Things to do in Alexandria

Alexandria faces the Mediterranean and turns its back on the desert. Alexander founded it in 331 BC. It spent centuries as the intellectual capital of the ancient world and then lost almost all of it.

What survived and what replaced it

The Pharos lighthouse and the ancient library are both gone. The city built replacements on the same ground. Both are on every itinerary.

• Qaitbay Citadel. A fifteenth-century fort standing on the lighthouse foundations, at the tip of the eastern harbour.
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The modern library, opened in 2002, a disc of granite tilted toward the sea.
• Kom el-Shoqafa. Roman catacombs cut three levels into the rock, mixing Egyptian and classical carving.
• Pompey's Pillar. A single red granite column, twenty-seven metres of it, on the old acropolis.

How it is visited

Most people come from Cairo for the day, and the drive is about three hours each way. That makes for a long day with four stops. Cruise passengers arrive at the port and do the same circuit.

The Corniche runs the length of the seafront and is the other half of the visit. Fish is the local kitchen, chosen from ice and grilled. The historic tram is shut for a rebuild.

The other layers

Greek and Roman Alexandria is thin on the ground but not absent. The Roman theatre at Kom el-Dikka is the one open excavation in the centre. Its seating is intact.

The twentieth-century city is easier to find. Cavafy wrote here, and his flat is a museum. The old cafés on the Corniche belong to the same period.

Practical

• Season. Cooler and wetter than Cairo, with real rain from December to February. Summer is the beach season here.
• The day trip. Six hours of driving for four sites. Leave early or stay the night.
• Catacombs. Stairs, damp air and no photography inside.
• Fish. Priced by weight at the counter. Confirm the price before it goes on the grill.