Këlcyrë
40.30892520.182007176Koordinaten: 40 ° 19 ' N, 20 ° 11' O
Këlcyra ( Albanian: Kelcyre ) is a small town in southern Albania at the Vjosa. The place is filled with 2651 inhabitants ( 2011) is the second largest municipality in the district Përmet. It is a local center for mountain areas in the north and east of the city.
Just west of Këlcyra passed the Vjosa a deep ravine, the Gryka e Këlcyrës. On both sides, around 1000 meters high mountain flanks rise.
During the Second Macedonian -Roman war, the troops of Philip V controlled the bottleneck. The Macedonians had secured the passage and blocked as in the year 198 BC the Roman advance. A shepherd should have led Roman troops through the mountains, so that they attack and destroy the Macedonians in the narrow gorge of two sides could. The Macedonians had been defeated for the first time critical. Later, the Romans used the route through the Këlcyra Canyon and built a small settlement. To check this passage a castle was built in the 13th century at the latest. The Turks extended the castle, built in the 19th century, a seraglio in Këlcyra. At this time Këlcyra experienced its heyday as a key trading center between Berat, Korca and Gjirokastra. In the enthroned high above the town castle ruins found from antiquity - the Illyrians had already set up there. Even older are some tombs that date back to the Bronze Age. A medieval chronicle from the year 1272 mentioned the place with the Latin name Clausura.
Around Këlcyra there are some centuries- old Orthodox churches. But the place is also an important center of the Bektashi.
Even today, the road connects through the gorge of the main access, the Këlcyra with Tepelenë and the centers of Albania. To the south, the road continues into the circle Përmet capital and to Greece. The leading north road towards Berat is paved only a few kilometers and very difficult to navigate over long distances. Nevertheless, this is built by the Italians in the 1930s and since then hardly developed route in many maps as an important transit route.