قلعة قايتباي

قلعة قايتباي stands on Alexandria’s Mediterranean peninsula, where pale limestone walls rise directly from rocks beside the harbour. Salt air, gulls, and waves frame battlements whose surfaces shift from golden to almost white.

Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qaitbay built the fortress in the fifteenth century to protect Alexandria from the Ottoman fleet. The site carried the remains of Pharos Lighthouse, which earthquakes had brought down after repeated tremors. Builders reused massive stones and red granite columns from that earlier wonder within the defensive structure. Cannons once faced the open sea, while narrow wall openings gave sailors views across the horizon.

British bombardment damaged the fortress heavily in the late nineteenth century, and reconstruction followed around the turn of the twentieth century. The stronghold houses a small naval museum alongside spaces that welcome visitors. Families walk the peninsula, fishermen cast lines, and children chase kites near the water. Through the narrow openings, you can see the same horizon once watched by sailors.