Qasr el Bahr

Probably the 1st thing you see in Sidon is the Sea Castle. This castle was built by the crusaders in the 13th century on an island just off the coast of Sidon. Today it is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. What was on the island before the crusaders arrived remains unclear. One possibility is a temple to Marqart, a local god. Another thought is that the ancient King's palace was here.
The 1st picture is of the castle from the shore near the causeway. The tower to the left was built by the Mamluks after they routed the crusaders. The 2nd picture looks to the castle along the causeway. This was also built by the Mamluks.
As you can see, this is a small castle, especially when compared to Karak in Jordan (see other post). Regardless of size, every crusaders castle had to have 2 things: it had to be defensible; and they had to build a church. Being on an island answers the 1st criterion. The 2nd can be seen in the 3rd picture, though the church was converted to a mosque, which is what the small done shows.
The 4th picture is part of what remains of the castle structure. The 5th picture looks across to the mosque where it sits on the raised platform. The last picture is taken inside the tower built by the Mamluks pointed out in the 1st picture.Read more