Tourism: Visiting Alexandria

New York Times

Situated on the Mediterranean along Egypt’s north coast, Alexandria is a city of legend. This is where Euclid sired geometry, Aristarchus deduced that the Earth revolved around the sun (about 18 centuries before Copernicus) and, of course, the young Alexander the Great founded the city as his capital in 331 B.C.

The city flourished through the 19th century as the hub of Egypt’s commerce, especially the cotton trade, drawing a cosmopolitan mix of Greeks, Italians, French, Jews and Levantine Arabs, who brought their languages, architecture and food. But things had changed by the time of the Suez Crisis in 1956, when Egypt privatized the Suez Canal, prompting military attacks by Britain, France and Israel. In its aftermath, many foreigners left or were expelled from Alexandria, and the city’s cultural grandeur began to crumble — much like the ancient part of the city that lies at the bottom of the sea.

In recent years, however, efforts by preservationists and the government to restore the city’s luster have started to bear fruit.

See the above page for the full story. There's a lovely description of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's print on demand machine!