Alexandria: A History and a GuideForster, E. M. (Edward Morgan)
History
Alexandria: A History and a Guide
Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan)
Alexandria (Egypt) -- Guidebooks; Alexandria (Egypt) -- History
Now the tram turns, right, by the Rosetta Gate Police Station,
surmounted by a turret clock in commemoration of King Edward VII, and
comes to the Rond Point, where are the Waterworks, and up the rise Hadra
Prison; then crosses the railway, the ancient Hadra cemetery (_see_
Museum Room 19) and Hadra village, and reaches its terminus at Nouzha,
close to Nouzha railway station and to the Mahmoudieh Canal.
* * * * *
_Nouzha_ was in Ptolemaic times the suburb of Eleusis. Here lived
Callimachus the poet (p. 30); here (B.C. 168) Popillius the Roman
general checked the King of Syria who was about to seize Alexandria,
and, drawing a circle round him in the sand, obliged him to decide
forthwith between peace and war. Here (A.D. 640), were quartered the
cavalry of Amr (p. 55), before he entered the town.—The Gardens are
across the railway. They have been developed by the Municipality out of
a small park of Ismail’s, and are most beautiful; if one could judge
Alexandria by her gardens one would do nothing but praise. Some are
formalised, others free; those who like pelicans will find them in a
pond to the right; the zoological garden, a bandstand, and a restaurant,
are straight ahead; view from over the top over Lake Hadra towards Abou
el Nawatir (Section V).—Right of the bandstand is an enclosure entered
by payment; this too should be visited as the trees and flowers are
fine; glasshouses also.
Above the pelican pond a small gate leads from the Nouzha Gardens into
the _Antoniadis Gardens_ (entrance charge; varying according to the day
of week). These too belong to the Municipality of Alexandria. They are
full of modern statues, which, though of no merit, make a pleasant
formal effect. The trees and creepers are fine, and there is a beautiful
lawn at the back of the house. Here, until recently, lived the
Antoniadis family, wealthy Greeks.
In the field behind the Antoniadis Gardens is an antique _Tomb_. It is
easiest reached through the back gate, which a gardener will sometimes
unlock; otherwise one must return to the Nouzha Gardens, pass out, and
follow the canal for a little way, finally turning to the left. The tomb
is behind an absurd spiral of rockwork. It is reached down a flight of
steps and the hall is often under water. Same plan as at Anfouchi (p.
126); a sunken hall, out of which three tomb chambers open.
The road beyond the Gardens, along the edge of the Canal, is pretty, and
probably follows the course of the ancient Canal to Canopus, whither the
Alexandrians used to go out in barges, to enjoy themselves and to
worship Serapis. In one place it skirts the waters of Hadra.
The other way (west) the Canal flows into the city (Section II) finally
entering the Harbour.—(For history of the Canal _see_ p. 91).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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