A castle at sea
Walls above turquoise.
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A small granite island in the Gulf of Aqaba some two hundred and fifty metres off the Sinai coast south of Taba, crowned by a stone fortress known as Salah al-Din's Citadel, its walls and towers climbing two rocky humps above turquoise water. The Crusaders built a castle on the island in the early twelfth century; Salah al-Din took it around 1170, enlarged and fortified it to guard the trade and pilgrim routes between Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz. It has been restored in modern times. You climb its passages and stairs among towers, storerooms and cisterns, and from the top there is a view over the Gulf of Aqaba and the Sinai mountains, with the mountains of Jordan and Saudi Arabia across the water. Coral reefs around the island offer snorkelling in clear water. A foreign visitor's ticket to the citadel costs about four hundred Egyptian pounds according to the ministry list, and it opens from nine to five; the boat across is paid separately. The island is closer to Taba, Nuweiba and Dahab than to Sharm el-Sheikh, which is about three hours away by car.
Walls above turquoise.
Sinai, Jordan and Saudi hills.
Reefs around the island.
Gulf of Aqaba, a few kilometres south of Taba, South Sinai
By small boat from the facing shore or from Taba, paid separately from the citadel ticket; trips are run from Taba, Nuweiba and Dahab.