Then there are the earlier empires. Albania came under the influence of both ancient Rome and Greece. Southerly Butrint (the former Buthrotum) and Apollonia (near westerly Fier) tell this old tale in temples, statues and pillars, while Durres deflects some of its three-star stodginess in a AD 200 amphitheatre of enduring majesty. 

The narrative winds back further too, into the mists of 500 BC, when the region was Illyria. The ingenuity of this pre-Roman civilisation is still visible in the surviving walls of Lissos (modern-day Lezhe, in the far north, near the Montenegrin border), where diagonal cuts into the stone were designed to help the buildings to withstand earthquakes.

Even the capital adds a chapter or two to this splendid yarn. Tirana is largely an Ottoman creation, founded in 1614. But it provides an impressive overview in the enormous National History Museum, plus restaurants and bars galore in the Blloku district which, off-limits to ordinary citizens in Hoxha’s time, has been reclaimed and reborn since 1992.

“We are seeing a rise in interest across the Balkans, with Albania being no exception,” says Andrea Godfrey, an Albania expert at regional specialists Regent Holidays. “What we are noticing is that an increasing number of people are looking for a private driver and guide to help them cover the country in depth, taking in the likes of Butrint, the coast road and the Llogara Pass. Most of our clients are looking to discover all corners of Albania, but with a couple of days’ R&R included, for which we always suggest Ksamil.”