Our guide will pick you up from Alexandria port, waiting by the cruise exit door holding a double sign Nile Dream / your name. After that, you will be transferred by an air-conditioned vehicle to visit the following sites ;
Kom EL Shoqafa Catacomb It was discovered in 1900 AD, completely. Dug in the rock, it dates back to the 1St century AD and was used until the 4the century AD. At first, it was a private tomb and then turned into a public one. It is the largest known Roman burial site in Egypt and one of the unique and most famous cemeteries in Alexandria, representing a model for the mixture between the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman art. It consists of three tiers of tombs that could accommodate up to 300 corpses. The architecture of the tombs reflects Greco-Roman styles. This can be seen in the wall decoration, which shows the combination of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman artistic traditions. People are buried here in sarcophagi, in shelves, and in urns of ashes after cremation
Pompey’ Pillar which reaches around 27 meters, it was constructed to commemorate the Roman emperor Diocletian in the third century and considered the highest cenotaph of the world, near beside the column there are two small statues similar to sphinx made of pink granite and belong to Ptolemy the sixth region
The Citadel of Qaitbay located at the entrance of the eastern harbor on the eastern point of the Pharos Island. It was erected on the exact site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria (destroyed in the 14th century), which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The citadel was built by sultan Ashraf Qaitbay in 1477 A D who wanted to protect Alexandria city from the Ottoman Empire direct threats it is considered one of the most important defensive strongholds, not only in Egypt but also along the Mediterranean Sea coast. It formulated an important part of the fortification system of Alexandria in the 15th century A.D.
After lunch in a local restaurant we visit Alexandria New Library The actual construction began in 1994 and completed in 2002 with $200 million budgets, it comprises around 120 manuscripts and rare scrolls. Today, the library receives about 800, 00 visitors annually with the main target to be an academy of dialogue and rationality the library consisted of four underground stores and six upper stores. The architectural design was chosen by the UNESCO the competition was won by a Norwegian architectural office, from among more than 1000 competitors, and it is supposed to be constructed in the same place of the original building of the famous Alexandria library completely burnt in the 7th century, that was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. Designed in the reign of Ptolemy I Soter, and built during the reign of his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The library acquired about400,000 papyrus scrolls and had presented knowledge and science to the whole world during more than 10 centuries until it was completely burnt in the 7th century. Both the ancient bibliotheca and the new library share the same heritage and knowledge.
After the tour, you will be transferred to your cruise ship in Alexandria
