Alexandria Travel Forum

I am only dreaming of one day coming to Alexandria and diving in that harbor..ever since I saw that 90 year old scholar from FRANCE jump in and check out the site...I've been dreaming about it...so I just want to make my dream closer by finding out more about ALexandria...I study history and am wondering what language is spoken there, how easy it is to get around and where the closest airport is etc.....just thought id put it out there. Jennifer from LA USA

Hi,

Alexandria has its own airport, but I dont think there are any direct flights from The States. Best would be to go to Cairo and to take the train to Alexandria from there. Its only 2 1/2 hours and runs several times a day. Whats best the tickets are very affordable. You can also get an inland flight from Cairo, but that would be considerably more expensive.

From what I know its not allowed to take a plunge in the Alexandrian harbour to check out the monuments (there are definately no organized trips to do so), but the city has several other interesting sites worth to visit, amongst others the Roman Theatre, catacombs, Pompeys pillar and the recently rebuilt library of Alexandria. As compared to Cairo, Alexandria has a much stronger Mediterrean feel to it; streets are cleaner and better planned, cleaner, many Greek immigrants, etc. etc.

In Egypt they speak (Egyptian) Arabic and its pretty easy to travel around in. You can easily catch a cab at any time of day (be prepared for a hectic ride though) and its safe to be on the streets around the clock. Its best for women not travel alone though.. to avoid continous gazes from men.

Hope this helps,

Paul

Hello Jennifer.!
First welcome to my city I am sure that you will enjoy it.but mmmmm I dont think diving in Alexandria is a nice idea,the water color is very dark and there is few things to see,maybe diving in Dahab is more great,ALexandria is a real relaxing and romantic city where you enjoy the life in.
well anyway have a real good trip in Alex.
See ya lady.!
./Osama

I made two dives in Alexandria and it was absolutely a different experience. The first dive was at Pharos Island, just outside the fort. It was very wavy and we entered the water two and two and descended along a line.
In the water we could see what is thought to be ruins of the famous Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. There were big blocks, pieces of columns, a few sphinxes without heads, a stone relief of a man and a woman and a winepress (or something for water). I also saw a few fishes and deep waves in the sand.
It was a shallow dive (max 8 metres) and we moved with the waves a lot. In the end of the dive I started to feel seasick and I definitely did back on the boat, where I quickly laid down without moving until we came to the second dive spot. Three of the divers threw up and did not want to continue. A small boat came to pick them up.
We made the second dive inside the Eastern Harbour at Cleopatra’s City (Lovers Island). It was very bad visibility and you could only see the fins of the diver in front of you. When we descended we first saw what was left of an Italian airplane from the Second World War. In the plane was the mask of the pilot. We also saw pieces of some amphora and columns from what is said to be Mark Anthony’s summer palace.

I dived with Alexandra Dive Centre, which is situated in Eastern Harbour, next to Tikka Grill. Two dives, rental of full equipment and lunch were 628 Egyptian pounds.

www.alexandra-dive.com

Diving Alexandria is fantastic - given that most others only see one ancient wonder of the world - the pyramids - you will see one of the others - tha Pharos.

Dives aren't deep, but the viz is not usually more than 10m. Not that you need it as you'll be close / on the ruins anyway. If you've a PADI open water you'll be fine.

The dive center referred to already is excellent. Equipment very very good. I'd recommend you tak your own mask. The divemaster is fluent English.

We took an 8.00am train trip from Cairo to Alex. We immediately hit the dive shop and booked the dives for the next day - asking them to take us out at 8.30am rather than the usual 10.00am. They did, and we were back out by 12.30 and able to check some more of Alex out before getting the late afternoon train back to Cairo (arriving at around 19.00).

Flying into Cairo would mean you needed a two day excursion to Alex and back.

Getting around Alex is dead easy if you don't mind "slightly old" taxis and negotiatin fares rather than doing it on the meter.

hello, about the language spoken here it's arabic Egyptian well i'm not quite sure if you can dive here in Alexandria but i think it can be arranged with the Authorirty it's very easy to get around if you have some friends who gives you direction. well about the airport we have two international airports around here ALI and BHI, ALI you can say its inside the city well if you want to see a map of Egypt you can check out google earth software which you can find it on www.google.com or you can find a map on a local website www.alex4all.com it comes in three different languages Arabic, English and French i think you can find more about Alexandria over there by the way we call it Alex thats the short name of Alexandria out here

from alexandria i say hallo