Tour guide in Alexandria Zahraa A.

I am Zahraa, a licensed tour guide, Egyptologist, researcher, and writer born from a lifelong connection with Alexandria, Egypt. For more than two decades, I have been exploring, researching, and sharing the stories that make this extraordinary Mediterranean city more than a destination—a living heritage. My approach is captured in Literally Alexandria: I take visitors beyond the famous landmarks to discover the city through its architecture, archaeology, literature, food, traditions, forgotten streets, and the people and communities who shaped its identity. With a B.Sc. in Tourism and Guidance from Alexandria University (1999), my professional work has included architectural and cultural walking tours, heritage projects, international cultural groups, academic institutions, and specialized experiences focusing on Hellenistic and Greco-Roman Alexandria, Jewish and Greek heritage, cosmopolitan Alexandria, architecture, and Alexandrian literary history. I have guided cultural initiatives including the Greek Nostos Back to Roots Group (2017) and the Egyptian Jews Back to Roots Tour (2020), and have worked with visitors and institutions from Egypt and around the world. I have also delivered lectures and workshops for institutions including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Centre d’Études Alexandrines, Alexandria University, and the German University in Cairo, as well as cultural mapping projects with international academic groups. As a researcher and writer, I have written extensively about Alexandria’s heritage, with articles featured on platforms including Tour Egypt and The Times, covering subjects such as the Catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa, Muhammad Ali and Alexandria, and Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria. What makes my tours different is the way I connect the monument with the human story—the architect with the building, the writer with the street, the community with its neighborhood, and the past with the Alexandria that still lives today. Whether you are fascinated by Cleopatra and the Hellenistic world, Greco-Roman archaeology, architecture, Cavafy and Durrell, Jewish and Greek heritage, hidden histories, or the everyday soul of Alexandria, I want you to leave not only knowing more about the city, but feeling that you have truly met her. I am a daughter of Alexandria, and Alexandria is not simply where I work. It is the story I have chosen to tell.