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Ilha de Mocambique about 3 km off the mainland is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of the Mozambique's most fascinating destinations. Arab, Indian and Portuguese architectural influences are blended in this place.
For hundreds of years it was a major centre of intercontinental maritime trade. It was occupied by Arab merchants from the tenth century until the end of the fifteenth, and in the sixteenth century due to Vasco da Gama it became a port of call on the route from Europe to the East Indies. In 1507 the Portuguese built a fortress on the island. A later fortification that has survived is the fort of St. Sebastian, which was built between 1558 and 1620 and is inspired by Italian Renaissance military architecture. Mozambique port grew rapidly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Unfortunatelly the town as it appears today is very dirty, many of the beautiful houses and palaces are completly ruined.