2nd day of rough seas

Today was our second day at sea in a row. We had rough seas again. Unfortunately I still couldn't get around due to both my back and my toe. Tomorrow is Naples and I have a tour to the museum that houses the Pompeii and Herculaneum antiquities.

Day at sea

Today was a non-event. We had rough seas. My toe did not take to navigating the ship in rough seas and my back decided to protest also so I ended up spending the day in bed.

Fabulous Alexandria

I booked a ship's tour to Alexandria, the catacombs and the library. It was an excellent tour! We started with a driving tour to some of the sites. Pic. 1 was, I believe, the memorial to the unknown solder. Pic. 2 is boats in the harbor. Apparently the harbor Pic. 3 is some fisherman feeding cats at our photo stop for the fort (pic. 4).

More sites

We also passed Pompey's pillar (pic. 1). Pics. 2 and 3 are of an Egyptian street scene and a passing traveler. Pic. 4 is of a mosque we stopped at but could not enter due to the timing of prayer.

Catacombs

Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the catacombs. This is an amazing site that was stumbled across in the 1900s when a donkey fell into a pit. We descended 99 steps to the second level to walk in and out of the crypt rooms. The Egyptian carvings in the main burial chamber were amazing. The third level was filled with water so we couldn't go down there. In addition on the second level we had a number of places we had to walk on boards placed on stones to avoid the water.

Back on the surface we got to see another tomb that had amazing paintings in it. Very similar to what we had seen in Italy but much more vibrant colors.

The library, wow!

Our next stop was the library. Pic. 1 is of the women lined up to get in. Most of the patrons appeared to be women. When the guide was asked about this she postulated that the women were more studious.

In the entrance plaza there was also a conf. hall (pic. 2), planetarium (pic. 3) and statue (pic. 4).

Library interior

Inside the library we had a guided tour discussing the technology, online access, facilities and exhibitions. One of their famous books is on-line. I'm going to look it up when I get home so I can go through it.

We had time to visit one of the exhibitions and I went to the Impressions of Alexandria.

As we drove off I snapped this picture of the external wall. It is decorated with symbols and letters from different languages.