|
|
|
Alexandria has a very European influence and is one of
the most beautiful cities of Egypt. It is a year round
destination and is located 225 kilometres from Cairo.
Alexandria enjoys a very pleasant climate year round and
during summers the Egyptians too love to come and spend
some time in Alexandria. Our first impression of this
2300 year old city was simply spectacular. In a way it
reminded me of Athens which we had visited in 2004 to
see the Olympic Games as Alexandria is located on the
other side of the Mediterranean Sea. |
|
|
|
I would recommend a tourist to Egypt to
atleast spend two nights in Alexandria as it
has lots to offer as a city. The city itself
is much older than Cairo and has been in
existence since 332 BC. Alexandria is
extremely rich in history and has a more
Mediterranean ambience. Built on a small
village called Rhakotis, it was once the
capital of Greco Roman Egypt and today it is
the second capital of Egypt after Cairo. It
has a multitude of sandy beaches and once was
known for its legendary light house which was
one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
located on the small island of Pharos which
was off the city of Alexandria. |
|
 |
|
|
The lighthouse was the only wonder of the ancient world
which had practical utility besides being an architectural
elegance and the tallest building on Earth at that time. The Light House was used for 1500 years and
was 150 metres high and had 3 floors and around the
beginning of the 13th Century there was a huge tidal wave
which destroyed the first two levels of the lighthouse and
later when the big earthquake came, there was a huge crack
in the centre of the lighthouse and it eventually
collapsed. However, it did leave its impact from the
linguistic angle as the word Pharos which is where this
lighthouse was built finds a name in the dictionary of
French, Italian and Spanish languages as it stands for
lighthouse.
|
|
|
 |
|
It is said that Alexander the Great came to
Egypt's north coast for a vacation where he
discovered a tiny fishing village looking
out on a tiny island and he decided to
transform this place into a city which would
become a source of knowledge and light for
the whole world and a city that would carry
his name forever. Although Alexander never
returned here, his passion for knowledge
inspired Ptolemy I who first governed
Alexandria to build a monumental library
dedicated to intellectual and scientific
pursuits. |
|
|
|
It took almost 10 years to complete
the ancient library known as the Biblioteca Alexandrina
- a complex comprising of 3 buildings and comprised of
over 900000 manuscripts which is equivalent of 25000
books written by the most renowned intellectuals and
scientists. The original library was later destroyed by
fire and there are stories that the library was burned
during the war with Julius Caeser in 48 BC whilst some
argue that it was destroyed or even burnt down when
Arabs conquered Egypt in 642 AD. The only remains from
the original collection are a few manuscripts which are
on display at the Vienna Museum.
|
|
|
|
Later,
the initiative was taken to rebuilt the library and in
2002, the library opened on the city's Corniche, around
200 metres away from the location of the ancient
library. The total cost incurred to build the library
was 179 billion dollars. The Biblioteca's slanted round
design stands out amongst the buildings in
that region with the main building in the
shape of a half sun rising from the sea
which implies that it is providing the light
of knowledge to the world. The main library
has 11 floors with seven above ground and
four underground and houses 35000 books. We were unlucky to not have seen the Biblioteca from the inside as it was Ramadan and the
library was closed for public viewing on the day we
visited the city. |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
Our next
halt was at the Montazah Palace and Gardens, the summer
residence of the former royal family. Located on a high
hill. This complex overlooks the most beautiful beach of
Alexandria. In the area, there are two prominent
buildings, Al-Haramlek and Al-Salamlek. Al-Salamlek is
now a luxurious hotel where as Al-Haramlek has a casino
on the ground floor and the upper floors
there is a museum of the royal relics. |
|
|
|
A walk around this area is
indeed very relaxing and that is possible to do if you
are staying a couple of days here in Alexandria. Close
by you have the Helnan Palestine Hotel which is having a
good view of the Mediterranean Sea. We took a high speed
boat ride for 30 minutes which was for 100 Egyptian
Pounds (Rs 800 approx) and we got a good view of the
Hotel and the kids had a great time in the high speed
boat.
|
|
|
|
Another
important landmark of Alexandria is the Rosetta Stone.
For thousands of years the Egyptian civilization used
the language of hieroglyphics and later the language was
abandoned in favour of Greek and Latin. As the Romans
took over Egypt they couldn't understand hieroglyphics
and this was a huge obstacle for anyone to understand
Egyptian history and culture and after more than a
thousand years when the French soldiers were fighting in
Egypt, a French soldier found a flat block of black
basalt at a place called Rosetta, very close to
Alexandria. This stone had three sections of writing -
one in hieroglyphics, the other called Demotic and one
in Greek and this stone is known as Rosetta Stone and
the inscriptions on this stone helped the scholar to
understand the hieroglyphics. You can find the original
stone today at the British Museum. Later in the day, we
halted next at Pompei's Pillar. This Pillar which
dominates the area dates back to the 3rd Century.
Pompei
was a Greek and once there used to be a temple here and
today you find remains with the pillar made of red
granite and 25 metres in height. This place was
completed destroyed in the 5th century by the Christians
who wanted to get rid of Paganism in Egypt. The great
pillar however survived along with a few sphinxes. Close
to the Pompei's pillar there is the roman bath where
once Cleopatra used to bathe. Our guide Randa gave us a
brief and interesting history of Cleopatra VII who
ascended the Egyptian throne when she was mere 17 years
of age and she was the last pharaoh ruling Egypt between
51 and 30 BC. The
interesting part of history was the birth of Julius
Caesar and Cleopatra's son and how the word Caesarean
came into existence. As Cleopatra had a small stomach
they had to do cut open her stomach which today is
called caesarean. |
|
|
|
After
Pompei's pillar we passed by the Roman amphitheatre
before halting for a seafood lunch. Later in the day, we
stopped by to see Fort Qaitbey which is located at the
spot of the legendary lighthouse and is best seen from a
distance. It is said that some of the stones of the fort
are from the lighthouse especially the huge red-granite
pillars. Thereafter we visited the Catacombs which dates
back to the 1st and 2nd centuries and this catacomb was
found by accident. This is one of the two catacombs in
the world where the Greeks and Romans were buried, the
other one can be found in Italy. |
|
 |
|
|
Known as
the Kom-El-Shoqafa Catacomb, it is the largest roman
cemetery and consists of 3 levels cut in the rock and is
100 feet deep. It is a combination of roman and pharonic
art. The first chamber is called the Triclinium and was
left unfinished. There are still bodies underneath the
chambers and there was an attempt to excavate the place,
however there was a risk of the whole catacomb caving in
and hence the excavation wasn't carried out.
|
|
|
|
There are
lots of places one can explore in and around Alexandria
including the Graeco-Roman museum and a few lovely
beaches along the north coast. Alexandria is a good
place to shop especially for leather and we were short
on time as we had to head back to Cairo. We left at 4.00
pm after a very interesting day in one of the most
beautiful cities of Egypt. As our flight was almost
after midnight and we had a few hours at our disposal,
we went for a dinner on Aquarius - a floating restaurant
where we experienced some Egyptian cuisine and we were
entertained to some fine Nubian dance as well as belly
dancing. We were lucky to be part of a celebration of an
Egyptian wedding on board the Aquarius. |
|
|
 |
|
Though we were extremely exhausted after one
of our longest days in Egypt, we thoroughly
enjoyed it and there wasn't a single day
which was filled with interesting
experiences. Our only regret was that we
couldn't have spent a few more days to
explore much more of this wonderful country
and whenever the next time we make another
trip to Egypt, I will once again love to
share my experiences with you. |
|
|
|
I recall when we started
COMPACT TRAVELS, our first destination that we took to
promoting was Egypt and I strongly recommend you to
include it in your list of destinations to visit in the
immediate future - a destination which has the only
surviving wonder of the ancient world, one of the most
beautiful cities in Alexandria, a beach holiday
experience in Hurghada or even Sharm-el-Sheikh, a great
experience on the Nile cruise- you couldn't ask for
anything better when planning a holiday.
|
|
|
|
Concluded. |
|
|
|
Vini has
been one of the Faculty Members for the IATA/UFTAA and
IATA/FIATA qualifications offered by IHCTM for over 10
years and she is also Director of COMPACT TRAVELS and
part of the research team in planning unique itineraries
for various clients. Here she narrates her first hand
experience of Egypt as a family destination. |
|
|
