Egypt - Part 2 -Exploring Alexandria - Port City of Egypt

As per today’s itinerary, we had a full day tour to Alexandria planned with taking a flight to Aswan late evening back from Cairo.

Hence we checked out from Mena hotel, Cairo early morning at around 6:30 am carrying ready-made breakfast boxes so that we can have it during our onward journey to Alexandria

We reached Alexandria around 10 am (approx. 3 hours journey from Cairo) and started our tour of the second largest city in Egypt.

Alexandria is a port city located on the Mediterranean sea in northern Egypt and a major industrial center. Most of you would have guessed by now why this city is named so. Yes, it was explored by Alexander, the great. With some background about this city, I will now take you all through some of the important attractions of this city. 

Catacomb

This is a historical archaeological site and is considered one of the seven wonders in Middle Ages. It is believed to be the largest Roman burial site in Egypt. There are all types of statues, objects, and tombs within the burial chamber. The catacombs consist of three levels cut through solid rock, the third level being now completely underwater. You can see a lot of 'burial art'. Many levels of corridors and passageways leading to new areas.

Pompey’s Pillar

Pompey's Pillar is the name given to a Roman triumphal column in Alexandria. The pillar is flanked by two sphinxes. You can walk around the premises and find some ruins. Please be careful while walking as the ground is uneven in few places. Quick stop worth spending around 30 minutes here.

Roman Amphitheater

This is the only known Roman Theater in Egypt. Very well preserved archaeological site in fact. Place was very clean and less crowd to walk around. You can walk all over everything and really stand on the marble circle in the middle of the amphitheater and  hear yourself amplified.

Then it was lunchtime. I exactly do not remember where we had lunch. Sorry readers forgot to note down all details back then since I did not knew that I would be into travel blogging in future J

Qait bay fortress

Our last stop of the day. We drove through the port city to reach this place.  It was nice to see people walking along the seaside.

Finally, we reached this picturesque fortress located on the Mediterranean Sea coast. Since we had to head back to Cairo, we quickly clicked pictures from outside.

It is an incredible place for the views of the sea and the coast. Lovely to walk around and enjoy the cool breeze alongside sea. There are some nice seating areas also for people to relax and click pictures.

Around 5 pm we started driving back to Cairo since we had a flight to catch to Aswan. We bid adieu to this wonderful port city of Egypt carrying lot of good pictures as memories.