Holiday in Alexandria

What makes Alexandria special as a destination?

Alexandria is the city founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC and was for centuries the intellectual center of the ancient world — home to the legendary library, the Lighthouse of Pharos (one of the Seven Wonders of the World), and a cosmopolitan culture where Greek, Egyptian, Jewish, and Roman traditions merged. Even though the ancient wonders have disappeared, the 5.3 million city by the Mediterranean retains an atmosphere that is fundamentally different from Cairo: sea air, European-style Belle Époque facades, a long corniche, and a melancholic beauty that Nobel Prize-winning author Lawrence Durrell immortalized in his Alexandria Quartet. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002, is a bold attempt to revive the spirit of the ancient library: a 160-meter-wide, disc-shaped building by the Mediterranean, its outer wall engraved with characters from 120 languages. Inside, it houses 8 million books, a planetarium, four museums, and the largest reading room in Africa. The Citadel of Qaitbay, a 15th-century fortress on the eastern harbor arm, stands exactly where the Lighthouse of Pharos once stood — offering the best view over the harbor and the Mediterranean coast. Below, on the seabed, lie the remnants of the ancient city, accessible through diving: sunken sphinxes, column fragments, and parts of the royal quarter of the Ptolemies. The Corniche, Alexandria's 15-kilometer-long waterfront promenade, is the heart of city life: fishermen, joggers, families, and lovers share the view of the Mediterranean, and the Belle Époque cafés along the way serve the strongest coffee and freshest fish in Egypt.