Alexandria Day Trip from Cairo

Alexandria was the capital of Egypt for a thousand years and the largest city of the Greek world. What survives is underground and along the sea, and the city itself, with its cafés and Corniche, is the reward for the early start.

Pickup at 07:00. The desert road brings you to Alexandria by 09:30. First the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, a three-level Roman necropolis of the 2nd century AD cut into the rock, where Egyptian gods wear Roman armour. Next door Pompey's Pillar, the 27 m granite column of Diocletian on the ruins of the Serapeum.

The Roman amphitheatre at Kom El Dikka, the only one in Egypt, with the villa of the birds mosaics, then the Corniche to the Citadel of Qaitbay (1477), built with stones of the Pharos lighthouse on the exact spot where it stood. Lunch is fresh seafood at a restaurant on the harbour.

The afternoon is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the 2002 library and its museums, and a stop at the Montaza palace gardens or the Stanley bridge if time allows. Departure 16:30, back in Cairo about 19:30.