Qaitbay Fort stands on the tip of a spit at the mouth of the Eastern Harbour, on the exact spot where the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders, stood until earthquakes finally toppled it in the 1300s. Sultan Qaitbay raised the fortress in the 1480s partly from the lighthouse's own fallen stone, and if you look closely at the base of the walls you can pick out recycled pink granite columns laid on their sides. The squat white keep is compact but atmospheric: you climb tight spiral stairs through cannon galleries and a little mosque to rooftop ramparts with a full sweep of the harbour, the fishing fleet, and the corniche curving away toward downtown. The setting is the real draw, with sea on three sides, spray on the rocks, and families fishing along the causeway. Divers have mapped fallen lighthouse blocks and ancient sphinxes lying in the harbour just offshore, though that underwater site is not casually accessible.
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