BEACON OF THE AGES

Alexandria’s ancient lighthouse may have been long destroyed but the Egyptian city by the Mediterranean continues its millennial quest to illuminate, as Anita Limaye discovered

   PART of the charm of Egypt is its amazing array of ancient wonders which seem to exist happily cheek-by-jowl with the hurly-burly of the modern world. No where is that more evident than in the port city of Alexandria, which was once the cynosure of the ancient world . Even today Alexandria is the second most important city in Egypt — and is, indubitably, the most beautiful one!
   Ironically, although the city is named after Alexander the Great, he never lived to see it! When Alexander conquered Egypt in 332 BC, he ordered a new capital city to be built. He died, however, in 323 BC before the city came up, so the first king to rule from Alexandria was Ptolemy I. Alexandria remained an important Mediterranean port city until the rule of the last of this dynasty, Queen Cleopatra VII. We felt awed to know that we were treading the same ground as patriarchs such as Ptolemy, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra!
   Alexandria stretches along the Mediterranean Sea with the Montazah Summer Palace at one end and a fort called The Citadel of Quaitbey at the other. The entire expanse of road from one end to the other is lined with breathtaking beaches and a sea front promenade – The Alexandrian Corniche. The beauty of this Corniche area can hardly be described in words with lovely cafes and beachfront hotels on one side of the road. For a moment I thought of comparing the Corniche to our very own Marine Drive in Mumbai....But nah! There’s just no parallel for this remarkable place.
   Alexandria is also flocked by hundreds of tourists during the summer season. Due to the presence of an international airport, a lot of foreigners choose to come here directly without going elsewhere in Egypt, simply to laze in the sun and soak in the beauty all around and not to mention – be part of the vibrant night life in Alexandria as well! One look at this place and I knew instantly that I too would surely be back again!
   My first impression of Alexandria, as we drove in after three hours from Cairo was reminiscent of a quaint seaside French town, the sort of place one reads about in novels. Alexandria has been able to incorporate just the right mix of the old and the new and the credit for this, according to our guide Mahmoud, goes to its new governor. He is also responsible for maintaining impeccable cleanliness all around town.
   The main road of the Corniche is a new, wide road with old-fashioned and charming lamp posts all along. There also are interesting and colourful murals on the walls beside the road, including one which reads ‘Alex’ as this city is popularly known, combined artistically with modern water fountains at various intersections made of glass and stone.
   Colourful trams ply the roads alongside modern vehicles. The buildings around the main square El Manchia are all reminiscent of the old world charm and are interspersed with date palms. The final effect was given by the lovely, sweet-smelling sea breeze blowing in our faces, giving us a soothing and refreshing feeling. It was heavenly to be here and we hadn’t even begun sightseeing yet!
   The Montazah Palace was the residence of the kings and its sprawling gardens cover all of 140 hectares. King Farouk once lived here and due to his penchant for gardening, the palace gardens have innumerable exotic varieties of plants and flowers and the trees are beautifully sculpted. He was also believed to be fond of taming wild animals such as lions and one can see cages in the grounds even today!
   The actual construction of the palace was started by Khedive Abbas II, an ancestor of King Farouk and was completed by Mohammad Ali in the 19th century. The palace fantastically combines both Turkish and Florentine architectural styles and the central tower of the palace is a replica of the “Palazzo Vecchio” in Florence, Italy. The palace is now the summer residence of the present Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak. It was restored for a whopping amount of seven million Egyptian pounds by the legendary president Anwar Sadat.
   The actual palace is closed to the public but a leisurely walk around the palace grounds and premises was definitely worth our time! We walked on what was called Lover’s Bridge where King Farouk used to stroll with his queens and on which most of the bridges in Alexandria are now modelled. The spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea and the King’s private bay was simply breathtaking. The King even had his own private lighthouse which was used to navigate guests of the royal palace arriving by sea!
   Across the shore towards the left we could see another palatial building which used to be the Queens’ Palace and which has been now converted to a seven-star hotel. A walk led us to the Montazah Boat Club from where we could hire a yacht, boat or a water-scooter to venture out to sea.
   We stood on the shore mesmerised by the view –the waters of the Mediterranean could be visually divided into four different shades of blue! Closest to where we were standing, the water was brown and muddy due to the sand, then a light blue shade due to the shallow water and then two deeper shades of blue demarcating the depths of the sea! The view was picture perfect and simply unforgettable!
   Next was the Citadel of Quaitbey, one of the main tourist attractions in Alexandria. This fort was built by Sultan Quaitbey — who ruled Egypt from 1468 – 1496 — to defend the city against attacks by the Crusaders. The fort is built where the old
Pharos Island used to be, the site of the famous wonder of the ancient world, the fabled Lighthouse of Alexandria or the Pharos Lighthouse. This lighthouse was 120 m tall and had a huge mirror that could reflect the light of its beacon up to a distance of 150 km over the sea. Unfortunately this lighthouse was destroyed by several earthquakes and some of its stones are said to have been used to construct the Quaitbey Citadel.
   Although the fort itself is just an ordinary fort with lookout posts from where soldiers used to defend the country, its most striking feature is its location. The stunning Mediterranean backdrop can be seen from every nook and cranny of the fort.
   A closer look at the fort revealed to us that it is primarily made of limestone. Above the main doorway lies the “spillway” from where hot oil used to be poured down on intruders!
   Upon entering the central tower, the first thing we came across was a mosque, actually considered the oldest mosque in Alexandria. It is a squareshaped hollow room with beautiful mosaic flooring made of coloured marble. A couple of staircases higher up were the outposts – square shaped windows that held canons and catapults. On the top was the balcony for archers. We later walked around the main tower and enjoyed the perfect view of the sea and of the city of Alexandria from one of the many balconies.

ANCIENT & MODERN

   AFTER the tour of the fort, we headed inside town for a look at another interesting piece of history at the catacombs of Kom-el-Shukafa. I must admit that we did not really know what we were about to see. Since it was on our list of places to see while in Alexandria, we just went along with the flow, so to speak! But we were in for a pleasant surprise there...
   Enroute, we also caught a glimpse of the famous Pompeii’s Pillar, which is a 30m high pink granite column that stands within the Serapeum – the main temple complex of Alexandria. This pillar is a misnomer since it was not built during the rule of Pompeii but much earlier by the Egyptians. We also passed by the Tomb of the Fallen Soldier in Alexandria, a huge stone structure beautifully built to commemorate the martyrs.
   We finally reached the catacombs and started our descent down a circular flight of stairs with intermittent floors of nothing but tombs of the dead all around. It was certainly an eerie experience, especially since the three-storey underground cemetery dates back to the 1st century AD. I suppose by Egyptian standards, though, it’s a fairly ‘recent’ building!
   It has an interesting mix of both Egyptian and Greek mythology carved on the outside of the tombs. In fact the name of this tomb complex itself is quite unique. “Kom-el-Shukafa” in Arabic means “a heap of broken plates”, which is a Greek tradition! It is believed that after the end of a feast, the Greeks used to break the plates from which they ate as a symbol of joy and when these catacombs were discovered, there was a huge heap of broken plates found near the entrance inside! It is unknown why there would be any celebration at a cemetery but that is how this place got its name. The carving on the tombs is really very fascinating as our guide attempted to describe each one of them to us.
   We left the catacombs feeling exhausted and eerie and also very hungry! We headed back towards the Corniche for a sumptuous buffet lunch at a Greek restaurant called “Athinos”. This too was part of our tour. We enjoyed an unusual soup with small dumplings made of refined flour and ended with the ubiquitous “baklava...
   We were almost at the end of our day in Alexandria and after seeing historic monuments and structures, it was time to get a taste of the new – with the exceedingly high-tech modern library here. We were as excited about seeing this as we were about seeing the old monuments!
   The Ancient Library of Alexandria was the largest library of those olden times. It was founded in the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the rule of Ptolemy I and later enriched considerably by Ptolemy II. The original founders set out to make the largest and the most comprehensive library in the world by garnering original manuscripts from all the sages.
   Unfortunately, it burnt down around 49 BC during the reign of Julius Caesar. The New Library which now stands in its place was inaugurated over two millennia later — five years ago! — in 2003 and a protocol was signed with UNESCO in 1990 to make it once more a centre for pilgrims in search of knowledge.
   The new library is a technological wonder consisting of nine floors, millions of books and countless computers connected to the most important libraries all over the world; as well as a manuscript museum and a dome-shaped planetarium. We took an inhouse guided tour, conducted every half an hour, for tourists like us keen to get information about this astonishing place.
   The structure of the building itself is so tech-savvy that it is unbelievable! The windows are shaped like the human eye with “eyelids” that protect the window panes and do not allow any standing rainwater on the glass outside. The window panes are also specially designed to allow the sunlight inside but reflect the harmful UV rays away from the inside. The walls inside the library have numerous rectangular holes in them designed to absorb noise and also to replicate the walls of the ancient library where original manuscripts were stored in this manner.
   This library is open to the public at large, with an entrance fee, and the “administrative” floors are segregated by the “general use” ones by giving them the shape of a ship! The open area inside has been cleverly used to showcase interesting ancient models like an ancient printing machine, an old copier, an iron safe etc.
   There is another unique but modern machine here – “The Book Espresso Machine”! Yes, this indeed is something similar to a coffee espresso machine...There are only two of these in the world, the other one being in Washington DC. The espresso machine can photocopy any book in the world, no matter how voluminous, within twenty minutes flat! How is that for speed and technology?! In fact you can also read through any page of any book online on their website www.bibalex.org.
   Our trip to Alexandria left us feeling overpowered in all senses of the word! We had seen the splendour of history as ancient as the 1st century and also the glory of technological modernity. This city is a true amalgamation of the old and the new and it leaves us with only one word to describe it – splendid!! We were glad we made the day-trip here but like I said in the beginning, we will surely be back for more some day.