S unlight pours through a tiny stone window, causing the wooden floorboards to creak as they warm up. The sound of sheep’s bells filters in from a passing flock. The scent of baking bread mingles with smoke from the previous evening’s fire. I wake up feeling I’ve been transported back to another time – but in reality I’m in modern-day Albania.

I’m staying in a kulla , one of the traditional stone tower houses that are found throughout northern Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia. They once protected families during times of conflict and sheltered weary travellers on trade routes, before mostly falling into disrepair in the 20th century. A new long-distance trail developed by the Albanian Agritourism Association aims to return some of them to their former glory and give visitors a chance to discover a part of Albania almost untouched by tourism.

The Tower Trail passes through some of the least visited areas of north-eastern Albania, with stops in the Mirdita, Mat, Bulqiza and Dibra regions.…