We spend a few hours climbing and visiting Castle Hill which overlooks the city and the sea and was the site of a fortress protecting the city for centuries. There is a free elevator that doesn’t seem to be working so we go up the more difficult way with many many stairs. The heat makes everything more difficult, we stop quite a few times and the water is running dangerously low quite soon.
We are happy when we reach an overlook and can catch our breath enjoying some great views of the city below us. And there is still some way to go up, unfortunately.
Nearby is a surprising site, the Jewish cemetery. It shows how large the population here was and also how many were killed, unfortunately, during the second world war.
There is also some interesting street art throughout that we enjoy as we slowly make our way to the top.
The trails here are less intense and some seem to be passing through the old fortifications climbing towards the fortress proper.
At the top is what we were searching for, the ruins of the castle that stood here for centuries before being destroyed in the 18th century. There isn’t that much left just a few ruins that are surrounded by fences, not sure if it is an active dig or they are just protecting the ruins themselves.
From here we can see also towards the other side of the hill towards the port, or at least one of the ports, the rich yacht’s port as far as we can tell.
There are a few more interesting buildings here but they do not seem to be part of the original fortress but some later reproductions. Still we enjoy exploring them before starting downwards towards the old town and the meeting point with our relatives.
