Saint Nicholas Fortress

The Saint Nicholas Fortress anchors the tip of the Mandraki harbor breakwater in Rhodes, defined by a massive, circular fifteenth-century tower that looms over the water. Built by the Knights Hospitaller, it guarded the narrow harbor entrance against Ottoman naval incursions. When Sultan Mehmed the Second besieged the island in fourteen eighty, his ships suffered heavy fire from this exact position. The fortress held, forcing the invaders to retreat, and the tower remains as a scarred witness to that final, failed attempt to break the city.