As our second day of the survey in
Alexandria began, I heard the wind
rattling my hotel window, and soon I was drawn out the hotel and to the shore
where waves crashed in all along the coastline. It was a bit of a bleak day,
though it would not stay that way all day. Still, here were the fisherman,
casting out amidst the spray and foam, and even the cats, apparently adapted to
this rather un-cat-like environ. There were even joggers about, and soon the brisk mist made sure I was awake and ready for the day.
Our first stop was the
Mosque of Abu el-Abbas el-Mursi, another instance
where there is simply not enough space and two many obstacles to photograph the
whole facility. Its a beautiful, gleaming structure though, with very
ornate stonework. Later on, I would discover that it is perhaps much more
photogenic from a boat in the sea. Soon though, we moved on to the
Muntazah
Gardens.
Alexandria is not an inexpensive place. The hotels are known for being a bit more expensive than in Cairo, for example, and the way to really enjoy Alex is to spend a little money. And though there are some excellent hotels elsewhere, I think it would be fun so base a visit to Alexandria right here in these gardens at the El Salamlek Palace Hotel. It was built in 1892 by Khedive Abbas Helmi II as a hunting lodge for his mistress, Countess Mary-Torok von Szendro. It sits right in the midst of the Muntazah Gardens, next to some of the best private beaches in Alexandria. Inside the hotel are statues and portraits of Egypt's last kings, and there is certainly an air of royalty. Sitting in the bar makes one feel as though time has slipped away back into a more leisurely European past.
The gardens are lush with manicured date palm groves, flowers and a good
variety of birds. Here, of course, is also Muntazah Palace, or the Haramlik,
built by King Fuad in 1932. A sea bridge spans out and around the main beach
area terminating with a small lighthouse. Of course, those a bit more well
healed can also park their yachts in this pleasant setting. Somehow, the whole
area seems drawn from some storybook, dripping with romance.
It took a while to explore the grounds of the
Muntazah
Gardens, which though
I hate to admit it, even though we ate there, includes a McDonalds situated in a
small mall. However, our next stop took us to the Library of
Alexandria, where
we met up with Zahraa Awed, for the first time. Though she has been our blogger
for Alexandria now for some time, I had never met her. I was looking forward to
meeting her. She is also a tour guide, ultimately familiar with Alexandria, where
she lives, and the type of honest, open person who makes anyone's tour a joy. She
met us at the Library just for a few minutes, as she was finishing up a tour,
but we would connect up again in another hour. Meanwhile, we set about
photographing the Library of Alexandria.
Date palm groves in the gardesn at Muntazah
The
Library, meant to
honor and expand upon Alexandria's
ancient center of learning, has now been open for a few years, and its role has
expanded to include a museum. It will be interesting to see over the coming
years what sort of impact it will have on the academic world, though already
there are many ambitious plans. After roaming around the Library for a time, we
finally met up with Zahraa who was finished with her tour. I cannot imagine
anyone knowing this city better than she does, so having her along for the
remainder of the day was a real treat.
Now,
we moved on to the Necropolis of
Mustafa Kamal, (Moustapha
Pasha) where we had no problem getting down into the tombs to
take photos. This complex contains six tombs and was discovered in
1933. As I look back on our journey now, I would have liked to have
spent more time exploring some of these structures, though it was
always our intention to make an overview rather than a detailed
examination on this survey. Nevertheless, these tombs represent a
culture that was Roman based but unique to
Alexandria.
My team, now including Zahraa, hams it up at the
Necropolis of Mustafa Kamal
Next,
we visited the El Shataby tombs, though it was getting late now and
we really had no time left to go down into the tombs. These are the
oldest tombs in Alexandria, and here there are considerable
artifacts above ground that we photographed. By now, we began to
realize just how much there actually is to see in
Alexandria. Many
people only make a day trip to Alex, which is fine for a very
cursory overview, but our two days were not really nearly enough to
fully explore the city in any detail. Luckily, I
will
be heading back through Alexandria from the northwestern part of the
coast on the next part of the survey in a few months, and I now plan
on spending a bit more time in the city to visit some of the sites
we simply could not get to on this visit.
After leaving the El Shataby tombs, we made a quick stop by Ras
el Soda, a monument practically unknown by most visitors to
Alexandria. The SCA moving this Roman temple, formerly located at
Ras el Soda, to a new site
in
Alexandria during the 1990s, and it is now open to tourists. It was
necessary to dismantle and relocate the structure due to problems
resulting from rising ground-water. The temple was dedicated to Isis
and was primarily financed by a Roman soldier in the 1st or 2nd
centuries A.D. It contains ruined masonry walls and a collection of
Roman-period statues, including representations of Romanized Isis,
Serapis and Canopus. It is located very near the Alabaster Tomb that
some believe to be part of the ancient royal necropolis.
The
next archaeological site we visited, and one that is surprisingly
not very well known, was the ancient Alexandrian defensive wall at
the Shallalat Gardens. This is the only place in the city where a
section of the Hellenistic wall has survived, making it one of the
oldest monuments in the city. Nearby the ancient wall there is also
Cretin Fort, named after an officer in the Corps of Engineers of
Napoleon's army. According to the sign in front of the small
fortress, the building is ascribed to
Mohammad Ali, and was really a manufacturing facility for copper
tools.
A view of Shallalat Gardens
The park itself is very nice to visit, populated with shrubs and
trees that are manicured into various shapes. It was originally
designed by Nubar Pacha one of Muhammad Ali family's Prime
Ministers.
What one might not notice is that the park borders Hourryea Avenue
and Sultan Street Square, the setting of Lawrence Durell's famous
novel, "The Alexandria Quartet". This is known as the Greek quarter,
not because this section of town dates back to the Greek period, but
rather because rich Greek merchants inhabited the area during the
19th century. At that time, it was the wealthiest section of
Alexandria, and around the area one can spot many fine homes dating
from that era.
Finally, we made a stop by the Terbana Mosque, the oldest in Alexandria but again a place rarely visited by tourists. This small mosque is notable for its reuse of Greek and Roman era columns and for its Kishani glazed tile with geometric and floral designs. It "hangs" over modern store fronts that once formed the bases for its support foundation, therefore making it a hanging mosque. Its small portal is very interesting, and unique compared to Cairo mosques.
On the morning of the first day of our visit to
Alexandria, I
thought seriously about hiring a boat to take me out into the
harbor, but the demands of the day simply did not allow me to do so.
Now, as dawn approached, we headed back towards
Fort Qaitbey, and hired a small motorboat to take us out for a
half hour, not as long as I would have liked, but Fitar was
approaching and the natives were growing restless. My intent was
actually
to photograph the fortress, but as we moved away from the bay, the
sun was setting just over the
Mosque of Abu el-Abbas el-Mursi,
presenting a grand sight that kept catching my eye. We really did
not get far enough out to really get the angle I wanted on Fort
Qaitbey, or for that matter, the
Library
of Alexandria, but the view of the Mosque made up for that. Too
soon, we were back on dry land, but the evening was not finished
just yet.
By now, I felt like my team, together with Zahraa, had become
fast friends, and so Fitar this evening would be my treat, and
Zahraa knew the perfect place. Where else should one eat in
Alexandria but
the Fish
Market.
OK, I have to admit that this Texan is not the biggest fan of fish.
I subtly suggested TGI Fridays just outside of the
Muntazah
Gardens, but that fell on deaf ears, as I had been forcing hamburgers and
KFC (when we could find them) on the team for too many days, and
they were ready for a traditional meal.
The place was packed and spilling onto the street, as good
restaurants tend to be at Fitar (the first meal of the day) during
Ramadan. It looked like a long wait, but was not. In fact, just as
they were setting up an
additional
table for us, one became available upstairs, and we retired there
for a social moment that I greatly enjoyed. The next morning, all
too soon, we would depart
Alexandria early
for a journey across the Mediterranean coast to
Port Said.
In reflection, Alexandria does not host the countless archaeological sites one encounters in and around Cairo or Luxor. However, what it does contain is uniquely different than anywhere else in Egypt, and honestly, we did not really begin to explore Alexandria, during our two days, in any depth. There were a number of major sites that we simply had no time to visit. Here, ancient pharaonic Egypt meets the new era of Greek and Roman rule, meshing and combining both. Culturally, even though Alexandria has been torn apart and rebuilt several times over its history, even though there is no Library, and no ruling Greeks or Romans, there is still a sense of "Alexandria in Egypt, not of Egypt," as the city was once known.
A far shot from the bay of the Library of Alexandria peeking
out from other buildings
See Also:
- Survey to Egypt: Part I: Safety in Egypt
- Survey of Egypt, Part II: Ramadan Kareem
- Survey of Egypt, Part III: Wadi el-Natrun to Tanta
- Survey of Egypt, Part IV: Tanta to Alexandria
- Survey of Egypt, Part V: Alexandria
- Survey of Egypt, Part VII: Alexandria to Port Said
- Survey of Egypt, Part VIII: Port Said to Cairo
- Survey of Egypt, Part IX: Cairo to El-Arish
- Survey of Egypt, Part X: El-Arish to Dahab
- Survey of Egypt, Part XI: The Southern Sinai Interior
- Survey of Egypt, Part XII: Mount Sinai and Sharm el-Sheikh
- Survey of Egypt, Part XIII: The Sinai West Coast
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Last Updated: 10/25/2006