Suakin

Suakin was the great Red Sea port of Sudan for centuries, an island town built entirely of blocks cut from coral and faced with white plaster, with Ottoman merchant houses of three and four storeys and carved wooden mashrabiya screens. When Port Sudan opened to the north the trade moved away, the island was abandoned, and the coral walls slowly dissolved into pale rubble. A few buildings have been consolidated and the Ottoman gate restored. The mainland town still runs the ferry to Jeddah, which fills the quay with pilgrims and traders.