Day in Alexandria - advice welcome!

[twojays]

Hello - we have a few excursions planned for our Egypt & Holy Land Tour next month - but the day we stop in Alexandria, we would just like to wander around on our own. Could anyone tell me if this is possible here - ( do the ships dock close enough?) and if so, where would you recommend us to go? Is there a walking route we could follow, that would take in a few sights? Thanks for any advice.

[Keith1010]

You would want to take a taxi.

 

I would visit the Library and also the Alexandria Ancient Museum and then I would visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 

Keith

[twojays]

Many thanks for your reply - and suggestions.

Will add those to our list!

[cruisemom42]

You may have already read this, but here's a link to how I spent a day in Alexandria a couple of years ago:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1297722

 

Most things are not walking distance from the port. Given how (relatively) inexpensive guides/drivers are in Egypt, you might want to consider having one. It can still be a relatively laid-back day.

 

I'd definitely recommend the catacombs -- loved those, as well as most of the other sites I covered.

[Cruiser199]

I just back in few days, Yes ship close enough to the city, you can rent taxi from the port or walk around 300 M to the gate then take a taxi, all sights very close like Pillar & Catacomb bet you have to rent a taxi, Library around 10-15 Min. from the port

[xenagurl]

I'd definitely rent a taxi, you could walk around but the driver would be able to get you there quickly and have interesting suggestions. My two favorite places there are the Library and the Catacombs.

[Hlitner]

We have been to Alexandria twice...the first time we were taking a 2 week vacation in Egypt and spent 2 nights in the city. We recently returned (last November) on a cruise where we spent 2 days docked at the city. DW and I spent the 2 days just wandering around the city on our own....and to be very honest, we were shocked at the total deterioration of the city, infrastructure, etc. We felt safe enough to walk anywhere (we are pretty street wise) but it was hard not to notice uncollected garbage, crumbling everything, etc. Of course the new library still looks great and its still nice to stroll along the water in the better part of town. My suggestion would be to hire a horse/buggy for a few hours. You can find these horse/buggys right outside the port and they do solicit business (its great if you can find a driver that speaks some English). The price is very negotiable (since business is awful) and you can probably get one for about $10 an hour. This is a terrific way to drive around the city and a lot of fun.

 

Hank

[Fblack]

We just hired a tour guide and driver for the day. They are relatively inexpensive and they know there way around the traffic and all the sights. We had a great time, a nice lunch and were back on the ship in plenty of time before our early dinner.

[tring]

We spent two days in Alexandria in February. The first day we just walked over the Bridge out of the port and got a black and yellow taxi with three venues in mind.

 

We had taken advice from the tourist info people on the ship and they had written down the name of the places we wanted to go in Arabic (Catacombs, Nacional Museum and Pompeys Pillar and, more importantly the Port name), as we did not intend keeping the taxi with us and not all taxi drivers speak English.

 

As it happened, we got an excellent taxi driver who did speak English and persuaded us to keep him for the day. He showed us a lot more over the day, including inside visits to the Mosque, Amplitheatre and Fort (ship's trips did outside photo stops only). The day cost more than we anticipated, with entrance fees etc, but was well worth it as we prefer independence and a bit of freedom. The Driver's Name was Bibo and his tel no is 002/01221414721. We had arranged for him to take us to the Biblioteque the next morning, but I was not well first thing so had to cancel (one of the tourist info people on the ship phoned him for us).

 

I felt better in the afternoon so we walked to the Biblioteque, which was much more interesting than expected. There are a lot of historic manuscripts and other things there. You can get tickets for all sections or just certain ones. We got the full ticket and had the time to appreciate it as we were not rushed along by a guide, (like a group from our ship were, when we were there). We called at the main historic Hotel in Alexandria 'The Hotel Cecil' for a drink on the way there and a drink and cake on the way back - an experience not to be missed at any cost - old fashioned luxury in historic surroundings and at a very good price too - lunches also look good.

 

That worked very well for us and it is one of the best port visits we have ever had. We are used to independent travel in Africa, but someone less confident of that sort of thing may prefer to arrange something through a tour company. If we only had one day there, (as originally scheduled), we would have booked a ship's tour as getting back to the ship at the end of the day would have been guaranteed, but it would have been a greatly inferior experience in our opinion.

 

Some people did hire tourist taxis - blue ones which go inside the port. They charge by the hour, and from what we heard cost a lot more to go to just one or two places.

[Fblack]

I still think it's best to hire a local driver and guide for Alexandria. Just today there was a violent incident in Alexandria. I feel a local guide would be invaluable should a problem arise. I would not want to be just wandering around not knowing where I am or whats going on in the neighborhood.