Alexandria

This morning I posted a meme to my Facebook story that said “I want to breathe the air of new places”. Instead I breathed the air of some very old places on my first day in Egypt. Those of us who arrived a day early had the opportunity for an all day add-on excursion to Alexandria. Founded by Alexander the Great and dating back to 332 B. C., it is now the second largest city in Egypt with over 5 million people. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea and is the main sea port for Egypt. It’s approximately a two and a half hour drive from Cairo, so our day started at about 7:30. 

Our first stop in Alexandria was the Tomb of Kom El-Shouqafa. Our tour guide was a charming young lady named Aroba. She tells us that catacombs date back to the 2nd century AD and that they were uncovered by accident  in the early 1900s when a local was walking his donkey and the donkey’s leg fell through the ground. Inside, a winding spiral staircase leads you into the underground chambers. There is familiar iconography everywhere down here. The wings above the door leading to the main burial chamber represent Amun Ra, the Egyptian sun god. The medallions on either side are representations of Medusa and underneath each medallion is a cobra. This mix of cultural representation shows the Greco- Roman influence in Egypt. Inside are reliefs on all the walls with various scenes depicting Anubis, Thoth, Horus, Isis and the Apis Bull. 

The medallion represents Medusa

Entrance to the main burial room

Tigran’s tomb is in a separate structure built in the Ptolemaic- style. The inside of the tomb is painted with frescoes featuring scenes depicting the goddesses Nepthys and Isis. It was moved to this location after the ruins of it were discovered by an archaeologist. 

Our next stop was Pompeii’s pillar. Once there was a temple here, but it’s now in ruins. The pillar is 30 meters high. There are several “rooms” on site. The sanctuary is the sanctuary of the god Apis Bull. The statue inside is a copy. No idea what happened to the original. The small library is the library of the temple of cerapus and was used to store the books underground. These sphinxes once stood at the entrance to the temple. They are seen as guardians for the necropolis. 

Our final stop was the Biblioteca Alexandrine (the Library of Alexandria). The statue outside the library is made of pink granite and is dedicated to King Ptolemy I. The original library was destroyed over time, beginning with a section that was destroyed during the Alexandrian war. The new design of the library was initiated in 1989 through a competition sponsored by UNESCO. There are three separate structures in the site, including a planetarium. The new library is made of granite blocks from Aswan. The inside of the main reading room is 11 levels and is the largest reading room in the world. It can host 2000 readers at the same time. The architecture has practical purposes but stylistically represents important iconography from ancient Egypt. The walls are made of oxidized bronze and black granite from Zimbabwe. The holes in the wall mimic the slots used for papyrus in ancient times, but their purpose is to muffle sound. The stylized design of the ceiling represents eyes and eyelashes and is designed to protect the eyes of the reader and the integrity of the books.  The library contains 2.5 million books in 80 languages. There is a museum underneath the library, a rare books room and an antiquities museum as well. There is also a children’s museum on the upper floor. If you come here, please know that a separate ticket is required for the antiquities museum part of the library. 

Another of the modern sculptural pieces. It is entitled “A Chess Base” 

This statue titled “A Girl from Nubia” is one of the modern ones in the the museum 

The main reading room at the Library of Alexandria 

Statue in the front dedicated to Ptolemy I

The outside  of the the library 

This piece was created in 1960, and is entitled “Palm Sunday” 

We had lunch at a restaurant called The Fish Market that overlooks the Mediterranean. The vegetarian options were limited but it was decent and the portion sizes were more than adequate. We finished up the day with some shopping at a bazaar near the citadel. 

Tips for traveling in Alexandria:

Public restrooms are not free. They are manned by attendants who must be paid before you can use the facilities. 

 Drivers love their horns and flashers here but not their turn signals. 

Entrance fees to all the sites were really inexpensive 

And the city is unfortunately heartbreakingly dirty and full of litter