Tripoli's old medina retains substantial sections of its city walls, dating from Ottoman reconstruction in the 16th and 17th centuries on earlier Byzantine and Arab foundations. The walls enclosed the city until the Italian colonial period, when sections were demolished to ease traffic flow. What remains gives a good sense of the medina's former extent.
The main surviving gates include Bab al-Hurria (Freedom Gate) and the partially intact gates near the castle. Walking along the outside of the remaining wall sections shows the contrast between the cramped organic streets of the medina and the colonial-era boulevards outside it. The area is most rewarding at the old harbour gate near the castle, where the fortifications are best preserved.