Strewn out along a grass-green valley bottom in the midst of the Shkumbin basin, Elbasan marks the geographical middle of Albania as a whole. But it’s not just location that sees this mid-sized city placed at the heart of the country; history and culture coalesce here too. Enthrallingly representative of the republic’s past sits an old core criss-crossed by cobblestone streets and the looming, vine-clad remnants of a daunting Ottoman fortress. There is then the smattering of Eastern Orthodox churches courtesy the city’s various Balkan occupants—the Serbs, the Bulgarians, gypsies from the East—and a punctuation of ancient Roman ruins around the peripheries of town to boot. And once you’re done exploring this one’s rich and curious backstory, be sure to enlist an Elbasan tourist guide to help plan an excursion up to the highlands of the Shebenik-Jabllanice National Park, to explore a world of rugged limestone peaks that’s stalked by wolves and bears and Balkan lynxes.