Start your over-day excursion to Alexandria by private car & accompanied by an English-speaking Egyptologist. The first stop will be at the Alexandria National Museum, one of our new master sites nowadays. It was inaugurated by the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, on the 31st of December 2003. The national museum located in a restored palace contains about 1,800 artifacts pieces of antiquities that narrate the history of Alexandria throughout the ages, Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic, and Islamic eras, and some modern pieces, Mummies are shown in a special underground chamber (basement). Some of the items found during the archaeological underwater excavations in Alexandria are now on the same floor as the Greco-Roman artifacts.
- Next, we will visit the Catacomb of Alexandria which is really one of the master sites here in Alexandria. Kom el-Shouqafa lies in the district of Karmouz to the east of Alexandria the area was called Kom El Shouqafa or a pile of shards, Catacombs in Alexandria are called the catacomb as well because of their design, which was very similar to the Roman Christian Catacombs. Most likely it was a private tomb and later converted into a public cemetery. It consists of 3 levels cut into the rock, a staircase, a rotunda, the triclinium or banquette hall, a vestibule, an antechamber, and the burial chamber with three recesses, wherein each recess there is a sarcophagus. The Catacomb also contains a large number of Luculi or grooves cut into the rock.
- Proceed to the Roman Amphitheater. It a modest in size and most of the part of the structure is in ruined condition but still, it is an excellent ancient structure of the Roman period of Egypt. The theatre also consists of numerous galleries erected crudely. These galleries contain rooms for more spectators along with the arrangement of 700-800 marble seats around the stage. The Roman Amphitheatre was discovered in the excavations done for the site of Paneion or "Park of Pan" in Kom el-Dikkah also known by the name of Hill of Rubble. In the layers above the Roman street, two other archaeological sites were found. These were a Muslim Cemetery and slums.
- Stop for lunch then continue to our last stop at the Alexandria Library. The modern Alexandria Library or the Bibliotheca Alexandrina as once called in Ancient Egypt is located on a magnificent site in the Eastern Harbor, facing the sea on the north, and Alexandria University Complex on its southern side. It is very close to the location of the Ancient Library in the Brucheion (the Ancient Royal Quarter), as verified by the 1993 archeological survey. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the old library. The building consists of 11 levels with a total level area of 85,405 m2. The library's main reading area which can accommodate 2000 users occupies 7 levels with a total area of 13,625 m2. The Library has 2 main museums (the manuscript museum and the Antiquities museum) and a Science center in the shape of a sphere and called the Planetarium. Return to Cairo.
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
