On day three we went on an adventure to Alexandria. It took three hours to get there, but it was a beautiful city. Our first stop was the Catacomb Tombs. The Catacomb Tombs of Kom el Shoqafa is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures here. We took a winding staircase below ground. In the middle of the stone staircase, was a hollowed out column with little windows carved into them. The body of the dead was lowered through the center column, and the windows were used to help guide it. The third level of the Catacombs was flooded. Daily, Egyptians remove water in the hopes that it will not affect the second level.    
     Unfortunately, the water level is high here, and the second floor will be soon flooded with water as well. We saw carvings in the Catacombs that resembled Egyptian ones, but were markedly different. The important families had a room with carvings and a sarcophagus, but the average families just had a box-like shelf carved into the wall where they could put their cremated family members. Each family had their own slot, and could add or remove to it as they wished. As we walked between rooms, we walked on top of sporadically placed stones with long wooden boards on top of them. The floor beneath them was very wet, showing signs of increased water levels.
     The next stop was Pompey’s Pillar. It is the largest monolith ever erected. It is made of granite and is a Roman triumphal column. We also stopped at Montazah Palace and Gardens. This presidential palace was lovely, but did not seem as protected as the White House. There were many lovely flowers and plants in this area.
     Our last stop in Alexandria was the Alexandria Library. It was absolutely gorgeous. Built in 2002, a Norwegian group designed it. It is surrounded by a planetarium and a statue garden. The Bibliotheca was created in the shape of the sun, and has characters from one hundred and twenty scripts carved into the Aswan granite.
     The planetarium was created as the world, and has a circular shape. Inside the Bibliotheca Alexandria, there are four museums displaying antiquities, manuscripts, the history of former President Sadat, and the history of science. There are also fifteen permanent art exhibitions. The interior of the library is immense, with multi-tiered levels lit by sky lights. The library can hold eight million volumes, but is only at one million. Their website also has the only copy of the Internet Archive, digital replicas of many books.
     On our way back to Cairo, our guide stopped and picked us up some hareesa. It was delicious but not quite like Alahandra sweets. The hareesa in Jordan was light and coconut flavored, with honey as a natural sweetener. This hareesa was heavier, richer, and not coconut flavored. It was still a lovely treat, but with unexpected flavor. We could have spent weeks exploring Egypt, hopefully we can make a return trip soon!