5 top attraction Alexandria

Alexandria

 

Alexandria is an Egyptian Mediterranean port city. It was home to a lighthouse that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as well as a storied library, during the Hellenistic period. The library has been reborn as the disc-shaped, ultramodern Bibliotheca Alexandrina. There are also Greco-Roman ruins, old-world cafes, and sandy beaches in the city. Its seafront Qaitbay Citadel, built in the 15th century, is now a museum.

Plan your trip with our list of the top Alexandria attractions and things to do.

1-the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Museums

Most visitors to Alexandria head straight for this modern reimagining of the ancient Great Library.

 

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is one of Egypt’s most significant contemporary landmarks and the city’s cultural heart. It houses one of the most ambitious libraries in the modern world, as well as a slew of museums devoted to Alexandria’s history and heritage.

 

Its design is centred on a massive sun disc that presides over the waterfront Corniche. The massive main library and its reading room can hold up to eight million volumes.

 

The main tourist attractions for visitors, however, are the beautifully curated exhibition spaces beneath the main library.

2-the Catacombs tomb of Kom el-Shuqqafa

one of Alexandria’s underground tombs that has survived, They were discovered in 1900 (due to a donkey falling into them) and are built on several levels with sarcophagi and loculi (shelf tomb) chambers.

The main rotunda is reached via a spiral staircase that descends into the ground.

Tombs date from the second century AD.

To the right, you can enter the main burial chamber as well as the Sepulchral Chapel, which has 91 loculi, each of which can hold three or four mummies.

To the left is a large room known as the Triclinium Funeral, which was used for memorial banquets.

3-The Pompey’s Pillar

In Carmous, near the Catacombs of Kom el-Shuqqafa, stands Alexandria’s only fully intact ancient monument, which is littered with the remains of ancient walls, architectural fragments, and rubble.

 

Pompey’s Pillar rises from the ruins of the ancient and famous Serapeion (Temple of Serapis), which was once used to store the Great Library of Alexandria’s overflow of manuscripts.

 

This column of red Aswan granite with a Corinthian capital, rising to nearly 27 metres in height, has nothing to do with Pompey and was instead erected in AD 292 in honour of Diocletian, who supplied food for the city’s starving population following the siege.

 

3- Qaitbey Fort

Walk west along the Eastern Harbor’s long shore-front Corniche road until you reach Fort Qaitbey.

 

It may be a poor substitute for the mighty Pharos Lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that was destroyed by a violent earthquake in 1303; however, this squat fort has stood guard over Alexandria since 1480.

 

Mamluke Sultan Qaitbey built Fort Qaitbey to protect this important Egyptian port from attack, and rubble from the toppled lighthouse was used in its construction.

Inside, you can explore the stone-walled chambers and climb to the roof for a view of the Mediterranean.

4- Com el-Dikka Or the Roman theatre.

Nobody gave much thought to the ancient rubble mound in central Alexandria until it was decided to clear the site for new housing in the 1960s.

As construction began, the Kom el-Dikka (“Mound of Rubbles”) area revealed a slew of ancient ruins buried beneath, including a small Roman theatre.

Today, the area is a small archaeological park with Greco-Roman ruins from Alexandria.

5-In addition to the theatre, there are ruins of a Ptolemaic temple, a Roman bathhouse, and several Roman villas.

Excavation work on the Villa of the Birds here uncovered well-preserved 3rd century mosaic floors that have been preserved.

Underwater Ruins of Alexandria

Diving in Alexandria, unlike diving in the Red Sea, is not about colourful coral reefs and fish life. Instead, Eastern Harbor dive sites are all about ancient underwater ruins.

For divers, Alexandria offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dive among the ancient city’s toppled statues and colomns.

Be aware that underwater visibility is low on dives in Alexandria.

In recent years, the waters off the coast of here have provided plenty of riches for underwater archaeologists.

 

To the northeast of the city, in the bay of Aboukir, archaeologists discovered the port city of Heracleion-Thonis and have brought many of the treasures to the surface, now on display in Alexandria’s museums. However, for the time being, the majority of recreational diving opportunities