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FROM THE SQUARE TO RAMLEH.
ROUTE:—By the Boulevard Ramleh to the Tram Line terminus—10 min. walk.
Then take tram with red label to Bulkeley, San Stefano, and Victoria.
Tram with blue label goes to San Stefano only, _via_ Bacos. The service
is fair.
CHIEF POINTS OF INTEREST:—The Sea; the view from Abou el Nawatir;
private gardens; the Spouting Rocks.
We start at the north-east corner of the Square, and take the Rue de
l’Ancienne Bourse, in which are, right, the Union Club frequented by
British, and, left, the former Bourse—the latter not a bad building,
with a portico of marble columns and a vaulted interior; it is now the
offices of the Lloyd Triestino. The street leads into the Boulevard
Ramleh—turn to right.
The Boulevard (officially Rue de la Gare de Ramleh) is a busy shabby
thoroughfare, full of people who are escaping to or from the tram
terminus.
Right from Boulevard, in Rue Debbane, is a Greek and Syrian Catholic
Church, dedicated to St. Peter. (p. 213). It was built by Count Debbane,
a Syrian under Brazilian protection who received his title from the
Pope. His family vault extends along the whole length of the Chancel.
The scene is of no interest, but typical of the complexities of religion
and race at Alexandria.
Left from Boulevard, at end of Rue Averoff, is the church of the
Armenian Catholics (p. 213).
Right from Boulevard, in Rue de l’Eglise Copte, is the _Cathedral of the
Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate_ (p. 212) dedicated to St. Mark. Those who
have never seen a Coptic Church should look in. It is fatuously ugly. On
the screen that divides nave from sanctuary are several pictures—among
them St. Damiana with her wheel; she is the native Egyptian Saint who
was probably the origin of St. Catherine of Alexandria: round her are
the forty maidens who shared her martyrdom. In the sanctuary are some
pictures of St. Mark, whose primitive church is wrongly supposed to have
stood on this site (p. 46); he is shown writing his Gospel or standing
between Cleopatra’s Needle and Pompey’s Pillar. Outside the Church are
the Schools, ineptly adorned with a Lion of St. Mark of the Venetian
type.
Right from Boulevard, the Rue Nebi Daniel leads past the chief Jewish
Synagogue to the Rue Rosette (Section I).
The Boulevard reaches the tram terminus. To the right is the road to
Nouzha (Section IV), to the left the sea and the New Quays (Section II).
* * * * *
On this featureless spot once arose a stupendous temple, the Caesareum,
and a pair of obelisks, _Cleopatra’s Needles_.
(i). HISTORY OF THE CAESAREUM.—Cleopatra began it in honour of
Antony (p. 26). After their suicide Octavian finished it in honour
of himself. (B.C. 13). He was worshipped there as Caesar Augustus,
and the temple remained an imperial possession until Christian
times. Constantius II (A.D. 354) intended to present it to the
Church, but before the transference could be effected St.
Athanasius, who was always energetic, had held an Easter Service
inside it. The Emperor was offended. Two years later his troops
nearly killed Athanasius inside the building, and gave it to the
Arians. Arians and Orthodox continued to fight for and in it and
smashed it to pieces. (p. 49). Athanasius, just back from his final
exile, built on the ruins a church which was dedicated to St.
Michael but usually retained the famous title Caesareum. It became
the Cathedral of Alexandria, superseding St. Theonas (p. 189). Here
in 416 Hypatia was torn to pieces by tiles (p. 51). Here in 640 the
Patriarch Cyrus held a solemn service before betraying the city to
the Arabs (p. 55). Date of final destruction—912.
(ii). APPEARANCE. Nothing is known of the architecture of the
temple, but the Jewish philosopher Philo (p. 63) thus writes of it
in the day of its glory:
“It is a piece incomparably above all others. It stands by a
most commodious harbour: wonderful high and large in proportion;
an eminent sea-mark: full of choice paintings and statues with
donatives and oblatives in abundance; and then it is beautiful
all over with gold and silver; the model curious and regular in
the disposition of the parts, as galleries, libraries, porches,
courts, halls, walks, and consecrated groves, as glorious as
expense and art could make them, and everything in the proper
place; besides that, the hope and comfort of seafaring men,
either coming in or going out.”
(iii). THE OBELISKS. In front of the Caesareum (between present tram
terminus and sea) stood “Cleopatra’s Needles” of which one is now in
the Central Park, New York, and the other on the Embankment, London,
They had nothing to do with Cleopatra till after her death. They
were cut in the granite quarries of Assouan for Thothmes III (B.C.
1500), and set up by him at Heliopolis near Cairo, before the temple
of the Rising Sun. In B.C. 13 they were transferred here by the
engineer Pontius. They rested not directly on their bases but each
on four huge metal crabs, one of which has been recovered. Statues
of Hermes or of Victory tipped them. In the Arab period, when all
around decayed, they became the chief marvel of the city. One fell.
They remained in situ until the 19th cent., when they were parted
and took their last journey, the fallen one to England in 1877, the
other to the United States two years later.
The walls of the Arab city used to reach the sea at this point (cf.
Belon’s View, p. 83).; they ended in a tower that was swept away for the
New Quays. We now take the tram.
* * * * *
The first half mile of the tram lines traverses ground of immense
historical fame. Every inch was once sacred or royal. On the football
fields to the left were the Ptolemaic Palaces (p. 17) stretching down to
the sea and projecting into it at the Promontory of Lochias (present
Silsileh). There was also an island palace on a rock that has
disappeared. The walls of the Mouseion, too, are said to have extended
into the area, but we know no details and can only be certain that the
Ancient World never surpassed the splendour of the scene. On the right,
from the higher ground, the Theatre overlooked it, and the dramas of
Aeschylus and Euripides could be performed against the background of a
newer and a greater Greece. No eye will see that achievement again, no
mind can imagine it. Grit and gravel have taken its place to-day.
Right of the line on leaving:—The British Consulate, an imposing pile.
Next to it, the _Egyptian Government Hospital_ probably on the site of
the Ancient Theatre, so a visit should be made. In the garden is the
tomb of Dr. Schiess a former Director; an early Christian sarcophagus
has been used, and on each side of it are impressive Christian columns,
probably from the church of St. Theonas (p. 46) and each carved with a
cross in a little shrine. In the spiral ascent above the tomb are other
antiquities and a howitzer of Arabi’s: on the summit, an antique marble
column, erected in memory of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.
* * * * *
MAZARITA STA.—A road leads, right, to the Public Gardens (Section IV)
and, left, to the Promontory of Silsileh (see above). The promontory,
like the rest of the coast, has subsided; in classical times it was
broader and longer than now, and extended in breakwaters towards the
Pharos (Fort Kait Bey), thus almost closing the entrance to the Eastern
Harbour. The private port of the Ptolemies lay immediately to its left.
A beacon, the Pharillon, was at its point in Arab times. The original
Church of St. Mark, where the evangelist was buried, must have stood on
the shore to its right. There is nothing to see to-day except a
coast-guard station and the exit of the main drain.
* * * * *
CHATBY STA.—The tram has now pierced the ancient royal city and enters
the region of the dead, where owing to the dryness of the ground the
cemeteries both ancient and modern have been dug. Right, the modern
cemeteries, Jewish nearest the tram line, behind them English, then
Greek and Armenian, then Catholic, opening into the Aboukir road
(Section I). Close to the sta. are the spacious schools of the Greek
Community, and the Orwa el Woska schools. Left of the station, is the
Sultanian Institute of Hydrobiology, containing a small but interesting
aquarium and an extensive and valuable technical library, also models of
fishing craft, nets and marine instruments. Visit by arrangement with
the Director, Prof. Pachundaki. In the enclosure in front of the
Institute some ancient Mosaics have been recently (1921) discovered;
they are said to be of fine period and in good condition, but are not on
exhibition yet; it is to be hoped that they will be accessible shortly.
Traces of ancient roads and drains have also been found here.
* * * * *
CHATBY-LES-BAINS STA.—Turn left, as far as the fire station, then turn
right. Here, in the waste to the left of the road, is the great Chatby
Necropolis, the oldest in the Ptolemaic city (_see_ Museum, particularly
Room 20 and Garden Court). Little remains. There is a tomb group close
to the road of the Anfouchi type (p. 126) _i.e._ a sunken court out of
which the burial places open; at the end of the tombs is a double
sarcophagus of the shape of a bed, with cushions of stone.—Right of the
tram line, other burial places, Ptolemaic and Roman, can be found all
the way to the canal.—The tram goes through a cutting; right is the fine
French Lycée, subsidized by the French Government.
* * * * *
CAMP DE CÉSAR STA.—Caesar never camped here. An unattractive suburb,
anciently Eleusis by the Sea.
* * * * *
IBRAHIMIEH STA.—Then to the right flat fertile land appears. This,
geologically, is delta deposit, which has been silted up against the
narrow spur of limestone on which Alexandria stands (p. 5). In the
foreground, the green turf of the Sporting Club; further, the trees of
Nouzha and the waters of Hadra. Traces of ancient Cemeteries continue on
the dry ground on the left.
* * * * *
SPORTING CLUB STA.—Close to the Grand Stand of the Race Course. Bathing
beach left.
* * * * *
CLEOPATRA STA.—Cleopatra never lived here. Right begin the famous fig
trees of Sidi Gaber, reputed the best in Egypt. Also broad leaved
bananas, maize, &c. A pleasant road leads across the railway and by the
side of the lake to Nouzha Gardens (Section IV); it can be beautiful
here in the evening.—Left from the sta., at the base of a cliff by the
edge of the sea, is a Ptolemaic tomb with painted walls, but even while
one describes such things they are being destroyed. The reefs by this
tomb form the pretty little “Friars’ pool.”
* * * * *
SIDI GABER STA.—Close to the main-line railway sta. where all the Cairo
expresses stop.—Left, a road leads between fine trees to the
_Abercrombie Monument_, a poor affair, but interesting to Englishmen, as
it commemorates our exploits in 1801 (p. 88). It is a three-sided column
of white marble, surmounted by a flaming urn. Inscription:
“To the memory of Sir Ralph Abercrombie K.B. & C. and the Officers
and Men who fell at the battle of Alexandria, March 21st, 1801....
As his life was honourable so was his death glorious. His memory
will be recorded in the annals of his country—will be sacred to
every British soldier—and embalmed in the recollection of a grateful
posterity.”
Close to the Monument is the modern Mosque of Sidi Gaber, a beneficent
local saint, who flies about at night, looks after children, &c.
* * * * *
MUSTAPHA PACHA STA.—Right, up the road, is the hill of Abou el Nawatir,
the highest near Alexandria, overlooking the lakes of Hadra and Mariout;
exquisite view, especially by evening light. The square enclosure at the
top belongs to the reservoir; to its S.E. half-way between it and the
railway, a _Gun_ lies in the sand. This is a relic of the fighting of
July 1882. General Alison placed most of his artillery up here (p. 96),
and the gun still points to the Mahmoudieh Canal, in the direction of
Arabi’s camp.—Left of Mustapha Pacha Sta. on the rise, are the British
Barracks, occupying the site of the Roman; history repeats herself, just
as she has done in the Cemeteries. Octavian’s town of Nicopolis, which
he founded in B.C. 30 to overawe Alexandria (p. 44), began here. Among
the Roman Units here quartered were the 2nd Trajana Fortis and the 3rd
Cyrenaic; the British are too numerous to record.
* * * * *
CARLTON STA.—The big Villa up the hill to the right was built by a
German in the Greek style, regardless of expense or taste.
* * * * *
BULKELEY STA.—We are now in the heart of Ramleh (“Sand”) the struggling
suburb where the British and other foreigners reside. Lovely private
gardens, the best in Egypt. Left of the sta. is Stanley Bay, a fine bit
of coast scenery and a favourite bathing place: also the Anglican Church
of All Saints’. (p. 213).
The tramline here divides into two branches that reunite at San Stefano.
The left branch—more direct—goes by Saba Pacha (pretty cove in coast),
Glymenopoulo, Mazloum, Zizinia—all bathing places. The right branch,
through pretty palm gloves, via Fleming, Bacos, Seffer, Schutz,
Gianaclis (left is the fine new Mosque of Ahmed Pacha Yehia, the
statesman, with provision for his tomb).
* * * * *
SAN STEFANO STA.—Close to the Casino, a fashionable summer hotel, by the
side of a sea that seems especially fresh and blue. There are Symphony
concerts here in the season. The audience however comes not to listen
but to talk; their noise is so great that from a little distance the
orchestra appears to be performing in dumb show.
The tram goes on by St. George, Laurens and Palais stations to Sidi
Bishr, on the edge of a desert coast. Fine walk or ride past Sidi Bishr
Mosque to the _Spouting Rocks_. These are most remarkable. Masses of
limestone project into the sea, which penetrates beneath them and spouts
up through blow holes and cracks. Some of the vents have been
artificially squared, and the Ancient Alexandrians, who loved scientific
toys, may have fitted them up with musical horns or mechanical
mills.—The expedition may be continued along the coast to the woods of
Montazah (Section VII).
* * * * *
VICTORIA STA. The terminus. Here is a Ry. sta. for the Aboukir and
Rosetta lines (Section VII), also Victoria College, a huge building. It
offers an education on English Public School lines to residents in
Egypt, whatever their creed or race, and was much approved by Lord
Cromer, who founded a scholarship here.
The coast walk from Alexandria to Ramleh is rarely taken but is
charming—low crumbly cliffs, sandy beaches, flat rocks, and vestiges of
ancient houses and tombs that help one to realise how the whole site of
the city has sunk. There is no road east of Silsileh. The scheme for a
grandiose “Corniche” drive has fortunately failed, and the scenery has
escaped the standardised dulness that environs most big towns.
* * * * *
Ramleh can also be reached by the Aboukir Road, an extension of the Rue
Rosette (Section I).
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