April 25
Today we opted for a tour as we didn’t want to deal with Egyptian taxi drivers and their games with fares. The port here is very nice and clean with a big modern terminal, but nothing in it. There was a row of small shops outside the terminal filled with items from China, the merchants did not hassle you too much. Once outside the port gate this is what we saw.
It looked like a war zone. We passed some parks that were filled with garbage, our tour guide said the garbage collectors were on strike. Our tour guide was excellent and spoke very good English. (Since the revolution the country is very unsettled, no one is sure who is in charge of anything.)
We visited the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, also known as the New Library of Alexandria. It is a new library as the original burnt down in Roman days. The library is a modern building 11 stories high, with 4 below sea level. The computer room was staffed with over 250 computers, everything state of the art. The website is www.bibalex.org, check it out as it is free and has lots of info available. As seen in the pictures, quite a modern looking building for Egypt. It also houses several museums and a Planetarium.
We then visited the medieval Qait Bey Citadel aka as Fort Qait Bey, built by Sultan Qaitbey in the 15th century to defend Egypt against the threat of the Turks. It occupies a narrow peninsula and was built on the ruins of the Pharos lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Next we toured the Roman Amphitheater, which stands in the center of Alexandria. This is an archeological site being dug by a team from Poland.
Above is one of the many sculptures uncovered. It is believed that under the Roman Theater sits the ancient city of Macedonia. They had to make a decision as to which of the ruins was more important to the history of Egypt. They are still looking for Cleopatra’s tomb which is believed to be nearby. The buildings in the city are so beautiful but very rundown as there is no money for upkeep. It was a pleasant day and the weather was perfect. We have been very lucky regarding weather on this cruise.
We departed at 8:00 p.m after all the passengers returned from their trip to the Pyramids, Sphinx and Nile river cruise. We did all that 4 years ago so explored the city instead. We set reciprocal tracks through the outer harbor and buoyed channel and took a north westerly heading toward Dubrovnik, Croatia.
