Alexandria Things to Do Tips by MalenaN

Once the largest library in the world could be found in Alexandria. The ancient library was founded in early 3rd century BC. When I was in Bergama (Pergamum) in Turkey 2003 I read that many of the manuscripts there were taken to the library in Alexandria by Mark Antony, as a gift from him to Cleopatra.

Also today the new and modern library is big. It is the largest in the Arab world and can hold as much as 8 million books, but so far there are only a few hundred thousand volumes there.

The library was opened in 2002. It looks like a big discus tilted into the ground, and it is covered with glass panels. Inside there is a big hall with several terraces, where people can read and study. There are also computers and exhibition rooms.

Bags are not allowed to be taken inside, but you have to leave them where you buy the ticket (not by the entrance. The admission was 10 pounds. I have heard there are English-speaking guides that can show you around (it doesn’t cost extra), but I didn’t see any when I visited.

The library is on the Cornish, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

Leave a Comment

Address: Shatby
Directions: take tram to drop you in Shatby tram station
Website: www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx

Where Fort Qaitbey is standing Pharos, the famous lighthouse was once standing. The lighthouse was destroyed in an earthquake 1303 and when the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbey had the fortress built in 1480 fallen blocks of the lighthouse was used.
After British naval bombardment the fort was rebuilt and modernised. It is really worth visiting the fortress to see the view from there over Alexandria.
Entrance fee to the fort is 12 pounds (July 2005).

Leave a Comment

Phone: 03 - 480 91 44
Address: eastern of alexandria-Anfushi area
Directions: Eastern Harbour

The Roman catacombs are from the 2nd century AD. A spiral staircase descends to the tombs and chambers. When I visited I was first alone (later three more people arrived) and it was quite atmospheric to walk around in the complex among all the tombs cut out of the rock.
The photo is from the entrance to the Principal Tomb. I was quite surprised to see carvings of each side of the entrance of the Egyptian god Anubis (he has a jackal head) dressed as a Roman soldier.
Admission to the site is 20 pounds. To go here I walked all way from the Cornish and it was a good walk through different kind of areas.

Leave a Comment

Directions: at western end of Alexandria

I saw the tall red granite column called Pompey?s Pillar from the road when I walked to the catacombs. I did not enter and did not do so when I walked back either. I looked through the gate at the entrance and decided not to pay another entrance fee. I had been told there were not much to see except the Pillar and a few sphinxes.

The Pillar was erected in 293 AD, not in honour of Pompey (the Crusader made a mistake), but in honour of emperor Diocletian. The site where the Pillar stands was once Alexandria?s acropolis, the Serapeum.

Leave a Comment

The third day I was in Alexandria I had planed to visit the Graeco Roman Museum, but during breakfast I was told there was a new, very good museum, which was not mentioned in most of the guide books jet. I decided to go there instead, to the National Museum of Alexandria, and I liked it very much.
The museum is housed in the old Bassili Pasha Palace on Fouad Street (Tariq al-Horreyya) and has impressive historic artifacts from different periods of Egyptian history. On the ground floor (basement) there is an exhibition showing things from Phoraonic period. On the first floor are artifacts from the Graeco - Roman period, and some of the items found during the archaeological underwater excavations in Alexandria. On the second floor are exhibitions of Coptic and Islamic Egypt.
The artifacts are displayed in a good way with signs and texts to read.
Entrance fee is 30 pounds (July 2005).

Leave a Comment

The white colour of the Mosque of Abu Abbas al-Mursi looks beautiful against the blue sky. It is situated in the area Anfushi, in the middle of the square, not too far from the Cornish. It is absolutely worth taking a closer look at the mosque. The mosque was built in the 1940s, but before there had been a mosque there since the 13th century.

Leave a Comment

Walking through Anfushi from Mosque of Abu Abbas al-Mursi to Midan Tahrir is a nice experience. It is a long market street and walking south I first bought a melon (75 piasters) and a lot of grapes (1 pound). Further to the south you can buy, among many other things, seafood or live animals like rabbits and chickens.

Leave a Comment