Section 1101 Crystals

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The happy time of the morning passed in a flash, and in the afternoon it was time to make the long journey back to Cairo. The www.biquge.info is quite a 500-kilometer journey and a 7-hour drive.

The first half of the road is basically along the Red Sea, and in some places it is simply the sea on the side of the road. The road is full of resorts, and the closer to Cairo is a bit of an Egyptian holiday, sometimes with a small car parked on the side of the road, and a dozen people playing on the beach - Egyptian cars are very ......

The second half of the road is all desert, and it is also because the road is too long, especially boring. I understand very well what kind of desperation people felt when they walked through the desert when transportation was not developed...... It was more than 9 o'clock in the evening in Cairo, and it was another feeling of falling apart.

Alexandria is the northernmost city in Egypt, located at the mouth of the Nile River to the Mediterranean Sea. It's another 3 or 4 hour drive from Cairo to Alexandria, and it's another long bus ride.

As soon as I arrived in Alexandria, I felt a completely different feeling from the previous Egyptian cities. It's more of a European city, with a somewhat European-style architecture, trams running through the city centre, and a slightly Greek vibe on the esplanade.

Maybe I've been to less developed parts of Egypt before, such as Luxor and Aswan, and Cairo is basically just in the Giza district, so coming to Alexandria is really refreshing - finally a bit of a modern city.

Driving along the Mediterranean Sea, although the road conditions are not very good, but looking at the sea waves, and the dense beaches of vacationers, it is not boring. This city along the Mediterranean Sea has beautiful scenery and unique romance, and is known as the bride of the Mediterranean.

Actually, the city of Alexandria. It's good to walk around the edge of the Mediterranean, but since Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo are in a group, they will naturally arrange some attractions.

The first one is the Montaza Palace, where Cleopatra lived (I only saw it on the group departure notice, and I haven't seen it anywhere...... ), also called the summer palace.

The Montaza Palace has the feel of a European royal garden, with a variety of flowers and plants imported from Africa. The core building was used as a vacation place for the Egyptian president before the revolution, and now it is not known how it is used - a small castle in a very beautiful way.

However, what is more attractive here is that Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo can contact the Mediterranean Sea, and you can walk to the sea from a small road. The Mediterranean Sea is a bit rougher than the Red Sea, and the waves sometimes splash high when they crash against the stones.

I don't know why I didn't let me stay at the beach for a long time, and after a while, there were guards who asked Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo to leave, and I didn't know why because of the language barrier.

Alexandria doesn't really have any artifacts with a particularly long history, but there have been glorious miracles in history – libraries and lighthouses.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was the first national library in the world, and it has left its mark with names such as Aristotle, Euclid, and Homer. Wait a minute. However, Caesar's fire burned the library down and it was not until 2002 that it was rebuilt at the suggestion of UNESCO.

It is said that they also considered restoring the old appearance, but in the end it was decided to build a completely new one. To be honest, seeing this new library feels like placing the Millennium Monument in the position of the National Center for the Performing Arts - a library resembling a tilted disc shape with a circle of pools around it - and if Yunluo comes to make a decision, Yunluo is more inclined to restore its ancient appearance.

The Great Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of Ancient Mankind, was more than 160 meters tall at the time of its existence, and its huge flames guided the ships of the Mediterranean.

However, due to many earthquakes, it finally collapsed completely in 1303. The Castle of Katbay is a castle built by the Sultan of Katbay from the stones of a collapsed lighthouse. It was used to defend against the Turks, and the castle was badly damaged and restored. Of the Seven Wonders of Ancient Man, only the pyramids remain. The others were destroyed by natural disasters**, but it set off the difficulty of the pyramid.

The Pillar of Pompeii was first thought to have been dedicated to the Roman general Pompeii, but the inscription was later cracked and it was confirmed that it was actually dedicated to the Roman Emperor. (And before Yunluo checked the information, he thought it was related to the vanished Pompeii...... )

Walking inside, all you can see is a tall pillar and two sphinxes. It is said that there were originally more than 400 such pillars. But now there is only one. There is also a secret passage to the Library of Alexandria in ancient times, which served as a library at that time. Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo wanted to go in and take a look, but they were stopped by the guards, so they had to give up.

It has to be said that it is a coincidence that a donkey suddenly fell into a hole and discovered a family cemetery in the Roman period. And the mural style of this cemetery actually retains the Egyptian tomb style. It appears to have been the burial place of a polytheistic family during the Roman period.

The reason why it is called the tomb group is because there are many mummies buried here. But it's a lot more humid than the tombs on the west bank of the Nile, and I wonder if the mummies can be well preserved in such an environment.

There is only one small room in the catacombs that was blocked from entering, and it is said that the persecuted Christians of the Roman period fled here to take refuge and were found to be killed, and their bodies were buried in this small room. I suddenly felt that the yin qi was too heavy, and I didn't dare to stay longer, so I just took a look and left.

When it comes to Egyptian traffic, it's really hard to compliment. There seem to be few lane markings on the road, and cars cross and vertical along the road; It seems that there are very few intersections, and if you need to turn left, you always need to turn right first, and then walk a long U-turn, which is equivalent to turning left......

Therefore, traffic jams are indeed more common, so Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo are only about 300 kilometers from Alexandria to Cairo, but it takes 4 or 5 hours. It's painful.

When the Arabs founded Cairo, they lacked stone and basically demolished the Memphis ruins, and the current Memphis ruins are just a small semi-open-air museum. There aren't many artifacts here, but the more famous ones include a Sphinx and two statues of Ramses II.

This sphinx is the second largest sphinx in Egypt, the owner is not clear, and there are three versions of Amenhotep III, Hatshepsut, and Ramses II. Yunluo felt that judging by the slightly feminine soft smile on his face, it seemed to be more like Hatshepsut.

Of the two statues of Ramses II, the one standing is barely visible, and it is said that it is a statue of a young man before he became a pharaoh, and indeed his trademark smile is not yet visible.

There is also a statue that is laid flat upside down in a small room, this statue is basically perfect except for the missing leg, and the intricate carving of the face is comparable to that of Tutankhamen's golden mask, which should be considered the most beautiful statue seen in Egypt (there is no one).

Egypt's most famous gifts - perfumes, papyrus paintings, cotton fabrics. But these things can be found everywhere in Egypt, expensive for a few hundred dollars, cheap for tens of Egyptian pounds. The tour guide said that there are true and false, such as flavor, which really does not contain alcohol or oil, and the fake is the opposite; And papyrus paintings, real papyrus, fake with banana leaves, sugarcane skin, real is difficult to distinguish between real and fake.

In the shopping store arranged by the tour group, it can be believed that it is true, but the price is also relatively strong. In short, travel is inevitably slaughtered, if necessary, you can still buy some for your own use or give away, things are not bad.

The real ancient Egyptians and culture have not been passed down very well, and it can even be said that the current Egyptians have little to do with the ancient Egyptians. The current Egyptians are actually mainly Arabs, and 80% of the people in the country believe in Islam, so there are many mosques in the capital.

However, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo's itinerary did not include experiencing Islamic culture, and this mosque was also added by Mirad for Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo, because he felt that since he came to an Islamic country, he always had to see Islamic culture (although he was a Christian).

The name of this mosque is really unclear, it is very long...... I came back to check the information and didn't find the name, so I asked for guidance. The mosque is very large, with a square hall surrounded by a sink in the middle, and it seems that this is a mosque open to tourists, so there are very few people who go to the mosque to worship.

It is possible to visit here, but you have to take off your shoes, and women can only enter through a small door next to it, and they have to put on a green robe.

Regarding religion, Yunluo really doesn't know much, and he doesn't know what to ask or what to say, so he can only walk around it and feel the style of Islamic architecture. Devout believers chant and worship here, and from time to time people come to hand you some religious pamphlets, and Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo are basically here to visit.

Khalili Market is the third largest bazaar in the world - it is indeed big enough that Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo almost lost their way inside. Before I arrived, I had heard that the people here were sharp-eyed and could clearly distinguish between Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, but Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo were often mistaken, and the vendors would say "hello" to you in various Asian languages until you responded.

At first, Yunluo gave them a polite smile when they said "hello", but they would pull them to sell the goods, so they simply pretended not to understand after that.

Although there are a lot of people selling things here, to be honest, the various statues are as shoddy as ever, Nefertititi, Tutankhamun, etc., they simply look thirty or forty years old. The copper plate here is very famous, and it is said to be made by hand, but Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo have seen a few and feel that they can't stand a closer look.

Come here to feel the atmosphere of Egyptian shopping, and there are also many locals who greet each other warmly and joke with each other. (To be continued.) )

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