East of Alexandria

The ancient city of Rosetta, 65km east of Alexandria, is famed for being where the Rosetta Stone was discovered. The Rosetta Stone, now housed in the British Museum, was created in 196BC and
written in hieroglyphics, another Egyptian script and classical Greek. It was discovered by the French in 1799 and helped unlock the secrets of the previously undecipherable hieroglyphics. Rosetta became the principle port on Egypt’s northern coast following Alexandria’s decline after the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. It is noted for the Delta-style Ottoman architecture of its restored merchants houses, built with distinctive, moulded bricks.