The fishing harbour at the tip of the Tyre peninsula has been in continuous use since antiquity. Today it is a working port where small wooden and fibreglass boats go out at night and return in the early morning. The harbour wall is a good place to watch the catch being unloaded and sorted, and in the late afternoon the boats are lined up and the crews are mending gear or cleaning decks. The atmosphere is unhurried and entirely functional — this is not a heritage re-enactment but a real fishing community.
The harbour is immediately adjacent to the Al-Mina archaeological site, which means Roman columns and Crusader masonry are visible in the background while men repair outboard motors in the foreground. The juxtaposition is one of Tyre's characteristic qualities: history and daily life occupying the same physical space without ceremony. The narrow streets of the old city back up from the harbour through a residential neighbourhood of old stone houses and newer concrete buildings, worth walking through before or after visiting the ruins.