Drisht Castle

Drisht Castle, locally known as Kalaja e Drishtit, lies in the village of the same name, in the county of Shkodër in Albania.

Drisht Castle consists of an inner castle on top of an 800-meter high mountain. Its outer castle lies beneath it and holds a small settlement.

Drisht was already a settlement in Roman times, when it was known as Drivastum. At those times, the inner castle probably served as the acropolis. During the 10th century it became a Byzantine fortress. In the 14th century it was an important fortification of the Serbian Principality of Zeta.

It was taken by the Venetians in 1448, who then rebuilt the castle. During the siege of nearby Shkodër in 1478/9 by the Ottoman Empire, Drisht was also taken by them. The Ottomans probably had no further interest in the castle and the inner castle was subsequently abandoned.

The settlement in the outer castle today counts only a handful of inhabited residences. The rest are ruined and overgrown.

Drisht Castle is freely accessible. That is to say; the outer castle is. The inner castle also, but I could not find a clear route to it, although I tried, but I was defeated by the heat and the rough terrain. Too bad, its ruins looked nice through the drone.

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