Qaitbey Citadel is one of the main tourist attractions of Alexandria and really one of the icons of the city. It is a beautiful location, overlooking and with a great view of the Mediterranean Sea and of Alexandria as well. The fortress itself has the look of a storybook castle, where the imagination of particularly the young can spiral into dreams of a more romantic age, of coastal sea battles between French and English ships and even pirates. The Citadel was built by Qaitbey (Quait-bey), who ruled Egypt between 1468 and 1496. The main tower itself was built between the years 1477 and 1480, at a cost of 100,000 Dinar, on an old island called Pharos, so named because this was the location of the famous Pharos lighthouse, one of the wonders of the ancient world, before it was toppled by an earthquake into the sea. The outer walls were built by Sultan el Ghouri sometime after he took office as Sultan. It is believed that at least some of the material for the fortress came from that ruined structure, particularly some huge red-granite pillars in the northwest section. At the time, it was built as a defense against the Ottoman empire, with whom the Mamluks had a shaky relationship at the time.