All the Mediterranean fervour of Alexandria

The Corniche or its endless waterfront is the sunny artery that dictates the rhythm of life in Alexandria, setting the contemporary pulse of the city founded around 331 B.C. by Alexander the Great, the prince and military leader of Macedonian origin who thirsted for glory, power and also loved culture and the sea. Connected to Cairo by a fast train that takes just under three hours, this Mediterranean metropolis of the ancient world also enjoyed the favour and care of Augustus, who wanted to annex it to the Roman Empire. Even though Mamluks and Turks used the ruins of classical monuments to erect their mosques and factories in Constantinople, the charm of the past and its most renowned vestiges, starting with the catacombs with carved and frescoed niches of Kom al Shuqqafa, remains unchanged. Its rediscovered cultural vitality, thanks to the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina, is blended with the fervour of the maritime traffic in its marina, the incessant hum of the old trams, the chanting dirge of the muezzins from the top of the minaret towers, the seafood gastronomy, the warmth of the novels of Nagib Mahfouz, especially his Miramar, and of Lawrence Durrell, especially Alexandria's Quartet. Here, moreover, summer has already begun on the beaches from Al-Mamoura in the east to Al-Agamy in the west. Especially in St Stephen's Bay, where one can perhaps stay in a room at the Four Seasons, leaving the windows wide open to let in the air of the Mediterranean and its eternally compelling history.