The first stop during our day trip to Alexandria was at the Roman ruins of Kom al-Dikka.

Before parking the car, my uncle and I took some photos of the Misr Train Station, the main terminus of the city. Observing the traffic on midday in Egypt's second largest city was quite interesting: drivers would stop their cars in the middle of the street thus causing other drivers to go nuts, cars were parked on sidewalks, street vendors were seeking refuge from the scorching sun under the scarce trees just outside the Train Station.

Just outside Misr Train Station

Driving in Egypt: gotta try it someday !

Alexandria has a remarkable History: it was founded by Alexander the Great around a small Egyptian town circa 331 BC. The city quickly became an important center of Hellenistic civilization and remained the capital of Hellenistic and Roman & Byzantine Egypt for almost one thousand years until the Muslim conquest. The Romans left impressive structures behind, one example of this are the Kom al-Dikka Roman ruins located in the very heart of the city.

My cute cousin Sophia and I at the Roman ruins of Kom al-Dikka

A picture of the road trip crew with one of the pillars of the site.

Roman ruins have something playful that you just can't ignore. Here and there, loose stones or headless sphinx statues were waiting to be turned into objects of fun. My little cousins had a blast running around the ruins and even Aunt Francia was busy looking at the plants and trees growing near the ruins.

The Sphinx version of Astrid ;)

We sure had fun when we "took a bath" in the roman ruins! So cute!

Now is the turn of the ladies: Lauren and I "taking a bath" in the ruins.

The roman ruins of Kom al-Dikka consist in an amphitheater, residential complex and roman baths.

Current excavations at the site have uncovered roman baths, a lecture hall and a small village whose center is the Villa of the Birds, a large house filled with beautiful mosaics.

View of the site.

Mother and daughter in the ruins of Kom al-Dikka!

The most impressive feature at the site is the amphitheater, designed in classic hellenistic style with a flat stage and raised rows. The bench-style seats are carved in white or gray marble, except for the first row, which is of red granite.

Such an awesome sunny day in Alex! Perfect for starting our day trip!

My uncle Ulises, His wife Lauren and his mother Francia in front of the Amphitheater.

Ruins of a glorious empire, just imagining the audience of 700 to 800 people this place could host wows me over and over again.

To sum it up, the first stop in Alex was a lot of fun; I almost forgot for a second that we were in Roman ruins, because to my eyes, it was just a gigantic playground from Alex's glorious past!

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Have a nice weekend and until the next post, Inshallah!
Astrid