Alexandria Hotels
Hotels in Alexandira are often required for tourists who want to visit the city. Some tourists may want to get a hotel room so they can have some short term accommodation in the city. They may want to see the famous areas of the city. They may want to see the historic areas of the city. Some may want a hotel that offers good views and is in the tourist areas.
Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist resort
Alexandria was known for the Lighthouse of Alexandria (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), the Library of Alexandria (the largest library in the ancient world) and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages). Ongoing maritime archaeology in the harbor of Alexandria, which began in 1994, is revealing details of Alexandria both before the arrival of Alexander, when a city named Rhakotis existed there, and during the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Alexandria extends about 32 km along the coast of the Mediterranean sea in north-central Egypt. It is home to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the new Library of Alexandria), and is an important industrial center because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. Alexandria was also an important trading post between Europe and Asia, because it profited from the easy overland connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
In ancient times, Alexandria was one of the most famous cities in the world. It was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 331 BC by Greek Macedonian king Alexander the Great. It remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo).
Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC as Alexándreia. Alexander's chief architect for the project was Dinocrates. Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis as a Hellenistic center in Egypt, and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile Valley. An Egyptian townlet, Rhakotis, already existed on the shore and was a resort filled with fishermen and pirates. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt for the East and never returned to his city. After Alexander departed, his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the expansion. Following a struggle with the other successors of Alexander, his general Ptolemy succeeded in bringing Alexander's body to Alexandria.
Layout of the ancient city
Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions:
Brucheum
the Royal or Greek quarter, forming the most magnificent portion of the city.
In Roman times Brucheum was enlarged by the addition of an official quarter, making
four regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel streets, each
of which had an attendant subterranean canal;
The Jewish quarter
forming
the northeast portion of the city;
Rhakotis
occupied chiefly by Egyptians
(from Coptic Rakot? "Alexandria").
Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60 metres (200 feet) wide, intersected in the center of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his Mausoleum) rose. This point is very near the present mosque of Nebi Daniel; and the line of the great EastWest "Canopic" street, only slightly diverged from that of the modern Boulevard de Rosette (now Sharia Fouad). Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near the Rosetta Gate, but remnants of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city.
Neighbourhoods (Hais) (urban districts)
Modern Alexandria is divided into 6 hais:
Montaza Neighbourhood (hai)
Eastern Alexandria Neighbourhood (hai)
Middle
(or Downtown) Alexandria Neighbourhood
Amreya Neighbourhood (hai):
Western
Alexandria Neighbourhood (hai)
Gumrok Neighbourhood (hai)
There are also two cities under the jurisdiction of the Alexandria governorate Forming metropolitan Alexandria:
Borg Al-Arab city:
New Borg Al-Arab city:
Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods of Alexandria include: Agami, Amreya, Anfoushi, Assafra, Attarine, Azarita (aka Mazarita; originally Lazarette), Bab Sidra, Bahari, Bachus, Bulkeley (aka Bokla), Burg el-Arab, Cleopatra, Dekheila, Downtown, Eastern Harbor, Fleming, Gabbari (aka: Qabbari, Qubbary, Kabbary), Janaklis, Glym (short for Glymenopoulos), Gumrok (aka al-Gomrok), Hadara, Ibrahimeya, King Mariout, Kafr Abdu, Karmous, also known as Karmouz, Kom el-Dik (aka Kom el-Dekka), Labban, Laurent, Louran, Maamoura Beach, Maamoura, Mafrouza, Mandara, Manshiyya, Mex, Miami, Montaza, Muharram Bey, Mustafa Kamel, Ramleh (aka el-Raml), Ras el-Tin, Rushdy, Saba Pasha , San Stefano, Shatby, Schutz, Sidi Bishr, Sidi Gaber, Smouha, Sporting, Stanley, Syouf, Tharwat, Victoria, Wardeyan, Western Harbor, and Zizinia.
Squares
(Ahmed) Orabi Square, in Downtown
Mansheya Square, in Mansheya
Saad Zaghlul
Square, in Downtown
Tahrir Square (formerly Mohammed Ali Square, originally
Place des Consuls), in Downtown
Ahmed Zewail Square, near Wabour El Mayah
Palaces
Montaza Palace, in Montaza
Ras el-Tin Palace, in Ras el-Tin
Presidential
Palace, in Maamoura
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