Trip to Alexandria

Last weekend I took a three day trip to Alexandria. Alexandria, famed for its ancient Library of Alexandria and Pharos Lighthouse, is located north of Cairo directly on the Mediterranean. Because of it's proximity to Greece and the rest of the western world, Alexandria has a much more European and Mediterranean feel than Cairo. Alexandria was established by its namesake, Alexander the Great, in 332 BC. It was intended to link the Egyptian world (namely Cairo) with the Hellenistic world (Greece).

Our first stop on our trip was the Roman Amphitheatre. This is one of the best preserved amphitheatres in the world, and interestingly enough, this one is still used on occasion. It dates back to the 2nd century AD. In the picture below, you can see a stage set up at the bottom of the amphitheatre where the columns are. One of the things I noticed at this pseudo-Roman Forum was the columns. Most of the columns were composed of noticeably different kinds of marble. Some were of a reddish tint, perhaps because of iron deposits in the rock? Some were black, and others were more of a grayish color. I couldn't find out any information about the columns, but it peaked my interest nonetheless.

After leaving the amphitheatre, we arrived at our hotel. In Alexandria, there is one main street, Al Corniche, that runs along the coast of the Mediterranean. Not surprisingly, this street is packed with hotels, restaurants, cafes and the like. Our hotel was towards the eastern end of Al Corniche, and luckily, my room was on the second highest floor. As you can see, the view was fantastic. Within minutes of getting into my room, I was down on the beach basking in the pleasantly warm water.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to start a day of sight-seeing. Our first stop was the Qaitbey Citadel. Located at the eastern end of Al Corniche, this castle of sorts was built by the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbey in 1480 on the remains of the Pharos lighthouse (one of the seven wonders of the world). Some of the remains of the ruined lighthouse were used in the construction of the fort. This was my favorite stop on the trip. The white stone formed a perfect contrast with the blue sea silhouetted behind it. The area between the outer walls and central area was in great condition, as evidenced by its green grass and healthy palms. Walking inside the fort was quite the experience as well. I could have only imagined what it was like when the British were making their invasion of Egypt. In that case, the fort didn't quite live up to its intended use.

After the visiting the Citadel, we took a short ride over to the Catacombs of Kom Ash-Shuqqafa. This vast underground graveyard was only discovered after a donkey mysteriously fell into the ground in 1900. These catacombs were pretty amazing in terms of its engineering. To think that men had to carve through so much rock (35 meters) to form this underground maze is astounding. Then again, the Romans did a lot of that sort of thing. The best part of the Catacombs was the Principal Tomb. Obviously the resting place of one of Alexandria's most elite, this inner chamber is cornered by iconography reflecting a fusion of influences- Roman, Greek, and ancient Egyptian. Because these tombs were pre-Christian, I found the iconography particularly interesting. For instance, the actual art itself, looked like something from a text book on Mycenaean or Greek art, but the figures depicted were undoubtedly inspired by the Egyptians (the Egyptian god Anubis, the jackal-headed one, is in the paintings). Unfortunately, we couldn't bring cameras down to where the tombs were.

The next day, we went to the new Library of Alexandria. Finished in 2002, the Bibliotheca Alexandria is intended to put Alexandria back on the map as a center of converging cultures. The architecture of the building itself is very unique, and unlike most instances of disgusting modern art (cough....Lauinger Library....cough), this actually appealed to me. The main portion of the library resembles a sundial sunken into the sea. On the outside ring of the sundial, is concrete with more than 120 types of written languages shown. As it was so hard to get a picture of the whole complex, I thought a picture of a portion of the outer ring might suffice. The library is fairly bare of the inside, but definitely the type of place where I would want to study. Much of the main reading room is lit naturally. However, while the library has space for about 8 million books, it only contains 500,000. It has a long ways to go.

On the whole, I really enjoyed my Alexandria trip. A lot of the things that frustrated me about Cairo were left behind in Cairo. The traffic wasn't as congested, the air was clean and crisp, and most importantly, the temperature was much cooler. Nevertheless, I was excited to get back to my new home and start class the next day (today). I'll be sure to devote my next post to my classes and the new campus (the maze that it is). Hope you enjoyed this one. Pardon the absence of brevity.

Ma'a salaama,

Blair