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Published: April 7th 2008
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March 30 - 31
Alexandria, Egypt
We got an early start today for the 3 hour drive through the countryside to Alexandria. This was a very enjoyable drive with a good look at the very productive agricultural area between Cairo and Alexandria. We were surprised to see the wide variety of crops. Vineyards, Olive groves, Fruit, Nuts, Palms, Wheat, animal feed and some very big banana plantations. Lots of small farms but some big operations as well. It’s amazing what you can do in a desert with a little water. I can’t imagine why there is a bread shortage here.
On the way we noticed many tall cone / beehive shaped brick towers, all full of small holes, at many of the farms along the way. We had no idea what they were but were told later they are all pigeon houses !! ( squab ). This is apparently a very common and popular dish in all of Egypt. We must be eating at the wrong places as we don’t recall seeing it in any restaurants. I am on a mission now to find some before we leave Egypt.
We met our local guide in Alexandria and
enjoyed the rest of the day visiting many historical sites including the famous Alexandria catacombs ( burial tombs ), an ancient Greek /Roman amphitheatre that has been very well restored and is in very good condition, and the very large New Alexandria Library. The old library was very famous from the Roman times but was destroyed by fire and all but one ancient document were destroyed. This is a very interesting place and very modern in terms of computer technology. The plan is to have all the documents, pictures and books available digitally over the internet and they are well on their way to completing this project. Very Impressive. There is reading area for about 2000 people with hundreds of thousands of items. My dear Mother will be shocked to learn that I found a library interesting !
Alexandria is a beautiful city of about 7 million people on the Mediterranean coast and very different from Cairo. Alexandria has a lot of very famous history from biblical times and was the most important cultural city in ancient times. The love affair between Cleopatra and Marc Anthony is said to have been in Alexandria and it is believed that her
burial site is somewhere in the city. If this was in North America there would be a whole tourist business built around this famous romance and the whole story.
It is interesting that Alexandria is an afterthought and last minute option for many tourists as the most famous places are the pyramids of Giza and the Nile cruise and Luxor. Too bad ! Alexandria is a beautiful place with a lot of history and a wonderful location on the sea. We would recommend taking the extra time to spend a few days here if you are ever in Egypt. Some of the Mediterranean cruises do stop here now.
Tomorrow we take the drive back to Cairo for one night and then continue our adventure in Turkey.
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Rajeev
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Fabulous........................
ALEXANDER THE GREAT...... Marvelous, wonderful and exiting city.There are some historical thoughts living in this country.People who should know the importance of the Egypt in this world, espesialy Alexandria.