Alexandria Private Tour From Cairo / Giza Hotels

we will pick you from your request hotel to visit Alexandria . Alexandria, Arabic Al-Iskandariyyah, major city and urban muḥāfaẓah (governorate) in Egypt. Once among the greatest cities of the Mediterranean world and a centre of Hellenic scholarship and science, Alexandria was the capital of Egypt from its founding by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE until its surrender to the Arab forces led by ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ in 642 CE. One of Egypt’s largest cities, Alexandria is also its principal seaport and a major industrial centre. The city lies on the Mediterranean Sea at the western edge of the Nile River delta, about 114 miles (183 km) northwest of Cairo in Lower Egypt.

Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

The Catacombs (meaning underground tunnels) lie in the district of Karmouz to the east of Alexandria. The area was called Kom El-Shouqafa or pile of shards. The cemetery dates back to the 1st century A.D. and was used until the 4th century A.D. It was discovered in 1900 when, by pure chance, a donkey-drawn cart fell into a pit, which led to the discovery.

Pompey's Pillar

Its name is misleading. This single column standing on a rocky hilltop in the middle of Alexandria has nothing to do with the Roman Consul and General Gaius Pompey who was Julius Caesar’s rival in a civil war and was murdered by a Ptolomaic pharaoh in 48 BC when he fled to Alexandria. This legend was started by Crusaders, who thought the 100-foot (30 meter) red Aswan granite pillar marked his burial site. The pillar is instead the a triumphal monument erected around 300 AD for the Roman Emperor Diocletian, but the true significance of this archeological site is what stood here before the pillar. It is the site of the Serapeum, Alexandria’s acropolis.