From Catacombs to Castles

The city of Alexandria, which is a bit cooler than other cities in Egypt and reminds us a lot of Malta, was founded by Alexander the Great when he conquered ancient Egypt in 332 bce. For hundreds of years it was Egypt’s capital. It lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea northwest of Cairo.
The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa that we visited today, are an ancient burial site that was built under Roman rule in the 2nd Century AD. The Catacombs are carved out of bedrock. You could easily get lost in the labyrinth that lies under the city and goes down 3 levels. Once again I am in awe of the architecture and actual building of this place. Keeping in mind there was no electricity so this was all done in the dark with some sort of candles or something. Well, maybe they did have electricity - at this point nothing would surprise me. There were rooms where feasts were held too. The blend of ancient Egyptian and Roman is very obvious.
Next stop was Alexandria Library; the biggest in the world. What a magnificent structure and how tragic that in 400CE the original building burnt down destroying all the contents as well, including ancient scrolls ☹️☹️☹️
We had a tour and saw old printing presses and all sorts of statues. There are apparently nearly 2 million books here and about ¼ have been digitalised and made available to everyone on their website. What a laborious job…..
Finally we visited the biggest mosque in Alexandria and I learned so, so much about Islam (the “s” is pronounced “ssss” meaning light, and not “zzz” as that means darkness)
Same with Muslim.
Jim and I then ventured out to a big shopping centre just to mosey around before heading to the old fortress. It was a bit of a fiasco getting in but we figured it out and enjoyed exploring the site as the sunset. Tonight we had our last dinner with the group (tomorrow we are catching up with Aunty Vicky). Such a great group of people and I’ve particularly enjoyed Ahmed as our leader.
Back to Cairo tomorrow.Read more