Abu Qir Wrecks 92| Practical Info 64| El-Alamein War Museum 36| Bibliotheca Alexandrina Shop Till You Drop 66| Commonwealth Memorial 41| Alexandria National P

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World Heritage Site * 5 Alexandria & The White Med your next great experience One of the great hidden secrets of Egypt El-Alamein battlefields to snorkeling the beaches is Alexandria, the main city of the White of Marsa Matrouh this is the place to go. Did You Know? Mediterranean, situated between a strip of Alexandria has its own weather perfect in summer The Mediterranean is called wonderful blue skies and impeccable beaches. with sea breezes, cooler in winter. It has its own in Arabic ‘the White Sea’ as Nearby are the picturesque sea towns of Rosetta people, influenced by the inflows and outflows opposed to the ‘Red Sea’ on the other end of the Suez Canal. and Marsa Matrouh as well as some brand new of all of humanity since the beginning of time. The Red Sea isn’t Red and the resorts such as Porto Marina and Almaza Bay. It is Mediterranean to be sure, but it has its own White Sea isn’t White but the What Alexandria offers most of all is the chance to distinct and rather beautiful character. It is friendly, names have stuck! Hence, of have a defining experience, one that you will take welcoming and full of historical interest. course, the designation ‘White Mediterranean”. away and always remember, a story you will want For those committed to seeing everything in Egypt, to retell to all your friends and family. it is possible to go in three hours by train to Cairo Here there is culture, history, sea and the or to drive there in a similar amount of time. Cairo attractions of a great and influential city. For those is a useful hub to reach other destinations in Egypt. seeking a holiday with huge variety from visiting You can take the sleeper train to Luxor from Cairo the greatest library in the world to exploring the or a coach to the Sinai Peninsula. Alternatively, you ancient Roman Catacombs to visiting the nearby can fly from Alexandria airport to Luxor, Aswan

6 and Sharm al Sheikh via Cairo. Each can be reached in about an hour by air. Road transfers from other North Coast airports to Alexandria and its airport are easy.

The Natural Alternative There is little agriculture on a mass scale on the northern coast, and there are no major industrial zones or polluting factories and this is reflected The White Med is known for its in the pristine bird and sea life. pristine water colours

7 Unforgettable experiences will come through your personal journey which could be an intense 24 hour trip, a longer Journeys visit, or something very simple, something unique you do, see or buy.

24 hours in Alexandria Start with breakfast outside the Hotel Cecil, overlooking the magnificent double harbour of Alexandria. Ride a double decker bus to the Jewelry Museum and make sure you see the ex-king’s diamond studded gardening tools. Keep going to take in the excellent Mahmoud Said Modern Art Museum followed by the Library of Alexandria. Whizz along the Corniche for a top fish lunch at Abu Qir, and have coffee on the way back at the stunning Salamak Hotel in Montazeh Bay. You should now squeeze in a visit to the Catacombs and Pompey’s Pillar, before doing some shopping at the antique buying area of Attareen. Take in traditional music at the Opera house, and dinner at a popular restaurant in Bahari. The Jewelry Museum P39 Mahmoud Said Modern Art Museum P40

8 24 hours in the Ancient World Breakfast at one of the cafés near Pompey’s Pillar, then visit the Roman Amphitheatre, and El-Agami P26 The North Coast P62 Catacombs before heading out The War Museum P64 to Abu Sir, the ancient Agiiba P81

Roman site outside Pompey’s Pillar P22 Alexandria. You can The Catacombs P24 St. Mena P44 24 hours of sun, sea also take in St. Mena, the Coptic Monastery and desert. Beach breakfast at a Corniche café overlooking which stands some 40km away. the famous beaches of Alexandria. Then head Head back to Alexandria for the along to the historic beach of El-Agami before ruins at Canopus. turning inland to visit El-Alamein and see the incredible battlefields and the moving cemeteries of the Allied, German and Italian soldiers. Take in the Museum of the Battle then head towards Marsa Matrouh with its fabulous azure seas. A bit further on you should fit in a swim at Agiiba beach which is said to be the finest on the North Coast.

9 Writers and Artists Trail Alexandria has long been an inspiration to writers and artists. Follow this trail to learn and experience the lives of such eminent men as E.M. Forster, Constantine Cavafy and Lawrence Durrell. One of the great poets of the 20th century, Cavafy was Greek by descent, Egyptian by adoption. Start Cavafy’s house P39 at Cavafy’s house on Sharm El-Sheikh Street and amble towards the sea and the ancient harbour, the source of much of their and their fellow artists’ inspiration. Take in the modern art museum, then aim for the Villa Ambron where Durrell lived and wrote during World War II. His masterpiece “The Alexandria Quartet” can be used as a kind of guidebook; you can also use the real guidebook (still being sold in Alexandria and Cairo) written almost a hundred years ago by E.M. Forster, the writer who gave us A Passage to India and Howard’s End.

10 El-Nabi Daniel Mosque P51 The Alexander Trail Oracle temple P90 The Alexander Trail follows the route of Alexander the Great, starting at Pharos island and ending in the Siwa oasis. Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria because the island of Pharos was mentioned by Homer as a place that Alexander’s hero, Hercules, visited. Visit Pharos, now on a spit of land in the middle of Alexandria’s harbour. Take in the supposed sites of Alexander’s tomb at El- Nabi Daniel Mosque and Silsileh before taking a trip to Marsa Matrouh, where he prepared himself to cross the desert to Siwa. You may take a car or coach to Siwa and visit the Oracle temple where he sought guidance. Make sure you have a question of The Cleopatra Trail your own to ask! Cleopatra lived and died on the White Mediterranean, along the way winning the hearts of two of the most powerful men in the world: Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. The last Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra’s palace was in Alexandria, as was her mausoleum. Her favourite place to visit was Paraetonium, the old name for Marsa Matrouh. Here you may scout the ruins of her villa, behind the old Governor’s palace. A short way along the coast you may bathe in the rock cut baths where she and Mark Anthony used to love to swim. Marsa Matrouh P74

11 Experiences

Shop till you Drop Shopping is pure pleasure when you devote yourself to it wholeheartedly, and with bargain prices and fabulous opportunities the White Mediterranean provides great shopping experiences. From the great San Stephano shopping mall and the Attareen antiques area to the excellent Bedouin craft shops of Marsa Matrouh, there are shopping experiences Marsa Matrouh P74 available for all.

12 Food Glorious Food Eating experiences make up a big part of any journey. Both the strange and familiar foods available in Egypt will make for great meals and great stories to tell. Egyptians love people who love their food so make sure you ask for the recipe at any restaurant where you really like what you have eaten. Often the chef will give you a tour of his kitchen and maybe a small pot of his homemade spices. On the White Mediterranean you should try fish so fresh it will melt on your palate, an utter delight. Try Calamari lightly fried, Sea Bream and oven roasted Bass. Try the local Rosetta P56 dishes of stuffed pigeon, the health giving Moloukheia soup, and make sure you try Karkadeh or Hibiscus, a delicious herbal tea proven to lower blood pressure. There are fabulous restaurants in Rosetta, in Alexandria along the Corniche, in Marsa Matrouh; and the beach resorts also offer great dining of traditional and international food. The Natural World For those intent on a natural Mediterranean experience, there are opportunities here not to be missed. At the Al-Omeyed nature reserve, not far west of Alexandria you may savour the sight of a rare gazelle or a desert fox. Or, for the birdwatcher, observe through waving reeds at dawn, the graceful Grebes and Bitterns on Lake Mariut, south of Alexandria.

13 A Night to Remember Taking home a memory of a ‘great night out’ is a wonderful part of any holiday. In Alexandria, a 24 hour city, you may be sure to find all you need for a night to remember. Try the nightclubs for belly dancing once you have circulated The Bibliotheca P36 through the many restaurants The Jewelry Museum P39 and bars in the waterside areas of Alexandria. Culture Vulture Going to a museum should not be a chore, it should be a delight. Luckily in Alexandria and elsewhere on the White Med. coast there are museums that are not too overcrowded allowing you the freedom to enjoy yourself to the full. Visit the Jewelry Museum in Alexandria and get ideas for a new ring you can have made for you in the silversmith quarter of town. Take in the art museum for a brand new take on modern Egyptian life. Visit the Bibliotheca and marvel at the power of the written word.

14 History Lesson History began in Egypt you might say. When the world’s first historian, Herodotus, arrived, the place was already considered an historical goldmine. You can’t avoid history in Egypt so make the most of it and enjoy it to the full. You will have heard, perhaps, of the Rosetta Stone that decoded the Ancient Egyptian language; now search for the spot outside the walls of Fort Qaitbey in Rosetta where it was found. In Alexandria stroll at your leisure around the Roman Amphitheatre and Pompey’s Pillar. Close your eyes in the Catacombs and feel the weight of centuries all around you. On the site of Pompey’s Pillar P22 the old lighthouse look for the Roman Amphitheatre P47 original stones. Fort Qaitbey in Rosetta P56

15 16 Alexandria

17 Alexandria

“Alexandria is a jewel of manifest brilliance, and a virgin decked with glittering ornaments. She lights Founded by Alexander the Great in 331BC, up the west with her glory; she combines beauties Alexandria was not a natural harbour but was made of the most diverse description, because of her one by joining the island of Pharos with the mainland situation between Orient and Occident. There is to make a double bay perfect for sheltering from any every wonder displayed for all to see, and there all storms the Mediterranean could throw at the city. rare things arrive.” Alexander wanted it to be a ‘megalopolis’, a model city larger than any then known. The streets were So wrote the leading Arab traveler of all time, Ibn 30m wide unheard of in that time, and the walls of Battuta, in the 14th century, the question is how has it the city extended 15km truly a marvel. changed? For a start, one thing that can never change is the unique position of Alexandria as gateway to When Alexander died his successor and childhood the East and the West. Situated to the left of the Nile friend Ptolemy eventually settled on Alexandria Delta, it has received influences from Africa, from the as the capital of the Greek Empire. And from this Far East via the Suez Canal and from Europe which is moment onwards the city became famed throughout only short journey across the Mediterranean. the known world.

18 Beautiful turquoise colours of the White Med

19 Birth of the Coptic Church

Christianity arrived very early in Egypt with St Mark, the Apostle. Quickly it spread throughout Alexandria, where he landed, and into Egypt though the ruling Roman empire was strongly opposed to this new religion. Many, also, in protest against the overt materialism of the rich Roman elite, took to the deserts south of Alexandria to become monks and mystics. These ‘desert fathers’ eventually formed communities which became the foundation for monastic Christianity the world over.

20 Undersea during some huge earthquakes Alexandria and an accompanying tsunami around 1600 years ago, and One cannot escape Cleopatra on now can be seen under the the White Mediterranean, and sea in Alexandria. Goddio also under the waters of the harbour extended his search to the bay of of Alexandria probably lies the Abu Qir, where he found French palace which is her final resting wrecks mentioned later, but place. Since 1996, marine also, closer in, the ruined city treasure hunter Franck Goddio of Herakleion, submerged for has been surveying the sea bed 1300 years. It is possible to dive five metres down in the Eastern this fascinating site along with harbour of Alexandria. He has the other underwater marvels of found extensive submerged Alexandria. ruins, including granite columns, votive statues, sphinxes, pottery, Tip and an entire stone jetty from If you want to go diving on the Ancient Royal Quarters holiday buy your own face mask but rent the rest of the of Alexandria. He has found gear from the dive centre. inscriptions suggesting that Cleopatra’s palace was on the St. Mena Monastery island of Antirrhodos which sank

21 Pompey’s Pillar bloodied its knee!

Arguably the most famous Amoud al-Sawari St. Kom landmark in the touristic el-Shoqafa area (Karmouz) topography of Alexandria, 03/ 960 1315 Pompey’s Pillar soars 25 metres 9am-4:30pm above the limestone ridge on 31°10’56.71” N which it stands; beneath it and all 29°53’49.31” E around lie partially excavated pits as well as a reasonable garden. Not that Pompey had anything to do with it. The red granite column, made from sturdy Aswan rock, was probably raised in honour of the Roman Emperor Diocletian who threatened, in startling fashion, to slaughter the local population “until their blood reached his horse’s knees”. Legend has it that he desisted in this murderous Staircase leads to the subterranean ambition when this same horse One of Alexandria’s galleries at Pompey’s Pillar site slipped on a paving slab and recovered undersea treasures

22 Pompey’s Pillar

23 Catacombs of Kom eL-Shoqafa

No visit to Pompey’s Pillar is complete without going five minutes around the corner to the famed Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa. Donkeys rank with archeologists in making discoveries in Egypt both the Golden Mummies of Bahariya and these Catacombs were found by donkeys falling through holes in the ground. In this case the donkey discovered the largest Roman burial site in Egypt, and a truly strange and very striking one it is, with its own weird atmosphere redolent of a different, more colourful age. Built 35 metres down into solid rock once must tread carefully in descent following a spiral stairway (well lit) past a shaft whose original purpose was a kind of dumb waiter for corpses being lowered to their final resting place. Through a tightish squeeze one emerges into the striking Hall of Caracalla, the Roman Emperor who massacred a large number of Alexandrian youths. Some of them perhaps were laid to rest in the Catacombs, guarded by murals that depict two terrific bearded serpents. Surrounding the central tomb is a broad passage lined with cavities in two rows with room for over 300 mummies.

Al-Nasseriyya St., Kom el-Shoqaf area 03/ 9601316 9am-4:30pm 31°10’45.29” N 29°53’35.26” E Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa

24 Tip When viewing ancient Burial catacombs and tombs carry Chambers your own head torch or pen light it makes looking at inscriptions easier and it beats trying to use the light from a mobile phone!

Rotunda Exedrae

Ambulatory Triclinium Shaft

Statue that meets you at the entrance of the Catacombs Catacombs of kom el-shoqafa 25 El-Agami Tip In El-Agami you will see El-Agami was the first of the calamari fishermen catching great resorts on the outskirts of squid. They then walk the Alexandria, and today, despite beach with a bucket of the extensive building, there are freshest offering it for sale. You can buy this and have a local still marvelous villas in exquisite restaurant cook it up for you. gardens tucked away behind high and elegantly tonsured hedges. El-Agami was originally Tip an area of wonderful fig groves, When ordering fish some of the best local dishes are made from many sadly gone as the high rise larger single fish like mullet and buildings encroach, but on a fine bass. Go early and chose one day one can still hear the wind big fish for your group and all in the leaves of the fig trees left share in the feast. standing and imagine oneself in a louche film of 1940s Egypt. Not for nothing is the central shopping strip here called the Champs Elysees.

Stunning white beaches along the White Med

26 Fish restaurants

Eating fish is what Alexandria is all about when it comes to culinary experiences of the highest order. There are many excellent restaurants varying from the humble shops down at Abu Qir, further on from Montazah gardens and a possible extension of a visit there, to the more prestigious places nearer the centre of town. All are good if the fish is fresh, and it is very easy to check, as many allow you to chose what fish you want from a raked bed of ice and herbs or even from a tank.

27 Fort Qaitbey

28 Site of the Pharos on after the first Arab invasion in the 7th century, and Qaitbey this hastened the decline of the venerable Pharos.

It is thought that Alexander, when he arrived, spoke Qaitbey is a mini citadel-like place that looks over of the need for a guiding light at the entrance to the the Eastern harbour as Ras el-Tin looks over the harbour. They were not unknown in those days, but Western. Built in the 1480s, it occupies the site, none achieved the grandeur of the Pharos, before and contains stone from, that former wonder of the or since. The cylindrical top tower contained the world: The Pharos, or Lighthouse of Alexandria. mighty lantern, visible it is said from 56km away. One of the original seven wonders of the ancient world (the only surviving one is the Pyramid of Eastern Harbour, El-Anfoushi area Cheops), it stood an incredible 135 metres high 03/480 9144 and lasted 17 centuries. If Alexandria is known 9am-4:30pm for anything in the world it is for this incredible 31°12’47.40” N structure. Myths surround the Pharos. As well as 29°53’05.80” E being a normal lighthouse, with a double spiral staircase up and down which plodded donkeys day and night carrying loads of timber to fuel its light, it was also rumoured to house a special reflecting mirror that not only reflected the sun’s rays as a warning flash or even messaging system but also could actually burn through the rigging of The Maritime an attacking ship. The rumours extended to there Museum near Qaitbey being treasure in its base. This was dug up, partially, 29 Did you Know? Not only is there a nice naval museum in Fort Qaitbey, there is also a marine biology museum Qaitbey with displays and exhibits about fish and animals found in the area.

30 Qaitbey’s Entrance

31 Taposiris Magna. Roman City

Thirty or so kilometres beyond the El-Agami end of Alexandria, you arrive at Abu Sir, the site of the ancient city of Taposiris, founded around the same time as Alexandria. Taposiris is mainly known, however, for having the last surviving lighthouse in a chain that stretched from Alexandria to Libya. This one is one tenth the size of the mighty Pharos, but built in the same style and the same proportions with a square base and octagonal tower, giving archeologists vital clues about that deceased wonder of the world. Outside, on the side where part of the octagon has fallen, you can see the placements for the supports of the winding staircase up which the ever necessary fuel was carried.

Borg el-Arab 30°56’44.89” N 29°30’41.83” E

32 Abu Qir Wrecks ubiquitous undersea explorer of Alexandria, found the French Abu Qir is out past the main flagship L’Orient, 8km offshore part of Alexandria to the east, in 11 metres of water. They also past the Montazah beach area. discovered the Serieuse and the It where you can find excellent Artemise. fish restaurants, as this still has a tradition of such things Abu Qir dating from its time as a former 31°18’52.80” N fishing village. But Abu Qir is 30°02’57.16” E also known as the site of one of the most famous sea battles in history, the confrontation between Nelson and the forces of Napoleon’s French fleet. Nelson won, and so the British broke the French hold on Egypt, leaving it to Mohamed Ali to take over a few years later. The French lost eleven ships and the British two. Franck Goddio, that Some of Mediterranean Sea Food

33 The ancient its heyday, in the mid 1st century Library of BC, the library held over 528,000 documents. By law any ship Alexandria passing through had to allow any texts to be copied at the library if The most famous thing about they didn’t already have a copy. Alexandria after the Pharos Christian mobs destroyed both lighthouse was the ancient library, the main library and, later, the which was built on the advice of smaller ‘daughter’ library in 391 Ptolemy I’s counselor Demetrius, AD. Medieval Europeans later beside the Mouseion, or research ascribed its destruction, entirely institute, in the middle of the falsely, to the Arab conqueror city. No trace of it remains as it Amr. In fact it was the Arabs who was burnt down in 293AD. Long were the first in medieval times to before that however it had lost translate Greek works which then almost all its volumes through entered Europe via Spain. theft and decay, predominantly theft. Like all libraries, it seems, Tip the one in Alexandria was subject When walking through ancient to criminal intent, though on a Alexandria look at the walls of later period stone buildings, you This scene depicts athletic life in vast scale over the years. This may spot building blocks that Alexandria which brought together somewhat softens the blow of the different cultures during the first three originated in ancient Egyptian centuries B.C. final destruction of the place. In works.

34 Fragment of a mosaic floor found on the site of the old library

35 Bibliotheca AlexandriNa

Nestling a short distance from the seafront is the new library of Alexandria. No trip along the Corniche of modern Alexandria can be called complete without a visit to the new library, which rivals its predecessor in one way: it is the largest reading space in the world even if it does not house the largest number of volumes in a single space, though one might argue that privilege now belongs to cyberspace. The new library symbolizes the renaissance of Alexandria as a Mediterranean megalopolis; it was approved in 1987 and opened in 2002. The building, with its futuristic disc like structure, is covered in

36 Rooftop of the Bibliotheca

37 scripts and letters from almost as Cosmic Voyage, Human Body all the languages of the world, and Oasis in Space. a fitting exterior for a place that epitomizes world culture in the Corniche al-Bahr, Shatby form of the written word. 03/483 9999 The Colossus of Ptolemy II 11am-7pm, Fri 3pm-7pm. which was recovered from the www.bibalex.org Eastern harbour watches over the 31°12’31.05” N entrance and provides an instant 29°54’31.49” E reminder of the connection with the ancient library. There are A museum inside several permanent exhibitions the Bibliotheca including the Impressions of Alexandria and the intriguing Antiquities Museum in the basement. On the main entrance level is the Manuscripts Museum with a display of ancient Did you Know? scrolls and antique books. The The Bibliotheca has chairs for Planetarium rounds off a truly 2000 readers, will eventually memorable visit, inside the sci- house 8 million books and fi spherical centre there are covers an area of 36,770 square metres. incredibly realistic shows such Bibliotheca Reading Hall

38 Royal Jewelry Museum Cavafy’s House

This marvelously excessive display is housed in a similarly Not so far from the Opera House and just north of the Roman extravagant villa owned by first ruler of modern Egypt Mohamed Amphitheatre you will find the museum dedicated to the poet Ali’s granddaughter Princess Fatima el-Zaharaa. On display are King Constantine Cavafy. It is actually located in his old house on Rue Farouk’s gold chess set, Mohamed Ali’s diamond encrusted snuff Lepsius (also known as Sharm el-Sheikh Street) and was opened in box, a platinum crown set with 2159 brilliantly cut diamonds, and 1992 to answer the great demand for something commemorating even a set of royal gardening tools inlaid with yet more diamonds. this artistic scion of the city. The house is large by modern standards, The lower galleries in the mansion display stained glass cameos with fine high ceilings that must have been cool in summer. The of courtly love set in idealized 18th century France. Even the furniture is all of the period though not much of it belonged to the bathrooms are exotic, the ladies’ has tiled murals of nymphs bathing poet apart from the brass bed, icons and modest desk where he while the men’s has scenes of fishermen from the south of France. worked. Of particular interest is the ‘bindery’ where he produced The museum is to be found in Ahmed Yehiya Street and is well his own pamphlets of poetry. A selection of his books makes for an worth visiting. interesting insight into the man.

27 Ahmed Yehiya Pasha St., Zizinia 4 Sharm el-Sheikh St., Misr Station 03/586 8348,03/5828348 03/4861598 9am-2pm/5pm-6:30pm winter and 9am-2pm/5pm-8:30pm summer 10am-3pm Sun - Thu 10am-5pm. closed Mon. 31°14’26.50” N 31°11’51.46” N 29°57’47.57” E 29°54’04.30” E

39 Mahmoud Said Museum Just down from the Corniche near to the Jewelry Museum, on Mohammed Said Pasha Street, there is a wonderful little surprise for the visitor the Mahmoud Said Museum. Said (1897-1964) was a judge whose real affection was for painting. Though a winner, indeed, the first winner of the state prize for art, he professed an uneasy relationship with the requirement to paint official commemorative pictures such as the gigantic Inaugural Ceremony of the Suez Canal which dominates the entrance wall of the museum. He much preferred portraits of a more intimate nature: intense provocative women depicted in The Siren of Alexandria and Egyptian Peasant woman for example. There are several other excellent artists represented such as the expressionist Seif (1906- 1979) who delighted in depicting casinos, nightlife, horse racing and motor sports. He was genuinely prolific producing over 3000 paintings and a staggering 80,000 sketches. Other artists include Adham Wanly, Myriam Alim, and even the odd abstract by Farouk Hosni.

6 Mohammad Said Pasha St., Gianaclis area 03/582 1688 10am-6pm, closed Mon 31°13’39.68” N 29°58’10.25” E

Tip Mahmoud Said Museum If you read the ancient geographer Strabo (64BC-25AD) he has several clues about the whereabouts of Alexander’s Tomb which he actually saw.

40 Alexandria National Museum Somewhat south of the new library, on the corner of Midan Khartoum, past an interesting section of the old city walls stratified to show their constituent parts, you will find the Alexandria National Museum. It contains some of the extraordinary archeological finds that have turned up in the last fifteen years or so. There is an effigy of Emperor Caracalla (the one who killed all those Alexandrian youths); he is wearing Pharaonic headgear. There is also a mosaic of Medusa which was found beneath the popular Cinema Diana. Upstairs in the museum are Coptic and Islamic artifacts including gold coins of great interest and a nice display of Mamluk weaponry. The bookshop has an impressive art and history section.

110 Horeyya Ave. 03/483 5519 9am-4:30pm 31°12’03.13” N 29°54’47.51” E

Alexandria National One of King Mohamed Ali’s glass jags Museum houses some unique collections

41 Greco-Roman Museum

Look out from Cavafy’s house for the Greco-Roman Museum, a place the poet would have approved of greatly, since, for him, the history of Alexandria ended in 1493 with the fall of Byzantine rule in Constantinople. Here you will find Egypt’s best collection of antiquities from the Classical period. There are late human and crocodilian mummies from 100-250AD, death masks and busts of Roman Emperors, including Julius Caesar. There is, in the gardens, a rather large and fine head of Mark Anthony (Queen Cleopatra’s lover), as well as some rock cut tombs on display.

5 Al-Mathaf al-Romani St. 03/486 5820 9-4 pm 31°11’57.35” N 24°54’24.34” E

Statue of Augustus Octavius

42 Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark Several blocks down from the seafront lies the Coptic Cathedral. It looks Byzantine but in fact is an early 20th century facsimile. Remains of early patriarchs of the Alexandrian Church are interred in a chapel within the building. It seems you can never escape the founder of this city.

19 Keneiset el-Aqbat St., Raml Station 03/ 486 7103 31°11’54.43” N 29°53’58.70” E

Did you Know? The Cathedral was named after the Apostle Mark who was seized while he was giving Mass; his body was then dragged through all the streets of Alexandria behind three wild yoked stallions. What remained of him was kept until 828AD when, in a further assault on ecumenical dignity, his body was smuggled to the Basilica di San Marco in a barrel of salt pork; though his head was left in the Mar Girgis Church in Cairo. In 1997 this strange story continued when one of Mark’s fingers was returned to Pope Shenouda III by Pope John Paul II. One bizarre theory has it that instead it was not Mark that was smuggled out but Alexander the Great’s remains. Interior of St. Mark’s Cathedral

43 ST. mena World Heritage Site monastery The Coptic monastery of St. Mena in 1959 of marble and Aswan is 40km inland from Abu Sir. It granite, the same stone used honours St. Mena, an Egyptian in many Pharaonic edifices. born Roman Legionnaire who was Fragments of mosaic studded martyred in Turkey for refusing to with semi-precious stones, basalt renounce his religion. Buried here, columns and paved areas that his grave was exhumed in 350 still remain in the ancient basilica after many miraculous events had show how rich and ornate the been reported around the spot. A original church must have been. church was built that became a pilgrimage stop. Word was spread Deir Mar Mena, Borg el-Arab by passing camel trains and it 03/ 459 3401 became famous. Holy water from 30°51’12.66” N local springs was exported as far 29°39’41.20”E as Gaul and Roman Britain. These however dried up leaving behind Tip just a tiny population of monks to When you ask for St. Mena in Egypt you may have to call it live here, as they still do. either Mar Mena or Abu Mena The modern monastery was built which are its common names in St. Mena Interior Dome Arabic.

44 St. Mena Monastery

45 Roman Amphitheatre

46 Roman amphitheatre If you stroll north a few blocks from the main railway station you will find Kom el-Dikka, which literally means the ‘pile of rubble’ and was, for centuries, a slum area with an old cemetery of little interest until 1959 when a team of Poles looking for the ever elusive Tomb of Alexander stumbled upon an 800 seat Roman amphitheatre. Marble seats bear the graffiti of chariot team supporters during races in Byzantine times; there are also two forecourts with mosaic flooring. In earlier Ptolemaic times the area was known as the ‘Park of Pan’, a hilly pleasure garden for use by the aristocrats of Alexandria on particular holidays.

Youssef St., off Gomhuriya Sq., Kom el-Dikka 03/390 2904 9am-4:30pm 31°11’39.53” N 29°54’14.49” E

Did you Know? Next to the Amphitheatre is the finest example of a Roman villa in Alexandria, it is called the Villa of the Birds after its charming bird mosaics. Mosaic Floor at the Villa of the Birds

47 Montazah Montazah St., Palace and 03/547 3056-03/5477153 Gardens 24/7 31°16’54.71” N Zooming east along the Corniche 30°00’46.44” E waterfront you will find the fantastic beaches and park of Montazah Gardens. There are

places to walk surrounded by Salamlek Hotel greenery, the old Salamlek hotel in all its splendour, a great shore line and chalets for the well to do. There is also a former Royal palace here, known as the Haramlik Palace, which was commissioned by King Fouad and designed by Ernesto Verruchi Bey. In World War I E.M.Forster worked here when it was a Red Cross hospital. It is now a presidential residence and guesthouse.

48 Montazah Gardens

49 Islamic Architecture in Abu el-Abbas El-Morsi Mosque

50 Abu el-Abbas el-Morsi Mosque El-Nabi Daniel Mosque

This is one of the most stunning mosques in Alexandria built very Located in the central downtown area, near to the Roman Amphitheatre, close to the sea near to the Qaitbey Fort. Dominating the square of this mosque was founded in the 15th century, though its present form Abu el-Abbas is the vast white mosque of the same name. The tomb dates from the early 19th century when it was completely rebuilt during of the Andulusian Sufi Sheikh Abu el-Abbas el-Morsi is dedicated to the time of Mohamed Ali (1805-1848). The rebuilding coincided with sailors and fishermen, for whom he has become a patron saint. He the interment of the Sufi Sheikh Sidi Lokman. died in 1288 and his remains lie under a low dome; the other side of the mosque has a brick entrance of some antiquity. El-Nabi Daniel St., Saad Zaghloul Sq.,

Mosque Compound Sq., Bahari 03/4801251 31°12’21.76” N 29°52’58.23” E

Tip Did you Know? Women can’t enter Abu El- In 1850 Ambrose Schilizzi made up a fine story about seeing Alexander abbas el-Morsi mosque itself but the Great’s crystal sarcophagus and mummy beneath this mosque. This they can visit the mausoleum yarn was written up by Mahmoud Bey al –Falaki and has persisted to this and view the mosque’s interior day and gathered such momentum that the Antiquities Council did some from behind a barrier. digging here in the 1990s. Nothing was found that indicated Alexander was buried here.

51 Shopping Alexandria, as befits a world class international city, boasts a complete selection of international and local shopping experiences. From the giant City Centre hypermarket and the San Stephano Mall to the tiniest kiosk selling local Bedouin handicrafts, there is no shortage of places to buy what you need. For the antique collector, the Attareen area is definitely worth a visit with its myriad little shops full of old curios and treasures from bygone times.

Entertainment Alexandria is replete with places of fine entertainment: hotels, nightclubs, casinos, discos and bars together with several cinemas all showing English language movies in the original language. There are concerts and ballets performed at the Opera House. The Alexandria Centre of Arts has an impressive blue and gold auditorium where world class musicians often appear. There is an international film festival in September. Nightclubs offer belly dancing from the expert practitioner to the comedic exponent of the art. There is folk dancing provided by the Ballet Rida and the new library has a program of music concerts. The Alexandria Centre of the Arts provides regular Alexandria City Centre shopping mall concerts too.

List of local tourist information offices

Alexandria Head office: 03/484 3380 , 03/485 1556 23 East Port Saad Zaghlool Sq. Raml Station

Misr Station: 03/392 5985 Misr Station Inside the station building, on Tip platform n°1 Bedouin jewelry from Siwa Oasis often ends up Sidi Gaber Station: in Alexandria look out for 03/426 3953 beautiful pieces and great On platform n°4, inside Sidi bargains. Gaber Station

Alexandria port: Tip Inside the port Coffee shops and hotel lobbies Nozha Airport: will have a rack of English 03/420 7023 language or bilingual ‘what’s on’ magazines and guides. Inside the airport departure hall From these you will get a better Marsa Matrouh picture of the current plays and 046/493 1841 films on offer. Alexandria Opera House Alexandria Road, the Governorate’s building

53 Accommodation in Alexandria

Alexandria is blessed with a fantastic selection of hotels, many of them on the waterfront within sight and sound of the sea. There are places that range from budget to super luxury including some historically interesting hotels such as the Salamlek, the Windsor Palace and the Cecil. The Cecil is the hotel that Winston Churchill stayed in when he visited during the war, as did such other luminaries as Somerset Maugham and Agatha Christie. Though the management has naturally changed since then, the sea views remain excellent and an excursion into the lobby may well bring some nostalgia for that past life of imperial grandeur. Bang on the Corniche, the Cecil is more than a hotel, it is a landmark. The Salemlek is a former royal hunting lodge built by Khedive Abbas II next to the presidential residence in Montazah, a fantastic park setting. It still has rooms furnished in an opulent Belle Epoque style as well as the only hotel casino in town. The Windsor Palace is another great institution of Alexandria. It sits grandly on the Corniche in the same location now for over a hundred years. It has wonderful old, now restored, elevators, a grand lobby and rooms decorated in the Edwardian style. Cecil Hotel

54 Connections and travel to and from Alexandria

Within Alexandria there are the usual taxis and microbuses of any Egyptian town. The cost of a bus is very low. There are also trams, which offer a fun alternative to buses. Taxis are frequent and most places can be reached for a very reasonable fee that you can agree before traveling.

There is a fast train service every hour or so to and from Cairo and this is maybe one of the more relaxing ways to visit Alexandria. You can head down to the Siwa oasis via Marsa Matrouh which is a wonderful excursion and takes only five or six hours by car. To get to Sinai you can drive via Port Said or Suez. Alexandria’s El-Nozha Airport connects to all domestic places of interest such as Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh via a short stop at Cairo International Airport.

Alexandria tram

55 Rosetta A day trip to rosetta

Rosetta, or Rashid, lies at the current westernmost arm of the Nile delta. It is surrounded by wonderful groves of Orange and Lemon trees, a clean town with old Ottoman mansions along its streets. To the modern visitor, it’s name means most of course in connection with the Rosetta stone, found here and later of such use in translating hieroglyphs in their entirety.

The Fort OF Qaitbey in Rosetta

With the same name as the sea fort in Alexandria, this fort was built to guard the Rosetta branch of the Nile against the constant menace of the ‘Frankish’ crusaders. Later, Qaitbey Fort was used by the French. It was here, of course, where the Rosetta stone was discovered. It was entirely restored in the 1980s.

Hieroglyphic inscriptions in some of the Fort’s steps

56 Delta style Mill house

The Abu Shahin House has been returned to its original use as a mill house. Many such mills existed in the 18th and 19th centuries when Rosetta was the leading port until Alexandria overtook it. Look out for the huge wooden grinders and delicate pointedCYPRUS arches. EUROPE

ASIA M e d e a Didi Yout eKnow?r r a n e a n S EGYPT

Rosetta is connected to the rest of the White Med through the International AFRICA Coastal Road

Beaches Sidi Barani Sallum Rosetta Damietta Marsa Golf Courses Matrouh Alexandria El Arish Rafah Bardawil El Mansura Port SaidSUEZ CANAL Oases Porto Lake Sidi Abd Marina Damanhur TANIS el Rahman Borg Ports El Arab Tanta Ismailia Wadi el- El Alamein Zagazig Timsah Marina Natroun Lake

Cairo Railway Stations PYRAMIDS Suez a n OF GIZA Giza Oyoun Musa Restaurants and Cafés r io Hammamta s AzouzPYRAMIDS Ain Qara Oasis t s OF SAQQARA Memphis Ras Sidr Taba a e Sukhna Taba r Heights Airports Siwa Oasis Q p Qaroun PORTO S i n a i e Pharaoh’s Island AMON TEMPLE Lake D EL SUKHNA SERABIT Siwa Gabal El Mawta Fayoum EL KHADIM Banks & ATMs Cleopatra The Hammam Azouz is one of the everEl Fayoum dwindling number of bathNuweiba Oasis Za’farana Gabal Bath Abu El Dakrur Beni Suef ST ANTHONY’S ST CATHERINE’S Hotels & Resorts Rudeis a

houses built in the 18th and 19th century MONASTERYbut now either destroyedMONASTERY orb Areg t a at Dahab q LIBYA e r The Gr ST PAUL’S A E Bus Stops e f a MONASTERY G Se neglected. Though not actually in use as a public bath, this MOUNThammam MOSES o Sand s Ras u l f e a f l Bawiti D Gharib o u f El Tur G Tourist Police D s S has been brilliantly restoredALEXANDER to display the marble interiorue and floors e MONS z n THE GREAT TEMPLE El Minya t PORPHYRITES Bahariyya s e Sharm el-Sheikh Tram stations withr its delicateOasis fountains and carved decorations. Abu Shahin Mill House BANI HASAN r e TOMBS e t TONA EL GABAL RUINS r n World Heritage Sites s ert Mallawi t White Des El Gouna e TEL EL AMARNA Hospitals Hurghada MAKADI BAY W Farafra Post Ofﬁces Oasis Asyut SAHL HASHEESH 57 Qasr Farafra MONS CLAUDIANUS N i l e Safaga R Main Roads R i v e r SOMA BAY Abu minqar e d Museums Ge Sohag lf K WADI eb Qena ir ABYDOS HAMMAMAT El Quseir S Monasteries DANDARA e Monuments VALLEY OF THE KINGS Qus El Qasr Ain Umm a Dakhla Dabadib KARNAK Oasis Islamic Sites AL BAGAWAT Al Kharga Luxor Mut NECROPOLIS Esna Port Ghalib National Parks Bulaq TEMPLE Marsa Alam N Kharga OF KHNOUM ew Oasis Edfu Diving Sites V al TEMPLE le OF HORUS Kom Ombo y Sound & Light Shows Baris TEMPLE OF SOBEK & HAREORIS Dush Tourist Information Ofﬁces Aswan EZBET DUSH SAAD EL-ALI, Berenice Ras Banas THE HIGH DAM Wireless Internet PHILAE KALABSHA

Tropic of Cancer L a ke N a s s e r Shalatin WADI EL-SUBUA AMADA Tushka Qasr Ibram Halaib ABU SIMBEL

OWAYNAT MOUNT 6345,15 FEET

0 124,27 miles SUDAN A B C D E F G H

54 53 55 Al Dekhela Harbour Platform

Al Bitash Al Al-ANFUSHI

Elgiesh Rd. Elgiesh 40 1 AL AGAMY 41

Elgiesh Rd. NEW DEKHELA HARBOUR 42 39 EASTERN HARBOUR el Ras el Tin a Al Bitash Al M n S e Al Hanouv e d i n e a 38 t e r r a AL MANSHEYA 37 Al Nasr Al Selsella Fort Alex - Mar Al Nasr sa Matrouh Rd. El K ALAbd GOMROK ornish Al Esk El Salam am andar El Akbar 50 Alahr Al S 36 Ale har Om Za x - Marsa Ma k 27 ghbor trouh Rd. a Elgiesh Rd. wy ghlool 25 Saad Za Om Za ghbor Al Esk 24 To El Alamein & Marsa Matrouh 51 Al Max andar El Akbar 22 21 20 To Rosetta 43 44 35 28 Elgiesh Rd. Om Zaghbor 31 Stanly Bridge Om Zaghbor Al Max Om Zaghbor 59 19 15 8 El Hor 12 14 13 Elg z Rd. 11 re Al Esk ya Rd. andar El Akbar Elgiesh Rd. Mostaf ie 2 30 33 a Fahmy sh 5 Rd. t el Sue 16 SPORTING 9 Al Montaza AL LABBAN ana Stanly Tharwat 32 K Palace 49 Sidi Ga Elgiesh Rd. Abd El Salam Aref

23 ber Khaled Ibn El Waleed Light House

f a t 52 AL KABARY 45 Ahmed Ismail GLEEM Mahmoud El Esawy Mos Ahmed Sha ef Abo Quer aleed Mahmoud El Esa

Abd El Salam Ar Khaled Ibn El W Mo 6 . ahmy MOSTAFA KAMEL AL MAX z F San Stefano El a Elgiesh Rd. Br ahem wk z yy wy h

Kana Abd El Azi A amed Elgiesh Rd. 46 Ahmed Lotfy El Said

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w El F N 10 a 48 Gamal Abd El Naser t AL MONTAZA ath guib 47 t El A AL MANDARA 34 Mostaf BAKOS Mohamed F KARMUZ alet awzy Alber a K GANACLIS Malak Hefny Zak amel Malak Hefny Ter y i R Victor Emanouil El T FLEMING eat El Mahm a al 29 g a w udia b Victoria t El A Square Mostaf a Kamel Alber

El Sad El Aaly Mostaf al w a K amel

t El A Smuha Mostaf AL MAAMURA a K ABU QIR Alber amel 16 27 Bibliotheca Alexandrina 38 49 Club M 05 Agiiba Restaurant Four Seasons Hotel Abu el Abbas el Morsi Mosque Al Kbary Station ohamed An 28 50 Al Ar udia Al Talateen Al Shatby Hospital 39 ouba wr 06 Sheraton Hotel Al Anfushi Beach Western Harbour t Rd. t El Mahm 17 Mahmoud Said Museum erea E Alexandria l T S amel ada 1 t a K 40 51 t 2 Al MAx Police Station El Sada udia 07 Al Asafra Hotel 18 Royal Jewelry Museum 29 Mosaique Museum Qaitbey Citadel The Mostaf Malak Hefny x Deser Zoo t El Mahm Ter ea ea er t El Mahm Mostafa Kamel 52 57 udia T El Sad El Aaly 08 Maiami Beach Alexandria National Museum Ras el Tin Beach El Dekheila Station t El Mahm udia 19 30 41 ea Gleem Beach Ter Mostaf LAKE MARIOUT o Ale a K Map amel 3 09 Tourist Information Office Marine General Hospital 53 Cair Al Ar Sidi Bishr Beach 20 Roshdi Beach 31 42 El-Agami Club Hotel ouba 10 Jihan Hospital 21 Cleopatra Beach 32 Roman Amphitheater 43 Al Labban Police Station 54 El-Agami Beach ed

ly t El Mahm 02 Dr. Mohamed el Nabawi Hospital 13 Abu Hayef Restaurant 24 Ibrahemya Beach 35 Cecil Hotel 46 Karmuz Police Station 57 Fine Arts Museum 56 El Sad El Aa udia 03 Al Mamoura Hospital 14 Al Saraya Beach 36 Ahly National Bank 47 Pompey’s Pillar 58 Alexandria City Centre 25 Shatby Beach AL AWAID

Ring Rd. T Cair er o Ale ea 04 Palestinex Deser Hotel 15 59 San Stephano Beach 37 48 Tourist Information Office t El Mahm t Rd. t Rd. 26 Al Mansheya Police Station Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa 58 r Tourist Information Office x Dese o Ale udia Cair ed To St. Mena monastery Ring Rd. u Her El Sad El Aaly Cair o Ale x Deser t Rd. Cairo Alex Desert Rd. Gamila Ab

Cleopatra Beach

El Alamein Map M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a Gharam Beach

Rommel’s Beach Rommel’s Cave Matrouh Port

To Agiiba Beach M e e a (20 Km to the West) d i t e r r a n e a n S a Rd. trouh Rd. x - Marsa Ma trouh - Siw Ale sa Ma To Alexandria Mar

To Alexandria To Marsa Matrouh Ale oad x - Mar a R To Marsa Matrouh To Cairo sa Ma Siw tr Marsa Matrouh Map ouh Rd. To the German & Italian war graves

Alex - Mar Porto Marina Resort & Spa sa Ma trouh Rd. Alex - Marsa Matrouh Rd. Alamein war museum Commonwealth graveyards A B C D E F G H

54 53 55 Al Dekhela Harbour Platform

Al Bitash Al Al-ANFUSHI

Elgiesh Rd. Elgiesh 40 1 AL AGAMY 41

Elgiesh Rd. NEW DEKHELA HARBOUR 42 39 EASTERN HARBOUR el Ras el Tin a Al Bitash Al M n S e Al Hanouv e d i n e a 38 t e r r a AL MANSHEYA 37 Al Nasr Al Selsella Fort Alex - Mar Al Nasr sa Matrouh Rd. El K ALAbd El SalamGOM Al Shar ROK ornish Al Esk am andar El Akbar 50 36 Alahr Ale Om Za x - Marsa Ma k 27 ghbor trouh Rd. a Elgiesh Rd. wy ghlool 25 Saad Za Om Za ghbor Al Esk 24 To El Alamein & Marsa Matrouh 51 Al Max andar El Akbar 22 21 20 To Rosetta 43 44 35 28 Elgiesh Rd. Om Zaghbor 31 Stanly Bridge Om Zaghbor Al Max Om Zaghbor 59 19 15 8 El Hor 12 14 13 Elgiesh Rd. z Rd. 11 re ya Rd. Al Eskandar El Akbar Elgiesh Rd. Mostaf 2 30 a F 33 ahmy 5 t el Sue 16 SPORTING 9 Al Montaza AL LABBAN ana Stanly Tharwat 32 K Palace 49 Sidi Ga Elgiesh Rd. Abd El Salam Aref

23 ber Khaled Ibn El Waleed Light House

f a t 52 AL KABARY 45 Ahmed Ismail GLEEM Mahmoud El Esawy Mos Ahmed Sha ef Abo Quer aleed Mahmoud El Esa

Abd El Salam Ar Khaled Ibn El W Mo 6 . ahmy MOSTAFA KAMEL AL MAX z F San Stefano Nahas El a Elgiesh Rd. ahem wk z Br yy wy h

Kana Abd El Azi am Elgiesh Rd. 46 Ahmed Lotfy El Said KOM EL DEKKA t el Sue 7

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hamed o Haf SIDIM BISHR Abo Quer Abo Quer 18 Gamal Abd El Nasser Malak Hefny ana K Abo Quer ROUSHDY Al Shaheed Galal El Desouk Gamal Abd El Nasser d. Abu Qir Mostaf AL ATTARIN a Kamel 17 LORAN Gamal Abd El Nasser al

El Sad El Aaly Mostaf al w a K amel

t El A Smuha Mostaf AL MAAMURA a K ABU QIR Alber amel 05 Agiiba Restaurant 16 Four Seasons Hotel 27 Bibliotheca Alexandrina 38 Abu el Abbas el Morsi Mosque 49 Al Kbary Station Club Mohamed teen Al Ar udia Al Tala Anw 28 Al Shatby Hospital 39 50 ouba 06 Sheraton Hotel Western Harbour t Rd. Al Anfushi Beach t El Mahm r Alexandria 17 Mahmoud Said Museum erea El T

Sa amel 1 t da a K 40 51 t 2 Al MAx Police Station El Sada udia 07 Al Asafra Hotel 18 Royal Jewelry Museum 29 Mosaique Museum Qaitbey Citadel The Mostaf Malak Hefny x Deser Zoo t El Mahm Ter ea ea er t El Mahm Mostafa Kamel 52 57 udia T El Sad El Aaly 08 Maiami Beach Alexandria National Museum Ras el Tin Beach El Dekheila Station t El Mahm udia 30 41 ea 19 Gleem Beach er o Ale T Mostaf LAKE MARIOUT r a K Map amel 3 09 Tourist Information Office Marine General Hospital 53 Cai Al Ar Sidi Bishr Beach 20 Roshdi Beach 31 42 El-Agami Club Hotel ouba 10 Jihan Hospital 21 Cleopatra Beach 32 Roman Amphitheater 43 Al Labban Police Station 54 El-Agami Beach ed

u Her 11 Maritime Julie Ville Hotel 22 Sporting Beach 33 Greco-Roman Museum 44 St. Mark Cathedral 55 Al Bitaash Beach 58 AL ZAHIREYA Gamila Ab 01 Al Islah Station 12 Abu Hayef Beach 34 Misr Train Station 45 Mena Police Station 56 El Nozha Airport 26 23 T Sporting club and Golf er ea 3 ly t El Mahm 02 Dr. Mohamed el Nabawi Hospital 13 Abu Hayef Restaurant 24 Ibrahemya Beach 35 Cecil Hotel 46 Karmuz Police Station 57 Fine Arts Museum 56 El Sad El Aa udia 03 Al Mamoura Hospital 14 Al Saraya Beach 36 Ahly National Bank 47 Pompey’s Pillar 58 Alexandria City Centre 25 Shatby Beach AL AWAID

Ring Rd. T Cair er o Ale ea 04 Palestinex Deser Hotel 15 59 San Stephano Beach 37 48 Tourist Information Office t El Mahm t Rd. t Rd. 26 Al Mansheya Police Station Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa r Tourist Information Office 59 x Dese o Ale udia Cair ed To St. Mena monastery Ring Rd. u Her El Sad El Aaly Cair o Ale x Deser t Rd. Cairo Alex Desert Rd. Gamila Ab

Cleopatra Beach

El Alamein Map M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a Gharam Beach

Rommel’s Beach Rommel’s Cave Matrouh Port

To Agiiba Beach M e e a (20 Km to the West) d i t e r r a n e a n S a Rd. trouh Rd. x - Marsa Ma trouh - Siw Ale sa Ma To Alexandria Mar

To Alexandria To Marsa Matrouh Ale oad x - Mar a R To Marsa Matrouh To Cairo sa Ma Siw tr Marsa Matrouh Map ouh Rd. To the German & Italian war graves

Alex - Mar Porto Marina Resort & Spa sa Ma trouh Rd. Alex - Marsa Matrouh Rd. Alamein war museum Commonwealth graveyards 60 The North Coast & El-Alamein

61 The North Coast & El-Alamein

The North Coast contains spectacular beach resorts The Battles Tip such as Porto Marina, and Hacienda, untouched When walking the battlefield desert vistas and nature reserves as well as the There was not one battle but three in El-Alamein. sites always stick to tracks that incredible battlefield site of El-Alamein. The first occurred when Rommel, the German are visible. In the remoter areas El-Alamein lies some 100km from Alexandria. For commander of improvisational genius, who there are still mines, but not if a vehicle has made a track there years it was a little known stop on the railway lines, had harried the British back and forth along the already. and in ancient times the site of Greek tombs and African north coast, tried to make a decisive break Roman villas. But because it occupies the narrowest for Alexandria in July 1942. However the Allies, part of the strip of desert that runs between the under General Auchinleck, chose to make a last impassable Qattara Depression and the sea, it was stand at the narrow isthmus of El-Alamein. The chosen as the site for one the most significant battles devil of the desert campaigns was long supply of World War II. Visit the museum and cemeteries for lines for fuel and ammunition. Rommel ran out of an unforgettable experience. both and came to a grinding halt at El-Alamein.

62 The second battle happened third battle of El-Alamein. Having two months later in late August. cracked the Nazi enigma code, The British, now commanded by the British knew that Rommel the determined General ‘Monty’ was sick and convalescing in Montgomery, dug in and began Italy. They took this as a good extensive mining of the area. moment to attack. Six months This would be the final point later the Germans surrendered he decided, the Allies would in Africa. El-Alamein was their be pushed no further, whatever first big defeat, and they never the cost. Rommel sensed that recovered after it. the longer he waited the worse the build up against him, so he attacked the Alam Halfa ridge but was repulsed by the stiff resistance of the Allies. Retreating behind massive minefields containing over half a million mines, Rommel and Montgomery waited. And waited. Finally, in November, when enough materiel had been built up to ensure a three to one superiority, Montgomery, attacked in the British Spitfire Aircraft (1939)

63 The war Museum The museum was created in 1965 initially from remains found on the battlefield. There are uniforms, maps, flags and weapons all on display. Also an accessible display of the battle which shows how much this was a battle of ridges tiny wrinkles in the desert surface became the target and cause for massive loss of life as each side tried to gain a toehold in this inhospitable place. Tanks and armoured vehicles are on display outside.

There is a fascinating section in the museum dedicated to the desert war fought between the Nazis and the Allied Long Range Desert Group. Patrolling the desert south of El-Alamein in converted trucks, they were the pioneers of modern special forces desert warfare, indeed they carried the SAS into battle until that force gathered its own transport. The chief enemy of the LRDG was Laszlo Almasy, who haunts the Western Desert of Egypt like no other character in recent history. A Hungarian explorer and founder of the Hungarian boy scout movement, as well as a glider champion, he was the first to visit much of the distant Gilf Kebir down in the south west corner of Egypt. He used this knowledge to spirit two German spies into Cairo during World War II. In the museum they have a repaired LRDG vehicle found in the desert in 1992 in almost perfect Royal Italian Army Artillery Major Field Uniform at the War Museum condition.

64 Km 105, Alex. Matrouh Desert Rd., El-Alamein 046/410 0031, 046/410 0021 9 am - 2:30 pm 30°50’27.11” N 28°56’36.03” E

Field Morse- Code Machine

65 Commonwealth memorial

This spread out cemetery honours the 7,367 men from all the Allied countries including, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, France, India and Great Britain to name but a few. It also remembers the 11,945 men whose bodies were never recovered. There is a serenity about the quiet rose gardens that surround the inner chapel of the cemetery which those who visit cannot help but notice.

30°50’20.96” N 28°56’51.35” E Parents of the fallen pay tribute Commonwealth War Memorial

66 Commonwealth War Memorial

67 German war Memorial

Built on a hill within sight of the sea there is something poignant about the German War Memorial with its massive fortress-like defensive architecture. The German Memorial is all indoors, inside a squat octagonal tower of large lumpish stone with bulging buttresses in which lie the bodies of 4280 Germans slain during the Battle of El-Alamein.

30°53’21.39” N 28°52’28.23” E

German Memorial

68 Italian war a small museum. In the chapel Memorial there are inscriptions to the identified 4800 Italian soldiers, Initially in 1943 the Italians sailors and airmen who lost their and the Germans were interred lives here. A second dedication together. Then in 1949, El- is to the 38,000 who remained Alamein veteran Paolo Caccia- missing. Thousands of marble Dominoni was given the task of plaques line the walls of the hall creating a lasting memorial and remembering the dead. graveyard for the Italians who fought and died at El-Alamein. 30°54’15.03” N He spent 10 years searching 28°50’23.87” E the battlefield and burying the dead while building arguably the only memorial that appears to celebrate the battle as something heroic rather than grimly necessary. Standing about 5km beyond the German memorial there is a grand avenue that sweeps up to a chapel and hall More than 2000 Italian names are inscribed of remembrances. There is also on this wall Memorial 69 Italian bunker Graveyard of complex the Panzers For those of an adventurous This place, 10km into the desert nature, it is worth getting a near Tel el Aqaqir, exists as a Bedouin guide and searching out memorial to the spot where some of the lesser known sights German General Von Thoma of of the Battle of El-Alamein. There the obliterated 15th and 21st is still unexploded ordnance Panzer Divisions surrendered. and mines in the desert but with a guide you should be fine as enough people have been to these places to make them safe if you follow the established Did You Know? routes. British stage illusionist Jasper Maskelyne was employed The Italian hospital and bunker by the Allied army to hide complex is a fascinating site, an the many tanks needed for elaborate series of earthworks the Battle of El-Alamein. He and trenches some 24km from disguised the tanks under cardboard and wood ‘truck’ the coast along the El-Alamein- bodies and had a false pipeline Bahariya desert road. built to make the Germans think the attack was coming from a different place. Porto Marina

70 A B C D E F G H

54 53 55 Al Dekhela Harbour Platform

Al Bitash Al Al-ANFUSHI

Elgiesh Rd. Elgiesh 40 1 AL AGAMY 41

am andar El Ak 50 36 Alahr Ale Shar bar Om Za x - Marsa Ma k 27 ghbor trouh Rd. a Elgiesh Rd. wy ghlool 25 Saad Za

Om Zaghbor Al Esk 24 To El Alamein & Marsa Matrouh 51 Al Max andar El Akbar 22 21 20 To Rosetta 43 44 35 28 Elgiesh Rd. Om Zaghbor 31 Stanly Bridge Om Zaghbor Al Max Om Zaghbor 59 19 15 8 El Hor 12 Rd. 14 13 Elg z 11 re Al Esk ya Rd. andar Elgiesh Rd. Mostaf ies 2 30 33 El Ak a Fahmy bar h 5 Rd. t el Sue 16 SPORTING 9 Al Montaza ana Stanly Tharwat AL LABBAN Rd. 32 K Palace 49 Sidi Ga Elgiesh Abd El Salam Aref Khaled Ibn 23 ber El Waleed Light House

y El Said

a t 52 AL KABARY Ahmed Ismail GLEEM Mos 45 tf Mahmoud El Esawy Ab Ahmed Sha ef

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z Br K hmed Lo Abd E Nahas l Elgiesh br ana 46 A Rd. KOM EL DEKKA ue I t el Su 7 z AL IBRAHIMEYA Elgiesh R e ez Br

t el S . MIAMI 4

ha o Haf SIDIM BISHR Abo Q Abo Quer 18 Gamal Abd Malak Hefny ana El Nasser K uer Abo Quer ROUSHDY Al S Gamal Abd El Nasser d

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a eed Galal El N w El F 10 48 Gamal Abd El Nase t AL MONTAZA ath guib t El A AL MANDARA 47 r 34 Mostaf BAKOS KARMUZ Mohamed F alet Des awzy Albe a K GANACLIS Malak Hefny ouk Zak ame Malak Hefny l Ter y i R Victor Emanouil El T FLEMING eat El Mahm a al 29 g a w udia b Victoria t El A Square Mostaf a Kamel Alber

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t El A Smuha Mostaf AL MAAMURA a K ABU QIR Alber amel 05 Agiiba Restaurant 16 Four Seasons Hotel 27 Bibliotheca Alexandrina 38 Abu el Abbas el Morsi Mosque 49 Al Kbary Station Club Moh

amed teen Al Ar udia Al Tala A 28 Al Shatby Hospital 39 50 ouba nw 06 Sheraton Hotel Western Harbour t Rd. Al Anfushi Beach t El Mahm r Alexandria 17 Mahmoud Said Museum erea El T

Sada amel 1 t a K 40 51 t 2 Al MAx Police Station El Sada udia 07 Al Asafra Hotel 18 Royal Jewelry Museum 29 Mosaique Museum Qaitbey Citadel The Mostaf Malak Hefny x Deser Zoo t El Mahm Ter ea ea er t El Mahm Mostafa Kamel udia T 52 57 Mahm El Sad El Aaly 08 Maiami Beach Alexandria National Museum Ras el Tin Beach El Dekheila Station t El udia 19 30 41 ea Gleem Beach Ter Mostaf LAKE MARIOUT o Ale a K Map amel 3 09 Tourist Information Office Marine General Hospital 53 Cair Al Ar Sidi Bishr Beach 20 Roshdi Beach 31 42 El-Agami Club Hotel ouba 10 Jihan Hospital 21 Cleopatra Beach 32 Roman Amphitheater 43 Al Labban Police Station 54 El-Agami Beach ed

u Her 11 Maritime Julie Ville Hotel 22 Sporting Beach 33 Greco-Roman Museum 44 St. Mark Cathedral 55 Al Bitaash Beach 58 AL ZAHIREYA b Gamila A 01 Al Islah Station 12 Abu Hayef Beach 34 Misr Train Station 45 Mena Police Station 56 El Nozha Airport 26 23 T Sporting club and Golf er ea 3

t E 02 Dr. Mohamed el Nabawi Hospital 13 Abu Hayef Restaurant 24 Ibrahemya Beach 35 Cecil Hotel 46 Karmuz Police Station 57 Fine Arts Museum 56 l Mahm El Sad El Aaly udia 03 Al Mamoura Hospital 14 Al Saraya Beach 36 Ahly National Bank 47 Pompey’s Pillar 58 Alexandria City Centre 25 Shatby Beach AL AWAID

Ring Rd. T Cair er o Ale ea 04 Palestinex Deser Hotel 15 59 San Stephano Beach 26 37 48 Tourist Information Office t El Mahm t Rd. rt Rd. Tourist Information Office Al Mansheya Police Station Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa x Dese o Ale udia Cair ed To St. Mena monastery Ring Rd. u Her El Sad El Aaly b Cair o Ale x Deser t Rd. Cairo Alex Desert Rd. Gamila A Porto Marina Whether you are a regional traveler for spectacular marina on your luxury yacht, an international tourist looking for the most fashionable Porto Marina is more than just a resort, it’s a lifestyle revolution. This local hideaway or a family looking to vacation together, The North unique seaside destination attracts visitors from all over the world Coast is the destination of choice. in search of sun, fun, luxurious accommodation, hotel serviced apartments, spa treatments, sporting facilities, quality entertainment, Km105 Alexandria - Marsa Matrouh Road internationals restaurants, 330 five star hotel rooms, yacht marina 046/445 2 711 and a commercial mall with 138 brands. 30°49’31.61” N 28°59’13.81” E

Cleopatra Beach

El Alamein Map M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a Gharam Beach

Rommel’s Beach Rommel’s Cave Matrouh Port

To Agiiba Beach M e e a (20 Km to the West) d i t e r r a n e a n S a Rd. trouh Rd. x - Marsa Ma trouh - Siw Ale sa Ma To Alexandria Mar

To Alexandria To Marsa Matrouh Ale oad x - Mar a R To Marsa Matrouh To Cairo sa Ma Siw tr Marsa Matrouh Map ouh Rd. To the German & Italian war graves

Alex - Mar Porto Marina Resort & Spa sa Ma trouh Rd. Alex - Marsa Matrouh Rd. Alamein war museum Commonwealth graveyards

71 72 Marsa Matrouh

73 Marsa Matrouh

Though there is some evidence that Cypriot traders Matrouh is these days a lively town of around 80,000 started a port here first, it took Alexander the Great people. It is first and foremost a summer resort, to found a trading town here as a stopping point blessed as it is by calm seas and great beaches. Did you know? between Alexandria and Siwa, home to the fabled Alexander the Great tried Oracle. to shoot a gazelle at Marsa The spot is especially protected and of great natural The lagoons Matrouh but missed and this beauty, so it is no surprise Helen of Troy is supposed The secret of the balmy beaches of Marsa Matrouh resulted in the original name of the place. He decreed the town to have sought refuge here, and Cleopatra named it is the fact that it is sheltered by four lagoons. Three should be called ‘wide of the her favourite resort. of them are really one large lagoon that faces an mark’, which it remained right Matrouh is the closest point of Egypt to Europe less opening to the Mediterranean. The fourth lagoon is through Roman times where it that 400km from Crete and only 370km to Cyprus. a lake containing ‘Bate’s island’ a fascinating tiny was called Paraetonium, which means ‘wide of the mark’ in The Mediterranean is arguably at its most beautiful archeological site a mere 135 metres long and 55 Latin. at Matrouh- brilliant azure- and one can see why metres wide. You can wade to it from the shore and Cleopatra should choose this place as her own all around are the scattered remains of inhabitation favourite. Later her lover Mark Anthony had bitter from late Bronze age times, though Greek and Roman memories of the place as he lost his fleet in the right up until the present day. harbour of the town to his enemy Cornelius Gallus.

74 Gharam Beach in Marsa Matrouh

75 Cleopatra Beach

76 Cleopatra’s bath

When Cleopatra and Mark had finished disporting themselves in the pool they could retire to Cleopatra’s Villa. This ruin, between the modern town of Matrouh and the sea, once had a subterranean passage leading to the beach, perhaps allowing midnight swims unobserved! Unfortunately the site was largely battered during the Allied bombardment of Matrouh in World War II.

30°49’31.61” N 28°59’13.81” E

Cleopatra’s Bath

77 Rommel’s cave and museum Rommel directed operations from an extensive cave system in the cliffs over looking the harbour. Formerly it was a grain store used by the Romans, for whom Egypt was their principle supplier of wheat.

The caves have now been made into a small museum, largely honouring Rommel. Indeed it is his personal effects, donated by his son Manfred, that make this place worth a visit. Rommel’s rather suave full length leather coat, his compass and his marked up maps are all on display.

31°21’56.24” N 27°14’53.69” E

Did you know? The builder of much of the original modern infrastructure of Marsa Matrouh was a French anarchist known only as ‘E’. Under the orders of Camel Corps Commander Andre Dumreicher in the 1900s he built the hospital, post office, prison, school and police station. Rommel’s coat is shown in his Museum

78 Dive the U75 and Volo Cargo ship Matrouh was a centre of the diving industry from ancient Greek times to the early twentieth century that is, sponge diving, favoured by Greek warriors for padding their helmets as well as for the more usual purposes. As many as 2000 divers would gather on the first day of the season to collect the bountiful supply of sponges. Though diving for sponges as an industry has stopped you may still see them if you choose to dive any of the wrecks in and around the lagoon of Matrouh. A U-75 submarine lies on the far side of Matrouh bay, holed and sunk by depth charges in 1941. This was after it had sunk the merchant ship the Volo, which lies about 100m from the beach below Rommel’s cave.

Rommel’s Beach

79 Agiiba Beach

80 A B C D E F G H

54 53 55 Al Dekhela Harbour Platform

Al Bitash Al Al-ANFUSHI

Elgiesh Rd. Elgiesh 40 1 AL AGAMY 41

Ale r Om Za x - Marsa Ma k 27 ghbor trouh Rd. a Elgiesh Rd. wy Zaghlool 25 Saad Om Za ghbor Al Esk 24 To El Alamein & Marsa Matrouh 51 Al Max andar El Akbar 22 21 20 To Rosetta 43 44 35 28 Elgiesh Rd. Om Zaghbor 31 Stanly Bridge Om Zaghbor Al Max Om Zaghbor 59 19 15 8 El Hor 12 14 13 Elgiesh Rd. z Rd. 11 re ya Rd. Al Eska Elgiesh Rd. Mostaf 2 30 33 ndar El Ak a Fahmy bar 5 t el Sue 16 SPORTING 9 Al Montaza AL LABBAN ana Stanly Tharwat 32 K Palace 49 Sidi Ga Elgiesh Rd. Abd El Salam Aref

23 ber Khaled Ibn El Waleed Light House

f a t 52 AL KABARY 45 Ahmed Ismail GLEEM Mahmoud El Esawy Mos Ahmed Sha ef

Abo Quer aleed Mahmoud El Esa a Abd El Salam Ar Khaled Ibn El W Sad El Anwr Mohamed 6 . ahmy MOSTAFA KAMEL AL MAX San Stefano Nahas El a Elgiesh Rd. ahem wk yy wy z Br Kana Abd El Aziz F Elgiesh Rd. 46 Ahmed Lotfy El Said KOM EL DEKKA t el Sue 7 z Ibr AL IBRAHIMEYA Elgiesh Rd. e z Br

t el Sue . MIAMI 4

hamed o Haf SIDIM BISHR Abo Quer Abo Quer 18 Gamal Abd El Nasser Malak Hefny ana K Abo Quer ROUSHDY Al Shaheed Galal El Desouk Gamal Abd El Nasser Abu Qir Mostaf AL ATTARIN a Kamel 17 LORAN Gamal Abd al El Nasser

w El F N 10 a 48 Gamal Abd El Naser t AL MONTAZA ath guib 47 t El A AL MANDARA 34 Mosta BAKOS KARMUZ Mohamed alet Fawzy Alber fa K GANACLIS Malak Hefny Zak amel Malak Hefny Ter y i R Victor Emanouil El T FLEMING eat El Mahm a al 29 g a w udia b Victoria t El A Square Mostaf a Kamel Alber

El Sad El Aaly Mostaf al w a K amel

t El A Smuha Mostaf AL MAAMURA a K ABU QIR Alber amel 05 Agiiba Restaurant 16 Four Seasons Hotel 27 Bibliotheca Alexandrina 38 Abu el Abbas el Morsi Mosque 49 Al Kbary Station Club Mohamed teen Al Ar udia Al Tala A 28 Al Shatby Hospital 39 50 ouba nwr 06 Sheraton Hotel Al Anfushi Beach Western Harbour t Rd. t El Mahm Alexandria 17 Mahmoud Said Museum erea El T

S amel ada 1 t a K 40 51 t 2 Al MAx Police Station El Sada udia 07 Al Asafra Hotel 18 Royal Jewelry Museum 29 Mosaique Museum Qaitbey Citadel The Mostaf Malak Hefny x Deser Zoo t El Mahm Ter ea ea ia er t El Mahm Mostafa Kamel 52 57 ud T El Sad El Aaly 08 Maiami Beach Alexandria National Museum Ras el Tin Beach El Dekheila Station t El Mahm udia 19 30 41 ea Gleem Beach Ter Mostaf LAKE MARIOUT o Ale a K Map amel 3 09 Tourist Information Office Marine General Hospital 53 Cair Al Ar Sidi Bishr Beach 20 Roshdi Beach 31 42 El-Agami Club Hotel ouba 10 Jihan Hospital 21 Cleopatra Beach 32 Roman Amphitheater 43 Al Labban Police Station 54 El-Agami Beach ed

t El Mahm 02 Dr. Mohamed el Nabawi Hospital 13 Abu Hayef Restaurant 24 Ibrahemya Beach 35 Cecil Hotel 46 Karmuz Police Station 57 Fine Arts Museum 56 El Sad El Aaly udia 03 Al Mamoura Hospital 14 Al Saraya Beach 36 Ahly National Bank 47 Pompey’s Pillar 58 Alexandria City Centre 25 Shatby Beach AL AWAID

Agiiba Beach Cleopatra Beach Agiiba means miracle in Arabic, M S e a El Alamein Map and this secluded spectacular e d i t e r r a n e a n cove reached by a path from the Gharam Beach Rommel’s Beach cliff top really is a miracle. But Rommel’s Cave Matrouh Port

like many miracles it is fairly well To Agiiba Beach M e e a known so, in summer, arrive early (20 Km to the West) d i t e r r a n e a n S if you want to stake your place in a Rd. trouh Rd. x - Marsa Ma trouh - Siw Ale the sun. There is a café at the top. sa Ma To Alexandria Mar You can reach it by taxi or bus To Alexandria To Marsa Matrouh from Matrouh which is 24km to Ale oad x - Mar the east. a R To Marsa Matrouh To Cairo sa Ma Siw tr 31°24’45.58” N, Marsa Matrouh Map ouh Rd. CYPRUS EUROPE

ASIA M e d e a i t e r r a n e a n S EGYPT To the German 27°00’22.72” E AFRICA

Beaches Sidi Barani Sallum Rosetta Damietta Marsa Golf Courses Matrouh Alexandria El Arish Rafah Bardawil & Italian war graves El Mansura Port SaidSU Oases Lake Porto EZ CANAL Sidi Abd Marina Damanhur TANIS el Rahman Borg Ports El Arab Tanta Ismailia Wadi el- El Alamein Zagazig Timsah Marina Natroun Lake

Cairo Railway Stations PYRAMIDS Suez a n OF GIZA Giza Oyoun Musa Restaurants and Cafés r io ta s PYRAMIDS Ain Qara Oasis t s OF SAQQARA Memphis Ras Sidr Taba a e Sukhna Taba r Heights Airports Siwa Oasis Q p Qaroun PORTO S i n a i e Pharaoh’s Island AMON TEMPLE Lake D EL SUKHNA SERABIT Siwa Gabal El Mawta Fayoum EL KHADIM Banks & ATMs Cleopatra El Fayoum Nuweiba Oasis Za’farana Gabal Bath Abu El Dakrur Beni Suef ST ANTHONY’S ST CATHERINE’S Hotels & Resorts Rudeis a

MONASTERY MONASTERY b Areg t a at Dahab q LIBYA e r The Gr ST PAUL’S A E Bus Stops e f a MONASTERY G Se MOUNT MOSES o Sand s Ras u l f e a f l Bawiti D Gharib o El Tur u Tourist Police f G D s Su ALEXANDER MONS ez THE GREAT TEMPLE El Minya e t n Bahariyya PORPHYRITES Tram stations r Oasis s e Sharm el-Sheikh BANI HASAN r e TOMBS e t TONA EL GABAL RUINS r n World Heritage Sites s ert Mallawi t White Des El Gouna e TEL EL AMARNA Hospitals Hurghada MAKADI BAY W Farafra Post Ofﬁces Oasis Asyut SAHL HASHEESH Qasr Farafra MONS CLAUDIANUS N i l e Safaga R Main Roads R i v e r SOMA BAY Abu minqar e d Museums G Sohag elf Ale Ke WADI Porto Marina Resort & Spa b Qena ir ABYDOS HAMMAMAT El Quseir S Monasteries DANDARA e Qus Monuments Ain Umm VALLEY OF THE KINGS a x - Mar El Qasr Dakhla Dabadib KARNAK Oasis Islamic Sites AL BAGAWAT Al Kharga Luxor Mut NECROPOLIS Esna Port Ghalib National Parks Bulaq TEMPLE Marsa Alam N Kharga OF KHNOUM ew Oasis Edfu Diving Sites V al TEMPLE le OF HORUS Kom Ombo y Sound & Light Shows sa Ma Baris TEMPLE OF SOBEK & HAREORIS Dush Tourist Information Ofﬁces Aswan EZBET DUSH SAAD EL-ALI, Berenice Ras Banas THE HIGH DAM Wireless Internet PHILAE tr KALABSHA ouh Rd. Tropic of Cancer L a ke trouh Rd. Shalatin sa Ma N a s s e r Alex - Mar WADI EL-SUBUA AMADA Tushka Qasr Ibram Halaib ABU SIMBEL

OWAYNAT MOUNT Alamein war museum 6345,15 FEET Commonwealth 0 124,27 miles SUDAN graveyards

81 82 General White Mediterranean Travel Section

83 Food

On the Mediterranean in Egypt you’ll want to be eating fish. It’s fresh and excellent and there is always lots of choice. You pick the fish out yourself in many restaurants and see just how fresh it is. The main choice you make is whether to have your fish fried or grilled. The price will be determined by the weight of the fish. Popular fish include sole, red mullet, bass, grey mullet, crab, shrimp and calamari or squid. All delicious! As well as fish there are the standard Egyptian dishes of kebab, chicken, stuffed pigeon and stuffed vine leaves. Most are served with rice, salad and vegetables if desired. No trip to Egypt is complete without tasting the dish of kushari, a mix of lentils, rice and pasta and sauce that is unique.

Tip When buying street food such as Felafel sandwiches, just look for the stall with the longest and busiest line, that is always bound to be good!

84 Egyptian local food

85 Accommodation Where to stay on the White Mediterranean will be determined by whether you choose a resort or a town based hotel. Both have advantages. In Alexandria itself there is the largest selection of hotels from the cheap and cheerful to the five star excellence of such places at the Hotel Cecil as well as many newer establishments of equal quality. In Marsa Matrouh there are mature hotels in and around the town as well the resort of Almaza Bay which is only 37km away. For Rosetta and El-Alamein there are existing hotels of good quality. El- Alamein is also superbly served by the relatively new Porto Marina with all its many facilities.

San Stephano Residential Tower in Alexandria Cecil Hotel

86 Getting Around For traveling around the White Mediterranean the tourist is well served by both public and private transport options. There are bus services between all the towns, major and minor. To get to battlefield remains, a distant beach or an ancient site, is very easy to arrange at your hotel. They will contact a trusted operator who will drive you by taxi, microbus or 4x4 as is deemed most appropriate. You can also summon taxis on the streets of the bigger towns. Simply state your destination and agree a price then go. In the remoter stretches of the White Med you can even hitch a lift in a passing pick-up if you are really stuck! All modes of transport are very cheap compared to European prices, and apart from public bus services you can always try your hand at bargaining (though hotels will offer a guide price for transport if you desire it).

Taxi Double-decker bus operates in Alexandria Alexandria

87 The White Mediterranean is easy to get to from Luxor, Aswan, Cairo, Your Journey Sharm el-Sheikh and Siwa. To make a longer, more unforgettable, in Egypt journey, why not add two or three continues… of these fabulous destinations together?

LUXOR For a full Luxor experience one should see the Valley of the Kings with Tutankhamun’s Tomb, the Temple of Luxor and other great sites of antiquity. There are numerous first class hotels and great chances to relax in a sailing felucca on the mighty river Nile. One can also travel to Aswan by boat from Luxor. To go to and from Luxor one can fly direct, which takes no more than an hour, as do most internal flights in Egypt. One can also take the first class train to Cairo and then change and take either the daytime or ‘sleeper’ train up to Luxor, a fantastic experience which takes around eight hours. Karnak Temple

88 ASWAN Aswan is the gate to Nubia, a realm of marvelous calm and the favourite destination o f t h e A g a K h a n a n d Francois Mitterrand to name but two famous people who succumbed to its wonderfully Elephantine Island relaxing charms. There are ancient Philae temples, the incredible high Island dam, Elephantine Island and ancient monasteries all there to help you create the holiday story of lifetime. You can get to Aswan by boat from Luxor, flying direct from Alexandria, or by vehicle from Luxor or Cairo.

89 Fortress Old City of Shali SIWA If you have time, Siwa makes for a great journey into the heart of the Western Desert. Only three or four hours along a good road from Marsa Matrouh, Siwa is an oasis town surrounded by large saline lakes of majestic beauty. Siwa is home to the ancient Oracle temple where Alexander the Great went after conquering Egypt. Other attractions of Siwa include hot springs, Roman ruins, the mud walled town of Shali and a magnificent eco-lodge where Prince Charles and many other luminaries have stayed.

SHARM el-Sheikh Sharks Bay Sharm el-Sheikh is the latest addition to the international destinations of Egypt. Known originally as one of the world’s number one diving spots, it has great wreck and coral diving and is situated on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Nearby lies the immense charm of desert and mountain scenery and the ancient attraction of St. Catherine’s Monastery and Mt. Sinai. To get to Sharm el-Sheikh from Alexandria is easy, either by a short flight or by bus or long distance taxi via Cairo.

90 Pyramids of Giza

Cairo by Night

CAIRO Cairo usually features in any Egyptian experience. It is has, after all, the only remaining wonder of the ancient world, the Pyramids, as well as the great Egyptian Museum, the marvels of Islamic Cairo and the Citadel, the Nile, as well as numerous restaurants and nightspots. Cairo can be reached from Alexandria by the Alex desert road or by train. There is a rapid first class service that arrives in under three hours and provides for a meal by the route if required.

91 Practical Info conscious of their ancient origin and proud of their heritage. This makes the Egyptian provider of services for the tourist both experienced and able to anticipate what any tourist is likely to want Location: 31 05 to 22 N 25 02 to 34 56 E to see. The Egyptian people have suffered under several waves of invasion, but have never been broken. Their talent is in flexibility Population: and thinking up novel solutions to problems. With this is mind and More than 83 million a flexible approach of your own, you will have a marvelous time on holiday. Large cities: Cairo (18 million), Alexandria (4 million), Aswan and Suez Entry and Departure

Language: Visitors will need a single-visit visa to enter Egypt. The visa is valid Arabic for 90 days. If the planned trip involves travel in and out of Egypt over the same period, then the best option is a multiple-visit visa. Egypt Today Obtaining a visa is straightforward. It can be arranged in advance through one of the Egyptian consulates dotted around the world, or Since the end of the nineteenth century, Egypt has been evolving purchased on entry at airports. All visitors will need to have a passport at a very high speed. Its political, economic and cultural life has which must have at least six months remaining of its validity from undergone striking changes. From the inscription of the first the date of entry. Egypt applies strict customs rules about bringing hieroglyph to the construction of the new hi-tech Smart Village, Egypt items such as alcohol and cigarettes into the country, so to avoid any has always been a pioneer on the frontier for emerging information misunderstandings it is probably advisable to buy at an airport shop. technologies in the Arab world. Under no circumstances should you attempt to leave the country Egypt is one of the oldest countries in the world, its people are with antiquities.

92 Health Electricity

There are no vaccinations needed to visit Egypt. Sunburn and Egypt’s electricity works on 220v with sockets being of the two-pin dehydration can be avoided by using plenty of sun cream, wearing European mainland variety. It’s a good idea to pack an adaptor if light cotton clothing and a hat, and drinking lots of water. The health planning to use personal items like mobile phone chargers. care facilities in Egypt are generally good and it is advisable to have health insurance. Information and Booking

Communications Flying to Egypt, is relatively straightforward. The main airline, EgyptAir (www.egyptair.com), runs regular and efficient service to Egypt has embraced internet services and now it is easy to go online Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan from airports around the world. at hotels, offices and internet cafes. Egypt has widespread wi fi service It also provides inexpensive domestic flights. Some visitors choose to available. The telephone system is efficient and visitors should have arrive by road or by sea. Cruise ships often make Egypt a key stop on no problem in finding public phones that take cards. You can buy their itineraries. Booking holidays or short trips to Egypt is easily done visitor mobile cards that enable you to use your mobile. The favoured via links from the Egyptian Tourist Authority’s website (www.egypt. bright yellow and green half booths of one of the leading telecom travel), online direct with local agents, or by visiting your nearest providers, Menatel, are usually easy to spot. Cards are available travel agent. Also check (www.eha.com) to choose your hotel. from most newspaper stalls and shops showing the Menatel sign and come in 10 and 30 denominations for local and international use. You can buy stamps and post your letters at post offices or from your hotel. Post offices are closed on Fridays.

93 Language Money, ATMs Public The official language of Egypt is Arabic and other languages are and Credit Holidays widely spoken too, especially in tourist areas. Cards Holidays include the Coptic The currency of Egypt is the Christmas on January 7, Labour Talk like an Egyptian A little bit of Egyptian Arabic will Every area of Egypt is different but Egyptian pound, which is Day on May 1, Revolution Day go a long way as you meet locals there are similarities. For example, divided into 100 piasters. Cash on July 23, Armed Forces Day during your trip. Here are some it is customary to pay after is generally easily obtained on October 6. The Islamic New Arabic words to help you get receiving a service not before- be it from ATMs, which can be found Year, the Birth of the Prophet and started. a drink, a meal or a taxi ride. Also in larger towns and cities. Most Ramadan, the major religious Aywa ...... yes you will find a level of trust absent of the major hotels and stores period of fasting that precedes La ...... no in more ‘developed’ countries. accept credit cards, such as the Bairam Feast, change every shukran ...... thank you If you go into a shop and buy a Visa and Mastercard, along year. Min fadlak ...... please paper and find you haven’t enough with travellers’ cheques and afwan...... you’re money the shop keeper will trust certain foreign currencies like welcome you to return with the right amount Business Hours Euro, Sterling and Dollars. If salaam aleikum .....hello later- and let you take the paper ahlan wasahlan .....welcome with you! venturing off the beaten track Government,administrative maalesh...... no problem you will find that generally only offices and banks are generally the Egyptian pound in cash will open from 9am to 2pm each be accepted. day, except for Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays.

94 Most shops are open from amount of time to explore is to and dry in most of the country. you will not encounter any threat 10am to 10pm every day except travel from one city to another by December to February can be of physical violence or criminal Sunday. Please note that all these air. There are also long distance quite cold in the north. The sky is intent. Mugging is unheard of, times may vary in shopping buses and trains available. usually blue and cloudless. The burglary rare. centres and during Ramadan. Travel within cities is probably temperature varies considerably Most historic sites and museums best done by taxi or a minibus, in Egypt. It rains more often in Clothing are open from 9am to 5pm although car hire is an option. Alexandria than in Aswan and daily, and often until 6pm in the Hiring a car with a guide by the Cairo. Women need to be somewhat summer. day is a good idea if you have more careful when walking a tight schedule and want to POPULATION alone at night, as in any country, Time see all the sights. If planning to and wearing modest clothing go into the desert it is a must to With more than 83 million makes obvious sense when away Egypt is two hours ahead of take a guide to avoid becoming inhabitants, Egypt represents from the more developed resort GMT, except at the start of May disorientated. Cairo also has one quarter of the population of areas. and the end of September when an underground metro system, the Arab world. it is three hours ahead. which is a good way to travel around the city. Safety Transport CLIMATE Compared to New York and As Egypt is such a vast country, London, walking the streets of the best way for holidaying During the summer, from March even the poorest neighborhoods visitors who may have a limited to November, the climate is hot of Alexandria, Luxor or Cairo

95 Important numbers Gallantry of the Egyptian Emergency Numbers in Egypt are very handy and can be contacted Egyptian people are by nature very friendly and helpful. If you stop with anytime. Country code +2 a map on a street corner expect to gather a few helpers. If you need to ask directions people will be very happy to give you them. Here people are generous with time, and are not bothered if you interrupt them with some requests.

Ambulance Flying hospital service Egyptair 123 02/377 66393 1717

Fire Brigade Railway Information: Telephone Directory 180 Cairo 02/257 53555, 140/141 Alex 03/392 0010 Police Trunk Calls 122 Cairo Old Airport Information 10 02/265 5000 Tourist Police Speaking Clock 126 150 Cairo New Airport Traffic Police 02/265 2029 128

Cairo Airport Shuttle Bus service 19970

96 There’s always something to tell about Egypt. What’s yours?

97 There’s always something to tell about Egypt. What’s yours?