Somewhere in the valley of the Llenga river, not far from Pogradec, there are large flat stones embedded in the earth along the line of an old track. They are worn smooth by two thousand years of footfall. Legionaries marched over them. Merchants from Rome and Byzantium walked this way with their goods. The Apostle Paul, according to the Acts of the Apostles, travelled this road on his journeys into Europe. These are the stones of the Via Egnatia — the great Roman road that connected the Adriatic to Constantinople — and they pass directly through the land around Pogradec.
To walk along even a fragment of this road is to stand in one of the great corridors of Western history.
The Road That Linked Two Worlds
The Via Egnatia was constructed in the 2nd century BC on the orders of Gnaeus Egnatius, the Roman proconsul of Macedonia — the road takes its name from him. Its purpose was strategic and commercial in equal measure: to connect the port of Dyrrachium (modern Durrës, on Albania's Adriatic coast) with Thessalonica and then with Byzantium (modern Istanbul), creating a single overland route across the Balkans that extended the Via Appia all the way from Rome to the edge of Asia.
The total length of the Via Egnatia was approximately 1,120 kilometres. It crossed what is now Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey. For nearly five centuries it was one of the most important roads in the world — the primary military and commercial artery of the Roman east, and later the Byzantine empire.
The Via Egnatia was typically 6 metres wide, paved with large flat stones, with kerb stones on either side and milestones (miliaria) placed at regular intervals. Surviving stretches in the Balkans still show these milestones. The road's construction required significant engineering — bridging rivers, cutting through mountain passes, and maintaining a surface capable of carrying the full weight of Roman military logistics.
The Route Through the Pogradec Region
From Durrës on the coast, the Via Egnatia followed the Shkumbin river valley eastward — a natural corridor through the Albanian mountains. The road climbed through the Qafë Thanë pass, a critical mountain crossing east of Elbasan where the terrain briefly opens before descending toward the Ohrid basin. From here, the route passed through the area that is now Pogradec before continuing east into North Macedonia toward Ohrid city and eventually Thessalonica.
The region around Pogradec was clearly of strategic importance in Roman times: settlements, defensive installations, and the road infrastructure itself all point to an area that sat astride one of the empire's main communication lines. Archaeological finds in the vicinity have confirmed continuous habitation through the Roman period.
What Survives
Several physical remains of the Via Egnatia are visible in the Pogradec region for those willing to seek them out:
The Llenga Valley Paving
In the gorge of the Llenga valley, stretches of the original Roman road surface survive — large flat stones laid in the characteristic manner of Roman military construction. These are among the most accessible and intact surviving sections of the via in Albanian territory. Reaching them requires a short drive and walk from Pogradec, and the gorge itself is scenically striking.
The Bridges
Roman bridge construction was built to last, and several bridges associated with the Via Egnatia route survive in various states of preservation in the area. The Golik bridge, the Terzi bridge at Proptisht, the bridge in the Llenga valley, and the Nice bridge are all connected to this ancient road. Some retain original stonework; others have been rebuilt over the centuries but follow the original crossing points.
The Qafë Thanë Pass
The mountain pass east of Elbasan was one of the most significant waypoints on the entire Albanian section of the road. Today the modern SH3 highway follows approximately the same line through the mountains, and the pass remains a dramatic point of transit — the moment you crest it heading east, the Ohrid basin opens below you in a way that must have been equally affecting to a Roman legionary two millennia ago.
Paul and the Road to Europe
The New Testament records that the Apostle Paul passed through Macedonia on his missionary journeys, and scholars have long associated his route with the Via Egnatia. The Acts of the Apostles describes his journey from Neapolis (modern Kavala in Greece) through Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea — all cities on the Via Egnatia. Whether Paul himself walked the Albanian section of the road through what is now the Pogradec region is uncertain, but his journeys followed this road's general line, and it was this infrastructure that made his travels across the continent possible at all.
Visiting the Sites Today
The Via Egnatia sites in the Pogradec region are not heavily signposted or developed for tourism, which is both their limitation and part of their appeal. You will not find crowds at the Llenga valley stones. You may need to ask locally for precise directions, and some sites require a degree of initiative to reach. For visitors with a serious interest in Roman history, this effort is richly rewarded.
Tour operators in Pogradec can arrange guided visits to the main sites, including transport. The Museum of Pogradec also has artefacts and information relating to the Roman period that provide essential context before visiting the road itself. If you plan to explore independently, a detailed map and some research in advance will make the experience considerably richer.
A Two-Thousand-Year Perspective
Standing on the stones of the Via Egnatia in the Llenga gorge, you are occupying the same physical space as two millennia of travellers. The geography — the mountains, the river valley, the pass — is unchanged. What has changed is everything else: the empire that built the road, the religions that spread along it, the languages spoken by those who walked it, the political entities that claimed it. The road itself endured through all of it. In Pogradec, you are never far from that kind of perspective, if you know where to look for it.