Kalamata Fort, Maluku Islands, Indonesia

3JohnYannopapas 5:00 PM Mar 16, 2013

Worth visiting for a few photos
The Fort is worth a stop as you tour the island so you can take some photos with background the fortifications and the sea.

4alliharper 5:00 PM Aug 2, 2015

Go for the view and history
If you go to Kalamata Fort on the Indonesian island of Ternate for no other reason than to have a great view of Tidore and its volcano, it is worth a visit. A photo of Tidore from outside the fort wall that juts out into the sea is especially impressive. Originally built by the Portuguese in 1540 as protection to its spice trade, the fort was taken over and rebuilt by the Dutch who became the dominant European in the next century. This fort was even in the hands of the English briefly, but the Dutch recovered it. The Indonesia government has somewhat recently restored the fort. Spices are so easy to come by today that it is hard to imagine the wars fought over spices centuries ago. But spices were so new and rare that they bought in huge amounts of money. There is another Portuguese fort in Ternate called Tolukko, built about the same time as Kalamata. It is on a hill, handy for spotting intruders, and has great views of not only Tidore, but also the surrounding city with its many mosques and other buildings. Both historic forts merit a visit and are recommended.