Day 25 Alexandria

Highlights of day 25 were:

The drive to Alexandria along the “desert” road,
• Along the way we passed many trucks with people perched on top (photo)
• We had a comfort stop at a café/zoo (photo) with animals we wouldn’t consider putting in a zoo like dogs and guinea pigs.
• We passed many pigeon cotes on the side of the road – pairs of inverted 3m high and 3m diameter mud cones with holes in them (often laid out in patterns). Apparently pigeons are delicacies in Egypt.

Kom El-Shuqafa – under ground catacombs. These were originally a private tomb and then became a public burial place in the 4th Century for many hundreds of people. There were some decorations in these chambers but not nearly as many survived the humidity of the coastal region. It was very musty down there and we found it disconcerting to be standing in among holes used as resting places for the dead.

The “daughter library” was an underground overflow storage for books of the famous Alexandrian library – very similar to the catacombs but with a different function: the storage of papyrus scrolls in little niches in the wall. We tried to imagine the numbering system used to find the scrolls and wondered how these early librarians would have found the books in the dark.

The Roman Theatre, Kom Al-Dikka, this is a small theatre seating about 600 people in one tier. We all stood in the focal point and were suitably impressed by the echo effect. There are Roman baths excavated at the same site. All the monuments are restored not original.

There is evidence of Christian use in many of these remains which we found interesting as it showed us the presence of Christians as well as their inventiveness finding and adapting places to worship.

Amud El-Sawari or Pompey’s Pillar is a 30m high column made from red granite from Aswan. It is amazing that it is still standing when everything around it has fallen victim to earthquake or other natural or human calamity. We marvelled at the mystery of how it was transported and erected without the use of cranes and heavy moving equipment.

The El Morsi Mosque is a very attractive building (photo) but has many very persistent and intrusive touts seeking to sell us all sorts of touristy stuff.

I personally found it very confusing to hear multiple calls to prayer and sermons all at the same time from many local Mosques

A huge modern Library is located on the supposed site of the original family Alexandrian library of antiquity. It is capable of seating 2,000 readers on 11 floors and hold 2 million books.

Our hotel for the night is located in the expansive garden grounds of what used to be the royal palace – we feel very pampered and are starting to feel like home seeing we only have one more day in Egypt.



Day 24 – 25th February 2010