Historic Alexandria

Saturday began with Shaimma's brother Eslam picking us up around 9am. We began our touring with a visit to Pompeii's Pillar. This impressive column was built to commemorate Roman Emperor Diocletian - not Pompey as people once thought. It and the ruins of the surrounding temples were built in the 2nd century AD. The neighborhood of this site is poverty stricken and not very safe, that is why we were happy to have Eslam as our guide. We were treated much differently than if we had been there without a male. From there we drove to the Catacombs. This phenomenal underground burial chamber was discovered in 1900 and dates to the 2nd century also. The style is a mixture of Greco-Roman and the wall art is still impressive in many areas. It descends into three underground levels and one area alone contains over 300 burial loculi. We had a very nice local guide who pointed out details we would have missed. From there, we continued to the Roman Amphitheater or Stadium. What amazed me about all three locations is the number of impressive archaeological finds lying along the sides of each area. Apparently there are so many antiquities, they do even try to display them all. these "spare" pieces included an obelisk, sphinx statues, and parts of other columns and statues. Any one of these finds would receive royal treatment in the US - in Egypt, they are lying around where visitors can touch them and even stand on them!