Fortress · Egypt
Salah al-Din Citadel, Pharaoh’s Island
قلعة صلاح الدين بجزيرة فرعون
A 12th-century citadel of Salah al-Din on a granite islet off Taba, with towers, a mosque, cisterns and an earlier Byzantine fort.
Where it is
29.4635, 34.8601
Why go
Salah al-Din fortified this small two-hilled island in the Gulf of Aqaba in about 1171, after seeing its strategic value during a campaign into Syria. He reused a sixth-century Byzantine fort and lighthouse on the southern hill as an outer defence. An antiquities official credits the citadel with repelling the crusader Reynald in 1182. Its outer wall and two inner fortifications are lined with towers, one of them a pigeon tower. Inside are an arms furnace, a war-council hall, soldiers' rooms, a bakery, granaries, a steam bath, cisterns and a mosque, all built of stone from the island itself.
Near Salah al-Din Citadel, Pharaoh’s Island
Monastery
Saint Catherine’s Monastery
A historic monastery beneath Mount Sinai, with churches, a mosque and an important manuscript collection.
133 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mountain
Mount Sinai (Jabal Musa)
The 2,285 m peak above Saint Catherine’s Monastery, identified in religious tradition as the mountain of Moses.
134 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mountain
Mount Catherine (Jabal Katrina)
A high summit south-west of Mount Sinai where, by monastic tradition, the body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was found.
138 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Museum
Sharm al-Sheikh Museum
A ministry museum in Sharm al-Sheikh with halls on people and animals in ancient Egypt, the coffins of Isetemheb and Sinai heritage.
178 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ