If you head down the coast road south from Hurghada and travel for close to 1 hour, you will arrive at the town of El Quseir. At the heart of the town which remains to be fairly untouched by Egypt’s blossoming tourist industry, is the Fort which dates back to 16th century. It was originally constructed by Sultan Selim I at a time the minute Quseir was certainly one of the most significant ports in The Red Sea. Together with being an essential part in trade routes, Quseir was furthermore the departure point for Hajj pilgrims on their road to Mecca. 

In 1799, the French forces under the control of Napoleon took over the fort and they held the fort before the British forced them to surrender it in 1801. It was the start off of a series of events that saw the British overcome the french in Egypt  later in the year. 

The British immediately moved on and the following years saw the Fort at El Quseir used as a base by Muhammad Ali Pasha in his wars versus Arabia. In 1869, the Suez Canal began to operate linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. As a result, the strategic importance of the fort was significantly reduced. It’s working life came to an stop in 1975 after plenty of years operation as a base of the Egyptian Coast Guard. 

Now, the Fort at El Quseir is a small tourist attraction for visitors taking a Red Sea holiday. The town itself doesn’t get the majority of holidaymakers and the 2 hotels at El Quseir are self contained resorts away from the centre. There is a modest entrance fee to get into the Fort which possesses several displays telling it’s history in addition to two or three objects from the era once Italian investment came to Quseir from a phosphate company.