summit is a light and cool scramble (though it can be hot at noon and later in the day. All hiking trails, except the scramble, are easy.

The Drive:

Maximum altitude:	471 meter
Minimum altitude:	308 meter
Cumulative height:	170meter
Cumulative length:	5.5 kilometers
Difficulty	easy
Time:	about 1/2hours
Date of this record	March 2012
Download GPS info:	Drive to Përsqop

The Hike:

Maximum altitude:	592 meter
Minimum altitude:	323 meter
Cumulative height:	261 meter
Cumulative length:	4 kilometer
Difficulty	easy
Time:	3 hours
Date of this record	March 2012
Download GPS info:	Illyrian Stones and a Lofty Summit

General location and approach: It is easiest to start the hike or drive at the market place of Petrelë. You can also start the hike at any other point of the road.

Other Information: Petrelë commune is working hard tomake this place interesting and attractive. It will be important to keep the sites in the conditions we found them - or even cleaner!

Petrelë Castle with its restaurant on the right. The hill of the ancient city of Përsqop on the left. Our route follows anti-clockwise around the hill, then up to its summit and further around the hill back to the trailhead.

Rosmarin flowering in the first days of March, on the south slopes of the ancient city of Përsqop

A farmer planting, in March, on his precipitous land

The ruins of the main entrance of Përsqop

How did they move those stones, 2000 years ago?

view from the castle across a wild landscape of erosion

The main wall of the major castle of Përsqop

A corner of the building, 2000 years old

Scrambling from the castle to the summit

view from the summit to Tirana, with the new highway making its way to the new shopping centre

View across the Erzen valley towards Dajti and Priskë Mountains

In the distance, the pyramid of Mali e Snoijt, and closer, Maja e Fagut

View of the roads that pass along the sights of Përsqop

Petrelë commune is clearing some paths to the better sights of the ancient city

An ancient olive grove; some of the trees might be as old as the stones

A monumental grave, end of 4th century BC, near waypoint (stones 2).

Unfortunately, someone thought this a good place to offload his garbage....

the more surprising, as the school notebooks testify of advanced studies in maths and physics

Another olive groove, cleaned and maintgained

View across Petrelë Castle and the Erzen Valley

Old Cemetary on the westside of the hill

The main wall, seen when coming from the other direction.

GPS and trailmaps: The map and trailinformation is generated by www.wikiloc.org, based on GPS information collected from the actual hike. Waypoints can be downloaded to a GPS device from Wikiloc. If necessary, use GPSBabel to convert GPS data to different formats. For more hike descriptions by Palmtreetreeproduction, browse this website or visit Wikiloc and search for "Palmtreeproduction". You may also find nearby trails from other authors.

Google Earth: You may also view the trail in 3D by clicking "view in Google Earth" when on Wikiloc. You need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.