The Amphitheater

Built in the early part of the 2nd century AD, the Durres amphitheater compares favorably with the most famous amphitheaters of antiquity. The capacity is estimated to have been between 15,000 and 18,000 spectators. In the amphitheater, slave owners amused themselves by watching flights of the gladiators and beasts. Christians were also killed during years of persecution.

The outer wall that formerly surrounded the amphitheater

This road goes from the amphitheater, past the crepe shop, out to the sea

We finished our tour at a small museum where they display artifacts found in excavations at the amphitheater. We weren't supposed to take photos, but... It was the most amazing feeling to see Greek ruins in their home city. There are urns and busts and jewelry in American museums, but they're thousands of miles from the places where people once created them and lived beside them. Here, it's less like a museum and more like a memory. To trace your fingers along Greek letters on a funerary alter, knowing that people in this city once sacrificed on that very surface...