Cruises to Alexandria

It wasn't Rome or Athens that intellectually dominated the ancient world, as most assume, but Alexandria of Egypt. It was here that humans first realized the world wasn't flat, invented geometry, built the steam engine, created latitude and longitude, and drew the first accurate maps of the world.

As Justin Pollard and Howard Reid note in their recent must-read book, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind, "Alexandria was the greatest mental crucible the world has ever known, the place where ideas originating in obscure antiquity were forged into intellectual constructs that far outlasted the city itself. If the Renaissance was the 'rebirth' of learning that led to our modern world, then Alexandria was its original birthplace. Our politics may be modeled on Greek prototypes, our public architecture on Roman antecedents, but in our minds we are all the children of Alexandria."

Who knew?

Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., Alexandria today is a bustling, modern city (though calmer than frenetic Cairo, about three hours away) with sadly little to show of its incredible ancient roots. However, with a population of roughly four million, it is an important commercial and cultural center blissfully situated on the Mediterranean coast. It's no coincidence that Alexandria is known as "The Pearl of the Mediterranean."

Almost 90 percent of Alexandrians are Sunni Muslims. Listen up for the spellbinding calls to prayer that resonate across town from the city's minarets five times a day. Cafes and shops will suddenly empty as men make their way toward their prayer rugs. One mosque of note: Abu Abbas al-Mursi, on Sharia Fransa, just a block from the seafront boulevard called Corniche, is a striking example of Islamic architecture that draws thousands of worshipers for the noon prayer on Fridays.