Berat is a city of 32,000 inhabitants in central Albania, on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2008. The Mangalem quarter looks as if someone stacked hundreds of houses on top of one another up the hillside — all with rows of large windows facing the same direction, hence the nickname 'City of a Thousand Windows'. Above it all stands the Kala castle, which is not a museum but a living settlement with around a thousand permanent residents within its walls. Unlike the Albanian coast in summer, Berat attracts just enough tourists that restaurants still operate for the people who live here, not for cruise groups. The region is also the epicenter of Albanian winemaking — the Shesh i Bardhë and Vlosh varieties are known by few outside Albania, and the Çobo winery works with them seriously.
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