The best view of the Sea Gate however is from inside the town and you should enter the gateway immediately opposite the docks entrance (easy parking). This way in is much used by cars wishing to avoid the traffic lights at the Land Gate. This Sea Gate was, in Venetian times, washed by the sea at its base and the Land Gate was really the only way in. What a marvellous piece of military engineering it is! Even today, it would take first prize for architectural design. It shows how these Italian engineers turned an ugly fortification into a magnificent palace gate. Remember that the people who built this, knew personally that world famous painter, sculptor, and military engineer, Leonardo da Vinci. It is recorded that he visited Cyprus in 1481 and it is likely that he advised the Venetians on the design of forts. The stone lion near the gate is not a Venetian Lion of St Mark, but probably some medieval sculpture which stood by a medieval gate. A small stone object, though much eroded, is probably a lion cub.