Amma at Egypt – Part 5 – Alexandria
Tour of Alexandria
Next day, our time 6,7,8 they took us to the second largest city of Egypt popularly known as the pearl of Mediterranean, this was the Alexandria city.
Some information about the city can be found at http://www.egyptologyonline.com/alexandria.htm
We visited:
The Pompeii’s Pillar – Next to this was a place which they used as a library in olden days.
The Catacomb – the largest Roman cemetery consisting of 3 levels cut in rock.
What is a catacomb?
Catacombs are ancient, human-made underground passageways or subterranean cemeteries composed thereof. Many are under cities and have served during historic times as a refuge for safety during wars or as a meeting place for cults. The first burial galleries to be referred to as catacombs lie beneath San Sebastiano fuori le mura, in Rome. The derivation of the word itself is disputed and it remains unclear if it ultimately derives from the cemetery itself or from the locality in which it is found. There is no doubt however that the San Sebastiano catacombs are the first to be referred to as such.
The word now refers to any network of caves, castles, grottos, or subterranean galleries that were used in medieval times as refuges during wars, as worship places, or for burial of the dead.
The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (meaning ‘Mound of shards’ or ‘Potsherds’) is a historical archaeological site located in Alexandria, Egypt and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages.
The necropolis consists of a series of Alexandrian tombs, statues and archaeological objects of the Pharaonic funeral cult with Hellenistic and early Imperial Roman influences. Due to the time period, many of the features of the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa merge Roman, Greek and Egyptian cultural points; some statues are Egyptian in style, yet bear Roman clothes and hair style whilst other features share a similar style. A circular staircase, which was often used to transport deceased bodies down the middle of it, leads down into the tombs that were tunneled into the bedrock during the age of the Antonine emperors (2nd century AD). The facility was then used as a burial chamber from the 2nd century to the 4th century, before being rediscovered in 1900 when a donkey accidentally fell into the access shaft. To date, three sarcophagi have been found, along with other human and animal remains which were added later. It is believed that the catacombs were only intended for a single family, but it is unclear why the site was expanded in order to house numerous other individuals. The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa is, according to some lists, also one of the seven medieval wonders of the world. One of the more gruesome features of the catacombs is the so called Hall of Caracalla. According to tradition, this is a mass burial chamber for the humans and animals massacred by order of the Emperor Caracalla.
Next was the visit to Mediterranean sea. Here we saw the light house. I touched the sea with my legs 
. The sea was too deep …so they dint let us go in…..it was very dangerous. Still, I wanted to touch the water…I could not touch it with my hands…so I did it with my legs:)…
After lunch we went to the second largest library in the world. The library had 7 floors with the largest reading room in the world…. They gave all of us membership cards… I guess the membership registration should be done online. I need to look into it yet. After this was our journey back to Cairo.
Next day the plan was to go to Azwan…before I start narrating about the trip to Azwan, I wanted to say something about Cairo.
We felt that Cairo was the dirtiest city….it was very dirty. Also, 90% of the houses were unfinished. The houses were constructed with bricks…but then they were not finished after that….no painting. The rest of the houses and shops were also finished only on the front side. The buildings have not been maintained. The buildings were ugly looking. Our tour manager told us that in Cairo, the finished buildings were taxed more and so people preferred not to give finishing touch to their buildings.
Another thing we noticed was that 90% of the houses looked identical…among which 75% of the houses were vacant. Our tour manager gave us some reason which was not very convincing….it would be interesting to know why this is so….
Some details about Cairo can be found at http://www.cairotourist.com/
