Massawa

Massawa, Eritrea's historic port on the Red Sea, is an atmospheric coastal city built across coral islands linked by causeways, long known as the Pearl of the Red Sea. For centuries a key trading gateway between Africa, Arabia and beyond, it wears its layered past in a distinctive old town of coral-stone buildings graced with elegant Ottoman and Egyptian-influenced arches, carved wooden balconies and shaded courtyards. Reached by a dramatic descent from the highland plateau, the city fronts the warm turquoise waters of the Red Sea, with the coral islands and reefs of the Dahlak Archipelago just offshore. Weathered, evocative and richly historic, Massawa is a captivating window on the old Red Sea world.

History

Historic Massawa stands on the islands of Basé and Taulud, joined to each other and to the shore by causeways, and it seems to have grown into a port between the 8th and 10th centuries, after the decline of Adulis about 50 km to the south. With the rise of the Sultanate of Dahlak in the 11th century it became the main link between the Muslim coast and the Christian highlands, and from the 14th century highland rulers took a growing interest in it: Zara Yaqob is thought to have reached it in the mid-15th century and fortified the Gerer peninsula opposite. The Portuguese gained a foothold here in 1513, and João de Castro drew the port in 1541; the Ottomans took Massawa in 1557, and under them it drew settlers from Tihamah, Hadhramaut, Egypt, Turkey, the Indian Subcontinent and Arabia, from whom many of its old families descend. In May 1865 it passed to the Khedive of Egypt, and from March 1872 the governor Werner Munzinger rebuilt it, adding a government building, a customs house, a school, a hospital and the causeways to the islands. The Italians took the port in February 1885 and made it the capital of their colony until 1897, when the government moved to Asmara, and they rebuilt many of its old buildings in their original scale and kept the narrow, irregular street plan (Wikipedia, Massawa).

Highlights

• The coral-stone old town - the Ottoman and Egyptian-arched quarters.
• The carved balconies - the elegant wooden balconies and courtyards.
• The island causeways - the historic port spread across coral islands.
• The Red Sea - the warm turquoise waters and offshore reefs.

When to go

November to February, the cooler months, are the most comfortable in this famously hot coastal city, when the sea and old town are at their most enjoyable; Massawa is intensely hot in summer. The mild winter is ideal for wandering the atmospheric coral-stone quarters.

Practical notes

Massawa's historic old town is weathered and parts remain damaged from the past, so its appeal lies in atmosphere and layered heritage rather than pristine monuments, and the coastal heat can be fierce. As the atmospheric Pearl of the Red Sea, a coral-stone port of elegant arches spread across islands with warm turquoise waters, though, Massawa is a genuinely evocative and captivating place.

Nearby

The Dahlak Archipelago lies just offshore in the Red Sea.

Key facts