Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi, was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording his commentary in a travelogue called the Seyâhatnâme ("Book of Travel").

The name Çelebi is an honorific title meaning "gentleman" or "man of God".

Evliya Celebi’s writings on the Balkan cities and people carries significant importance.

He would write: Albania is an important center due to its commercial potential and geopolitical status in the Ottoman world.

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As an important traveller of the early modern age, Evliya Celebi sought to display the daily life in Albania, along with its demographic characteristics and culture.

His works are based on a far wider geographic diameter than his counterparts of the

same period, and involves diverse elements like a version of geographical history, traditions, folklore, and other details.  According to this method, a city’s history, and administrative status, along with its topography are the initial details shared in his

work. Next comes their physical fabric, houses, madrasas, mosques, bazars, and public bathrooms, i.e., its public, religious and economic centers in description.

In addition to these details, Evliya Celebi also discusses the city community’s behavior and traditions, dress code, elite, and the peculiarities of the language(s) they speak in detail.

For him, the city is not a dwelling place for its inhabitants, but also a

construction set to reach posterity. Finally, along with the life stories of the dead people and its holy people, graveyards, tombs of saints and shrines wrap up the picture.

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Albania described by Evliya Çelebi is a country that has changed the social and economic structures. He toured Kosovo in 1660, northern Albania and Montenegro in 1662, and southern Albania in 1670.

In his “Seyahatname” or “Books of Travel” is described these regions.

For 17th-century Albania, and in particular for the interior of the country, the "Seyahatname" constitutes a mine of information.

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Albanian People Evliya Celebi’s depiction of Albanians are mostly positive. He frequently praises its men as fearless heroes who frequently raid non-Muslim lands for holy war. Similarly, old Albanians are described as friendly and sage.

While describing a marketplace in Elbasan, Evliya Celebi describes the Albanian woman as follows: “From the backwood villages arrive in such Albanian girls with fairy faces, and angel figures shining like stars.”

Life in Albanian Society Evliya Celebi commends the natural beauty and demography of Albania.

What Evliya Celebi writes about the Albanian cuisine gives important clues about their eating and drinking habits of 17th century Albanian society. Albanian lands, particularly Aydonat, plays an important role in supplying the olives and olive oil of the Ottoman Court.

Albania is also described as a land rich in lemons, citrus fruits, figs, and various greens.

In Delvinye, olive and olive oil trade plays an important role in their income.

Among Albanian food, white Albanian breakfast rolls (simit), white flour pastries (pogaca), pastry with chickpeast, borek with chicken filling, baklava with cream filling and samosa with almonds are noticeable.

Among drinks, a version of boiled grape molasses named reyhani comes up. Among this food, we also find out that Albanian society likes to drink wine. Evliya Celebi particularly mentions this detail in those sections where he discusses the castle levants and dizdars. In harbor regions, various types of fish, including carp, chub mackerel, grey mullet and seabass are also frequently mentioned.

According to Evliya Celebi, another praiseworthy aspect of the Albanian cuisine is its sweet smelling, pure and clear honey, the likes of which he claims that cannot be found even in places like Athens and Crete.

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The 17th-century historian Evliya Çelebi mentioned the Peqin fortress in his writings:

 

...... the walls of this castle reach about 12 m in height.

Within resides the Dizdar (title given in the Ottoman Empire to a castle warden or fortress commander, appointed to manage troops and keep the fortress in its role as a defence point) along with 70 soldiers. There are five cannons in the castle, and ten small houses roofed with tiles.

There is also a small mosque with no minaret.

On the left side of the castle, connected to a wall, is a prayer chapel (namazgja).....

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