Top 10 places to visit in Alexandria Egypt | Travel guide

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to la cita if you're new my name is estina today we are going to talk all about alexandre egypt if you haven't seen my previous video then let me just quickly tell you that i used to live in alexandria for a year before and i saw a lot of places around the city now after a few years i came back to the city again and visited all the popular sites one more time do they want to share the best places to visit in alexandria egypt probably the most popular place in alexandria to visit is the citadel of cade bay situated on the very tip of land's edge at the entrance to the old harbor it is the very same spot where the famous lighthouse of alexandria used to stand one of the seven wonders of the ancient world unfortunately it was destroyed by multiple earthquakes that occurred in the middle ages the citadel was built in the 14th century by salt and cade bay and some of the bigger stones from the lighthouse were used for construction it was a very important strategic location for defense of the city so it was constantly used and had experienced a lot of damage during the wars throughout the centuries the final renovation was done in the 80s in order to open it to the public as a museum since then it became a very popular place for both tourists and locals it is one of the favorite places for alexandrians to gather around on weekends and after work in the evenings to enjoy the pretty views that the citadel provides the citadel is surrounded by tall thick walls from the city side there is a second wall as well then there is a large courtyard where military training used to take place but also our stables the grand citadel itself is a multiple story building with big halls as well as small bedrooms for the soldiers all surrounded by corridors with windows for lookout on the ground floor there also is a musk room while the citadel itself doesn't have any furniture or anything like that indoors it is still amazing to walk its corridors which feels like a maze every window provides a great view of the city and the sea making it obvious to anyone why this place was so important for the city for so many centuries place to visit is quite related to the citadel it is the cornish a waterfront promenade continuing throughout most of the city the corniche connects vista del to montaza gardens at the other end of the city at the same time it is quite unavoidable for anyone who wants to go around the city it is one of the most important roads since it is readily available for everyone in many districts corniche is a very popular place for locals to spend time at walking around enjoying the sea view and chilling at the cafes and restaurants on the waterfront for any budget from extremely humble tea or grilled corn cards with some plastic chairs to the most lavish four seasons beach lounge everyone in alexandra loves to come there to watch sunset which every evening brings fantastic color views since the weather in alexandria is very rarely overcast one more interesting thing on vacarniche is the stanley bridge besides being very pretty and reminding of the palace is built around egypt it is also situated at a beautiful historical beach the next stop is right behind me the library of alexandria well the new one the new modern construction was built in the early 2000s and it is a beautiful architectural construction it was built to commemorate the great library of alexandria which used to be one of the largest libraries in the ancient times the current library looks amazing from inside out from the outside it is built with grey grenade from aswan a southern egyptian city it is carved to display characters from 120 different human scripts the building itself is sloping in a spiral and its roof is all windows that provide light to the library inside it is 11 floors height and we are all connected in one area by columns and a sloping roof it has a capacity for around 8 million books additionally the library complex has 4 museums multiple art exhibitions manuscript restoration laboratory a conference center a concert hall and a planetarium i found the antiquities and manuscript museums particularly interesting the manuscript museum contains a collection of many rare manuscripts also early printed books another landmark situated at the corniche road and quite close to the citadel is the abu abbas al-mursi mosque if you are interested more in architectural or alexandria then this is one of the prettiest places to see however the mosque is built just in the middle of 20th century to replace a smaller mosque that used to stand there since 30th century it is dedicated to sufi saint abu abbas al-mursi whose storm bit contains inside [Music] speaking of tombs the next interesting place to visit in alexandria's old town is the catacombs of com el chocafa it was used between 1st and 4th centuries a.d during the roman rule and provides a very interesting experience while exploring it it was found in the end of 19th century when a donkey dragging a cart fell into a hole which led to the catacombs besides being massive it is quite unique the sculptures and the walls inside are a total mix of cultures at the same place you can see the ancient egyptian greek and roman art there are even different types of burial chambers for different cultural traditions it just shows how diverse egypt was at that time some writers even described komal shokapa as one of the seven wonders of medieval world the catacombs consists of three levels with an entrance through a spiral staircase with a shaft in the middle however the third level is completely submerged by water the catacombs connect to another tube it is the whole of karakala it is believed that when the roman emperor karakala executed a large massacre of alexandrians in 3rd century we were buried in this tomb's chamber together we were horses overall going inside the catacombs is quite an out of this world experience it gave me shivers walking inside the dark quiet empty tombs especially that me and my friend were the only visitors at the time somehow the catacombs seemed much scarier than the beautifully painted peronic tombs in luxor just a few hundred meters away from the catacombs there is another ancient site pompeis pillar and ruins of a greek temple again we experience a merger of cultures above there is a gigantic roman column and two sphinxes that were recently brought from heliopolis to keep company the column was built at the end of the third century and it was the largest of its type constructed outside the imperial capitals of rome and constantinople it stands almost 27 meters high and it is one of the largest monolithic columns ever built it was built from granite brought from southern egypt to this aswan region which is one thousand kilometers away the pillar had actually nothing to do with pompeii it was mistakenly named like this by early travelers the column was built in the honor of roman emperor diocletian and at the top of it there used to be his statue underneath and all around the pillar there is the ancient greek temple of serapis the hybrid greek and egyptian god it was built in the third century bc by ptolemy iii all of that is actually underground now yet it is open to explore some of its passages and you can see a lot from walking around the area too also here was a daughter library of the great library of alexandria which was said to have contained copies of text from the great library the library was open to anyone using the temple which made it one of the most important intellectual and religious centers in the mediterranean i guess this is where we stored books in these niches in the walls i wonder how we hold that underground the temple and its library was closed after 500 years of use in 325 a.d sadly later the site had been plundered and raised to the ground by christian rioters [Music] one more ancient place in alexandria is much more preserved to this day it is the roman amphitheater which was built around 4th century it was discovered only in the 1960s when foundations were being laid for a new building it is the only roman amphitheater found in egypt vampy theater itself stays well preserved with 12 rows of beautiful white marble benches columns and some of the floors is still having mosaic decoration but that's not all there is a whole neighborhood surrounding the amphitheater it was probably one of the wealthy resident neighborhoods since the archaeologists also found a large complex of roman baths and villas with pretty mosaics and sculptures the best preserved villa is now called the villa of the birds it has very beautiful and intricate floor mosaics depicting various birds all this gives a very good look at what life used to be like in both days the area of the ruins is quite large and one can just go and explore throughout all those different houses and passages the researchers and archaeologists are still working on site this time i visited the site that had more places open for sightseeing compared to what was there five years ago last time i came i wonder what will we find next the next place is alexandria's national museum where all the smaller relics from excavations done around alexandria can be found inside the museum is situated in a pretty 1920s villa there you can see a selection of various feronic artifacts sculptures even an offering table in the basement there is a sarcophagus and the mummy also as you would expect there is a large collection of greek and roman era relics including some artifacts found underwater in a place called cleopatra's palace which is sinking underneath the old harbor near the citadel also there is a collection of artifacts from the ottoman rule just enough to give an impression of the styles and crafts used during that era as well as a small collection from the kingdom room generally the museum is not big doesn't take too much time to explore but at the same time it gives a good glimpse at alexandria's history if you'd like to know more about alexandria in 20th century or just like pretty things then go to the royal jewellery museum it is situated inside the villa of princess fatma or zahara which is just as beautiful as the collection held inside but first let me explain what was alexandria like during the kingdom rule in the first half of 20th century it was nothing like what we see today visiting was spacious and many neighborhoods were just villas with large gardens until the 1950s alexandre was one of the mediterranean's most cosmopolitan cities attracting a wide mix of nationalities high-profile political figures artists and writers from europe and more while many of the villas are demolished today the villa of princess fathma al-zahra is still standing strong and it is a perfect example of alexandria's glamour in the first half of 20th century i'll just have to note that the museum forbids filming indoors so i'll share some photos the is indoors luxuriously from painted walls and ceilings intricate stained glass windows to unique mosaics in the bathrooms the collection is stunning as well it consists of the jewels and jewelry of the muhammad ali dynasty also wear personal items [Music] another place in alexandria that reminds of this era is the montaza gardens and palace it is my personal favorite in all of the city as well there you can see a large palace of al-haram lake built in 1932 biking while the first to be a summer royal residence however it is not open for visitors but it can be easily admired from afar from many places around the park all those extensive gardens are great on veron to escape the bustle and hustle of alexandria there is plenty to do there besides of picnics on the grass there is an open beach paths for walking around a marina also a beautiful red bridge leading to an island on which where is recently opened for public king farouk's tea house it is modeled after the roman style of architecture with a small courtyard inside decorated with sculptures it is an amazing place to have some refreshments and small snacks with a beautiful architecture around and see view from every side it easily makes one feel like a royalty and this is not all about montasa at the time i visited in early 21 the place was quite in a turmoil because of a massive construction going on all over the park while at that moment it seemed like an inconvenience it looks like an already great place is becoming an even more impressive one we are renovating everything the marina and cafes area the beach and even the palace the construction is supposed to be finished later this year and i wonder how it will all look like but i bet it will be amazing last but not least to mention in this list is actually outside of alexandria but i can't get away without telling about it that is the north coast if you want to have a beach holiday in alexandria then this is the place to go we see and beaches here look like they were brought down straight from paradise soft almost white desert sand and pristine to require sea will make one forget all the worries and busy cities you can see the color of the sea gradually changing while driving from alexandria it turns to this color at around 100 kilometers away from the city center there are only a few beach hotels in the area but that is not going to be for long since a whole brand new dubai style city with skyscrapers is being built nearby it's called new alamin which will probably attract bigger expansion of hotel resorts so these were the top places to visit in alexandria which one did you like the most let me know in the comments below and subscribe for more videos later thanks for watching

Channel: Atlasito

Views: 22,843

Keywords: Alexandria, Egypt, visit Egypt, top places, visit, tourism, guide, travel, travel guide, best places, cleopatra, citadel of qaitbay, montaza park, kom el shoqafa, library of alexandria, corniche, pompey's pillar, roman ruins, history, historic, ancient greek, ancient roman, ancient egyptian, museum, royal jewelry, north coast, el alamein, mediterranean, egyptian, tourist, travel film, travel video

Id: l8ZZlK3Lxb4

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 12 2021