Egypt Part III -- Alexandria

Our Egypt journey ended in Alexandria City.  Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.  After he conquered Egypt, he moved the capital of the country to the north coast to be near the sea.  This was our first time to see the Mediterranean Sea and we made sure that we put our feet in it.  The water was much cooler than the Indian Ocean off Kenya but much warmer than the Atlantic Ocean of our homeland Nova Scotia.

We were amazed to discover that much of Ancient Alexandria is buried under the ground.  This amphitheatre is in the process of being excavated.  It was discovered a few years ago by accident when the government wanted to erect a new building.  The ruins seem to be the site of a University.


Recently two mummies were also discovered in Alexandria -- locals believe they are the remains of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

In 1995 fishermen discovered part of a city under the sea just off the coast.  It is believed that part of Alexandria sank in an earthquake over a thousand years ago.  The earthquake of 1992 shifted it closer to the surface again and it is currently being explored by the Department of Antiquities.  Some statues have been brought to the surface (left) but this undersea city remains intact under the water.  Perhaps it will become a museum for scuba divers!

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The most fun we had was at the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Library).  It opened in 2002 and boasts the largest reading room in the world.  The Library has space for 8 million books and one of the newest Internet Archives in the world..  It also has a Planetarium (above) where they show science films (in Arabic).  We enjoyed walking through the collections and stopping to read in the Young Peoples' section.  Most of the books were in Arabic, which reads from right to left.  We were also surprised to see that the books are opposite of ours -- they read from "back to front".

We visited the Pompey`s Pillar, a 25 meter column made of red granite. We strolled through the Muntazah Gardens and stopped to look at the Muntazah Palace where the descendents of King Mohamed Ali lived until 1952.  And we walked through the deep Catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa.  This mass burial site was probably built in 100AD but was not discovered until 1900 and opened to the public in 1995.  There is a deep spiral staircase leading to 3 underground levels.  The underground ``streets``  are lined with about 400 tombs chiseled into the rock.  We were not allowed to take photos and it is very hard to describe this incredible structure.

As a city, Alexandria is smaller (only 4 million people) and much cleaner than Cairo.  This was a relaxing way to end our trip.  We had a half day touring the highlights but then a full 24 hours of leisure before heading back to Cairo to catch our night flight to Nairobi.  Needless to say we arrived home exhausted.  An amazing trip!