Day 5 Saturday, 29 October Cairo to Alexandria

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After breakfast we drove to Alexandria and saw some of the new towns that were appearing along the main highway through the desert beyond the vast expanse of Cairo. Once again we encountered many different types of transport from modern cars to camels and donkeys. We were fascinated with the domes that looked like bird houses which we saw dotted along the highway and we were informed by Hanan that these were pigeon houses where pigeons were fattened up as they are considered a delicacy and good for male fertility. On arrival in Alexandria, we drove to Kom el Shoqafa Catacombs. This is a multilevel labyrinth featuring dozens of chambers adorned with sculptured pillars , statues and other Roman and Egyptian religious symbols, burial niches and sarcophagi. There is even a banquet room of Roman style where relatives of the deceased conducted memorial meals. The Catacombs are located to the south west of Pompey's Pillar. Many of the features of the necropolis merge Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultural points so although many of the statues are of Egyptian style but feature Roman hair and clothing styles. During the age of the Antonine emperors (2nd century) a circular staircase was used to transport deceased bodies down to the middle of it leads into tombs that were cut into the bedrock. According to tradition,the central chamber is the mass burial chamber for humans and animals massacred by order of Emperor Caracalla. There is a magnificent Roman amphitheatre at the site which we also explored. We noticed that many of the buildings both in Cairo and Alexandria appeared unfinished needing the final coat of paint on the outside or having rods to support another storey protruding from the roof. We were informed that tax was not payable on the building if it was incomplete, so no one bothers to finish off any building. Indeed it looked as if our building inspectors would have no trouble finding major faults with many of the structures. Modern day apartments will not stand the test of time the pyramids have. Later that afternoon, we visited the Alexandria National Museum The Alexandria National Museum (ANM) in Egypt was inaugurated the 31 December, 2003 by Hosni Mubarak and it's located in a restored Italian style palace in Tariq Al-Horreya Street (former Rue Fouad), near the center of the city.. It contains about 1.800 artifacts that narrate the story of Alexandria and Egypt. Most of these pieces came from other Egyptian museums. 1st Floor: Pharaonic time. Mummies are shown in a special underground chamber (basement) 2nd Floor: Graeco-Roman time. Including archeological underwater excavations in Alexandria. 3rd Floor: Coptic, Islamic and Modern eras. The museum is housed in the old palace of Al-Saad Bassili Pasha , who was one of the wealthiest wood merchants in Alexandria. Construction on the site was first undertaken in 1926. We then joined the peak hour traffic to head to our hotel. It was madness as we drove along the cornice beside the Mediterranean, but we eventually reached our luxurious hotel, The Four Seasons. Our balcony had views over to the hotel's private beach on the Mediterranean and we could also see ships lined up to go through the Suez Canal. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the hotel and then just sat on the balcony watching the passing parade of Alexandria.