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Nivica is a non-coastal village, close to Shen Vasil, a famous village that is mentioned early in historical documents. Particularly famous for its soldiers that were sent to foreign armies like Venice and Spain in medieval times.
Nivica is the first village that visitors encounter after leaving Saranda toward north and is part of the Municipality of Himara. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Himara. There are 260 houses and around 1600 inhabitants, but doe to immigration very few mostly old people remain here. Its name derives from Slavic language meaning a steep place and it dates to the Slavic invasion in 6th century.
Archaeological evidence shows that the village reached its peak in the 3rd century BC, while Ottoman chroniclers of the Albanian-Turkish wars period refer to a town with 500-600 houses.
The village’s fortification was rebuilt in the period of Byzantine rule at the orders of Emperor Justinian, who paid particular importance to the military fortifications of the region.
In the period of Slavic invasions and later during the Ottoman conquest, Nivica's fortress was an important battle theatre, being captured by locals and strangers.
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Today the main occupation is the cultivation of Olives and that can be seen from the numerous olive trees around the terraces of the village. Sadly, there are no hotels or guest houses in this village and it has very few visitors even during the summer.
The century’s old Oak tree is located in the centre of Nivica. It represents a segregated tree, with an altitude of over 18 m, a trunk diameter up to 250 cm and over 270 years old. It has a regular crown and a perimeter over 30 m. Under his shadow, many meetings and assemblies of village and province residents have been held.
The ruins of the Nivica Castle are atop a steep cliff, surrounded by abysses, with a depth of 200-400 meters. On the three sides there is a natural protection, while only from the West is protected by a stone wall with lime mortar with a width of over one meter. Until recently there is an inner gate with a vault, built with hewn stones of 0.5-1 meters long, extracted from the rocks of the area.
An interesting place is a restaurant, located at the centre of the village, offers typical local specialities like fresh baked meat and traditional pies (byreks). I recommend this place if you visit the village of Nivica.
The bay of Kakome is located west of the village of Nivica, between cape of Qefali and Krorza. It represents a small, but quite picturesque bay. An ex-military bay, this place is difficult to approach as often is guarded, luckily visitors can visit this place from the small paths next to the mountains foot.
"Although Shen Vasil is a non coastal village, the beach of Krorez acording to the villagers belongs to this village. Krorez beach is one of the least visited places of the region and because of that it is still a virgin place."
