17th Dec –

A relaxed day. Of course we took our time to get up and get ready and it was noon by the time we went out. With the help of lonely planet we landed at a nice place called as ‘La Cheesa’. It had small wooden chairs and old décor. We had very good breakfast there and the highlight was olive patty!

We again attempted to walk to Khan-el-khalili and finally changed direction to go to Ramses Hilton which had the Mobaco showroom from where we wanted to buy some cloths of Egyptian cotton. It took us time to realise that Mobaco is a part of other brand and so we could not see the Mobaco name on the shop. Anyway that wasn’t much of help we still could not find much in the shop and things were almost of the same cost as you might find in any of the London shop. So we thought of taking a break from searching cotton and went to American University and to visit its bookshop. It publishes the books of Naguib Mahfouz. I had read the first part of Cairo trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz and was searching for the remaining two which I found in the bookshop. Also we picked up a book by the same author on the revolutionary Egyptian king Akhenaten and another one called Harafish considered as one of his best books.

It was the time to go back and get fresh before going for the dinner on Nile cruise. We were given a taxi from king tut hostel to go for the cruise. The driver who also served as a kind of body guard stayed with us throughout the cruise! It was amazing place to see the belly dancing and the Sufi dance, while having good food. We had seen the belly dancing in London but it is a must to see in Cairo. We still wanted to watch the Sufi dance performed by a group in old Cairo but sadly it was on specific days in a week on which we were not in Cairo. Apart from the belly dancing the cruise was like any other river/dinner cruise.

16th Dec-


We set out for Alexandria on a train from Cairo; it’s around 3 hour’s journey. We reached there at 11 am. Alexandria is a city founded by Alexander but he never lived to see it. He died in India and then was buried in Alexandria. Though his tomb is still not found. Alexander was fascinated by Egyptian process of making tomb and he wanted same thing for him so was buried in the city he founded. There are lots of things in Alexandria which are still yet to be discovered.

In the ancient times this was a city with marble walls; it is right at the intersection of Mediterranean and Red sea. Alexandria has had quite lot ups and downs in history; in fact until recently it was quite neglected. But the discovery of catacombs and roman amphitheatre put it back on focus. It is the most cosmopolitan city in Egypt with evident signs of French influence on its architecture and its café culture.

We wanted to see the Greco Roman Museum, Catacombs and the Roman amphitheatre. After reaching the Greco Roman Museum we discovered that it is closed for renovation so we decided to go to Alexandria Museum instead. After long walk using a map we reached the Alexandria Museum. Things found during excavation in Alexandria and from the Mediterranean were on display. It was small but very well kept museum.

After the Museum visit it was time to visit some French café and thankfully after short walk we found café Rostary. It was very relaxing old place. After a lunch of salad, sandwich and coffee we were refreshed to go to catacombs.

The Catacombs in Alexandria are so called because the design was very similar to the Christian Catacombs in Rome. Most likely it was a private tomb, later converted to 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 in it; in each recess there is a sarcophagus. Some walls still has the carvings intact and gives an impression how beautiful it would have been.



It was almost 4 pm by the time we finished at Catacombs and the Ruins of Roman amphitheatre at Kom-al-Dikka closes at 5 so we took a taxi to Kom-al-Dikka and headed first towards the villa of birds within the amphitheatre. The villa is the remains of Roman villa which has beautiful mosaics of birds. These mosaics are restored and are in very good condition. The roman amphitheatre was also restored and some parts of it are still amazingly left intact. The evening light that day made the pictures look just perfect.

We still had 2 hours for the train to Cairo. So we went to the nearby Corniche on the side of Mediterranean. After spending some time there we walked back to the train station.