Today, I took a morning train to Alexandria to check out the sites there. As you visit Alexandria, it gets you thinking obviously of Alexander the Great's pursuits and accomplishments. They had a world renowned library around 400 BC or so. Egypt had 2 of the 7 wonders of the world in the Pyramids and also the great lighthouse they had at Alexandria. But unfortunately the lighthouse suffered due to an earthquake in the 1300s. It was about 115 to 135 metres tall which back in the day was pretty amazing! It was on the Pharos island at Alexandria, Alexander's town was pretty amazing.
I spent a good portion of the day walking for sure.
Catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqafa where some interesting underground tombs. Pompey's Pillar & the Sepapeum were interesting Roman ruins with a large pillar. Apparently when the Library of Alexandria grew to big, they opened up a daughter library here to store the overflow.
Went to the relatively new and impressive Bibliotheca Alexandrina (new library) and saw the planetarium outside. Went to the Chatby Necropolis which is some more tombs. Visited the Alexandria National Museum as well, had a great collection of Egyptian items as well as items on Alexandria.
Visited the Roman Amphiteatre as well, it was a lot of walking that day. Caught the train back to Cairo.
So after Alexander was buried in Alexandria, his general Ptolemy took over Egypt and this blood line eventually led to Cleopatra. Travelling makes you think about the bigger timelines and I find it very interesting.
Tomorrow planning to visit the Citadel, before maybe hitting the Big Market for some deals and hope I don't get ripped off too much.
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