Albania - Vlora

ALBANIA
Llamani Bay, Vlora

Sent by Bessa from Tirana, Albania.

Vlorë (known also by several alternative names) is one of the largest towns and the second largest port city of Albania, after Durrës, with a population of 79,948. It is the city where the Albanian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on November 28, 1912. The city was for a short time the capital of Albania.

Founded as an ancient Greek colony in the 6th century BC by the name of Aulon and continuously inhabited for about 26 centuries, Vlorë is home to the Port of Vlorë and University of Vlorë as the most important economical and cultural city of southwestern Albania.

The modern name for the city is the Albanian form Vlorë or Vlora, both pronounced [ˈvlɔɾə], while in the Gheg dialect it is known as Vlonë. Vlorë was created in antiquity as Greek colony in the territory of Illyria. Its first name, still used today in Greece, was Aulón (Greek: Αυλών), meaning "valley" and possibly a translation of another indigenous name. The Greek name is the source of the Italian name Valona (also used in other languages) and of the obsolete EnglishAvlona. During the Ottoman era, the Turkish Avlonya was also used.

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