Alexandria, Egypt

Early morning, off to Alexandria, some 200 km from Cairo. Traffic in these cities is unbelievable. Cairo is larger than New York, and traffic makes the Los Angeles freeways look like empty country roads.

Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great (a Macedonian, actually, which, at that time, was controlled by Greece) who arrived with his army at the age of 23, and conquered Egypt. He started by recognizing and honoring Egypt's history and religion, and was not only accepted, but the Greeks came to adopt much of Egypt's education and social norms. If you're going to invade and conquer another country, that was certainly one of the more civilized ways to do so. All those smarts at 23!

We visited the catacombs, a burial chamber 2,000 years old. 91 steps go down to some 300 burial caves dug into the walls. Amazing carvings on the stone walls, families spent time and ate meals there during mourning periods, must have been an unusual place to spend much time.

The Citadel was one of the strongest forts around the Mediterranean. It was built on the exact site of the Alexandria lighthouse, one of the original seven wonders of the ancient world. The lighthouse was destroyed by two earthquakes, in the 11th and 14th centuries, and the Citadel was built to defend the city.

From there to the Alexandria Library, a truly spectacular place.The original library was perhaps the most complete and most famous library in the ancient world. When it burned some 30-50 years BC, the loss of information it contained might qualify as the one of the greatest tragedies in human history.

The newest restoration opened in 2002, with the largest reading room in the world, and breathtaking museums inside. If you want to explore anything about ancient Egypt, with beautiful multimedia links and presentations, their web site is most impressive: www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx