Butrint
Butrint (Bouthrotos) is located on the southwestern coast of Albania. A narrow stretch of sea separates the city from the Greek island of Corfu. The site has been occupied approximately since the 8th century BCE, but legends hint at the city’s foundation by Trojan exiles. By the 4th century BCE, a walled settlement had been established and the city began to develop through the trade. Augustus founded a colony in Butrint and the town remained a relatively small Roman port until the 6th century CE. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the city shrank in population and significance. Butrint then entered a turbulent period and the control of the city was bitterly fought over by the Byzantine, Norman, Angevin, and Venetian states. Later on the Ottoman Turks and briefly the French disputed ownership. It was virtually deserted by the time it became a part of Albania in 1912. Various archaeological efforts began in the 1920’s,and continue still today. Butrint is , of course the most important and the most frequently visited archaeological site of Albania. Part of UNESCO Heritage site since 1992 Butrint enjoys a perfect location facing the Greek Island of Corfu and also only 18 km far from the coastal town of Saranda.