Our three-day trip to Alexandria, Egypt

We just spent three very interesting, intense, exhausting and fun days in and around Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city. It was our first encounter with this Ancient city by the Mediterranean, and it couldn’t have been a better one, seeing that we were guided by a most outstanding, fantastic guide.

We left Maadi on Tuesday morning, picked up the rest of the group Downtown, and arrived without any problems at Cecil Hotel in Alexandria a few hours later, where our fantastic guide bought us lunch. In the afternoon we visited a few catacombs inAlexandria (Mustafa Kamil Pasha, Anfushy, Shugafa), as well as the Marble Tomb. In the evening we all went out to a fish restaurant together, where we had fantastic shrimp, fish, and octopus served with lots of little dips, bread and salad. Because of the holiday, the streets were packed with people; however despite the partying noise that didn’t seem to end, we had no problem falling asleep after a long day.


On Wednesday after a wonderful breakfast we drove out to visit Rashid, or Rosetta, which we walked through to see some of the well-preserved 17th and 18th century houses and mosques, the only preserved medieval public bath in Egypt, and the fort where the Rosetta stone was found. We then drove out to see the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, where the boys collected sea shells. On the way back to Alexandria we stopped at the fish restaurant — the Zephyrion — in Abukir, where we had yet another great seafood meal, and then we attempted to approach the Quaitbay fort but ended up turning back to the hotel because the streets were too crowded. Together with a few of the others, we then walked around Alexandria a bit on our own, stopping to visit the Coptic cathedral of St. Mark (the boys bought a star for their Christmas tree in the church gift shop), and to have coffee and pastries at one of the famous patisseries in Alexandria. Courtney went out with the rest of the group for dinner and drinks in the evening, but the boys (and/or especially I) were very tired, so we got Chinese take-out, had nice warm baths, and watched ‘Underdog’ on TV before falling asleep early.

On Thursday after breakfast we went out to see the fort, which is found on the site where the famous Pharos once stood. The boys got to buy a couple of souvenirs (some seashells and a shark jaw), and I got to see the fort, supposedly containing some of the stones recovered from the Pharos after it collapsed in the early 14th century. After the fort we went to an archeological site in the center of Alexandria – Kom El Dikka, as well as the underground catacombs, which had some very interested wall carvings. We then left Alexandria to visit Burg al-'Arab, where we saw the only surviving ancient lighthouse in Egypt (read about it here) as well as a large Temple of Osiris. After this we drove out to the Monastery of Abu Mena where the ancient pilgrimage city of Abu Mena has been found (one of the six UNESCO World Heritage sites in Egypt). In the third century, the body of the martyr St. Mena was being brought through the area for burial, when the camels carrying his body suddenly stopped and refused to go any further. The people transporting the body understood this as God wanting them to bury the body right there, and when they did, a spring appeared. Soon, people started coming to the site to collect holy water that also had healing powers. A chapel was built on the site, then a smaller church, and eventually a large cathedral. An entire village grew around the cathedral to cater all the visitors, and the place flourished for some 500 years until the spring dried up and the place was abandoned. Now it is being properly excavated, and the remains of St. Menas have been recovered. The relics were on display in a little wooden church built in the middle of the archeological site. It was quite overwhelming, and the boys had a great time running through the muddy plains of thousand year old ruins. We picked up, to the boys' great delight - McDonalds on our way back to Cairo, and arrived home a little after 8 pm, happy, but absolutely exhausted.

I spent today recovering, physically, with my feet up as much as possible (all the while cleaning the house, doing three loads of laundry, preparing three meals, unpacking and catching up on everything else left undone for the past few days), and I’m also trying to nip - what appears to be - the beginning of a cold in the bud. My throat is sore, my eyes feel tired and I’m a bit warm while feeling cold. Hopefully it will be better by the morning. Tomorrow starts what is going to be a very busy week for us, and I really, really can’t get sick right now!