Athens in a day

Athens  is the capital of Greece and the one of the oldest cities in the world. I had a short 1 day visit to Athens. 3400 years of culture is surely a good reason to visit. I was always interested in visiting it but i am not good in history and each stone of this city has years of history, my Imagination was that there will be statue of Hercules everywhere :)

 Time is short and plan is simple visit the center square and go for a big shopping street in the middle of city and acropolis; and if time permit then the oldest stadium,

 Arrival and transport

The airport is nice and has many possibiities of eat and drink in a reasonable price. The options to go to center are either metro or bus. The blue metro line goes to center with frequency of every 30min andticke cost nearly 8Euro one way. little expensive but it takes nearly 50 min. The other option is bus number X95 which goes once or twice in a hour and cost nearly 4-6 euro (don't remember exactly). I took the metro to station SYNTAGA square, its center of Athens and all tourist attractions are on walking distance form here, tro to get a hotel nearby here.

Hotel,food and people

The hotel are nice and clean with balconies and breakfast has good fresh food. (olives are really great)

The food is similar to Turkish styles but not a lot of variety. The people are friendly but on streets you need to be careful for your stuff, it doesn't feel very safe in night and TOO MANY homeless people, its the maximum homeless i have seen in any big city.

Syntagma square

Its the most important square in Greece both social and historical point, and nowadays gathering place for the protests. The guard march all day and its quite photogenic place. This place is hub of intercity transport and many shops and eating places are nearby.

Shopping street (PLAKA)

Its a long long shopping street with many old and new style shops and sells mostly historical or tourist related things. The walk in this street is tiring but makes you feel in another world. Its a good place to buy monument here (nearly 1-2Euro /magnet). There are a lot of street dogs and cats in Athens and this street is their home.

Acropolis

The Parthenon, is the most eye catching bulding on the mountain of Acropolis, its seen form the down and you pay ticket and climb all the way up to see the ruins of castle and Greek civilization. The climbing part is really tiring so keep a water bottle and hike in small portions, the view from the top is really amazing, the  theater of Herod Atticus is also another great place to admire the workmen ship of the past.

Final views:

1-The city is historic and demands the tourist to have complete knowledge of Greek and the Roman empires, read something before going

2- The city is not very clean, road side rubbish is common view.

3- The conditions of the street shows that the economical condition of the country is not very promising, too many homeless people and in night time every corner you will find people laying down or sleeping.

4- The food is fresh and taste good.

5- I think there should be minimum 2 days to visit more places.

 Calm streets of Athens

Alexandria

Alexandria was my second destination in Egypt after Cairo, My frined professor bought ticket for me by train and left me at the station,
The railways station of Cairo is a master piece, quiet nicely organised and clean, and few ancient styles monuments are place in the main hall and outside hall you find tracks and platform for the trains,

Many trains go everyday to Alexandria but few are fast and nonstop so be sure before buying. The seats are single seats and placed two on one side and two on the other and middle is walking way. The journey takes nearly 3.5 hours and outside view is just desert with no eye catching view.Inside train you can get tea,coffee and snacks with a small price and I see many people buy coffee and tea, may its cheap or just nothing else to do, The journey is good and fast and engine didn't break on the way, as it was the fear which our Egyptian friend gave us that trains can just stop in nowhere for hours)

MAP
Our stay was for 3 nights and the plan was well defined, see the below map to imagine what we intended to do in Alexandria.

First View:

We jump out at station SIDI GABER as it was near to our hotel, Its a small station and many taxis park outside, First view of Alexandria is great the taxis are more new, more greenery around and people seems more fresh and jolly as compared to Cairo.

HOTEL
Almamura is a small district near the coast line where there are many hotels and specially designed for tourists, the hotels are cheap and most of them have internal pool and attache the private beach. The hotel was very near to the palace Montaza, My advice is always go for 4 or 5 star hotel in Egypt,as lower stars can be poor in hygiene,

ALEXANDRIA CASTLE ( Qaitbay Citadel)
Its an important historic fort from the 15th Century made for the protection from the sea side, The fort is master piece of construction and its light house is also named as the 7th wonder of the ancient world. There is small fee for entrance and student can get discount too. There is a small bazaar next to the castle and you can find many sea stones and jewelry items but relatively expensive as compared to Cairo.

Paid him for a short sea trip in sea near castle, was a badchoice, the boat was very small and he asked for more money in the middle of the sea :)

Library
The library was arguably one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world, The library is built on a very huge scale and the stairs of library  entrance is a get together place of high school and university students. The library is just on the coast line and you can feel fresh sea breeze.

BUS TERMINAL
I took the bus from Alexandria to Cairo airport. The journey took nearly long 6 hours to reach airport and made me really nervous as my flight time was in the evening and never thought the bus would take that long. The roads till Cairo are ok and takes nearly 2 hour to reach the boundaries of Cairo but then the traffic and slow service form the bus company to pick as many customer as they can made it really worst. Anyhow I caught my flight and rate my trip to Alexandria as excellent.

My special thanks to my Friend Karim, for meeting me and taking care of me in Alexandria.

Madinah (saudia Arabia)

Madinah المدينة المنورة is the second holiest city in Islam after Makkhah. Madina's importance as a religious site derives from the presence of al-Masjid an-Nabawi.The first mosque built during Muhammad's time is also located in Medina and is known as the Quba Mosque. Masjid al-Qiblatain is another mosque also historically important to Muslims. It is where the command was sent to the prophet to change the direction of prayer (qibla) from Jerusalem to Makkah.Most of the visitors to Medina use to visit 5 places like the prophet mosque , shohada Ohod , baqee' ,qeblatain and Quba

A mosque at new Madinah airport

How to arrive

The city has newly built airport just 20min by drive (30km). Taxis are abundantly available and cheap becuase of lowest petrol prices. Negotiation of the price must be done before the journey starts but the people of this city are mostly polite and good in nature. If youare coming form Makkah then the either you can take bus or Van for 15-20 Riyal or a taxi for nearly 400Riyal, Medinah is nearly 450km away from Makkah and the way is surrounded by  complete desert. A high speed inter-city rail line (Haramain High Speed Rail Project also known as the "Western Railway"), is under construction in Saudi Arabia.=, hopefully will start fully functional in 2016.

 Our taxi, he took his son also from home to make him visit Madinah

 First View

Madinah is much different from Makkah, the city has a lot of date trees and more greenery. Still its a partial desert and city is covered by desert from all sides. The people are polite and traffic is not so much. Saudia Arabia is famous for hot weather but Madinah is little better than other cities. In December Temperature was nearly 20C in days time. 

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

 al-Masjid an-Nabawi  ("the Prophet's Mosque") The greatest attraction in the city of Madinah., which is the burial place of the Islamic prophet Muhammad(PBUH).The courtyard is dominated by huge canopies that were erected in order to allow for tens of thousands more pilgrims to pray just outside the mosque.Although the complex is now dominated by the canopies( huge umbrellas that open during the daytime to protect from sunlight) and the minarets that rise above them, the famous green dome, which was constructed by the Ottomans and sits above the tomb of the Prophet, is still largely visible.

Inside the Mosque the architecture is so beautiful, especially at night when all the lights on. During daytime, several dome will slide open and you will see the sky from inside the mosque

Roza Rasool (PBUH) and RiazulJannah are located inside the mosque and needs great energy to reach, There are a lot of visitors and place is opened after every prayer. The area between the Sacred Chamber and the Pulpit (Mimbar) is known as the Riadhul Jannah i.e. Garden of Paradise. It is presently distinguished by a green carpet and is also referred to as Rawdah.

Masjid Al-Qiblatayn

Masjid Al-Qiblatayn is famous because of its uniqueness amongst mosques. All mosques contain what is known as a qibla, an architectural feature that points the faithful in the direction of Makkah, the direction of prayer. This mosque Prophet(PBUH) redirected his prayer towards Makkah.

The mosque newly built and I think must be built again later as the front wall is in the direction of the Makkah.

Quba Mosque

It is the first mosque of Islam and few kilometers away from Masjid Nabvi. The mosque is alos newly built and and has good capacity for people to come and pray.

AL-Baqee

Al-Baqee is the biggest graveyard of Madinaha and is known for having many of the prophets(PBUH)'s close relatives buried here. The grave yard is open for only men in morning and after 3rd prayer. It’s a walking distance from the Nabawi Mosque. Muslim who passes away in Medina during Hajj or Umrah will also get the honor to bury here. Please take some of your time to visit Al- Baqi’ cemetery when you are in Madina and make Du'a for those who have gone before us…May God Bless Their Soul. 

UHUD mountain and Martyr of Uhud

It Is A Sunnah To Visit The Martyrs Of Uhud Which Is 5km From The City. The Prophet's Uncle Saidina Hamzah Received The Honor As Martydom When He Was Killed In The Battle Field Of Uhud. The Prophet s.a.w Used To Visit Uhud And Prayed For The Souls Of Those Who Were Buried there.

Uhud mountains

Masjid Juma, First friday prayers were offered here

Dates

Medinah is famous for its high quality dates and there are many markets in Medinah. The price is slightly negotiate able and buying more than 5 kg can give you better discount. The dae AJWA and MABROOM are the two famous from Medinah.( price is nearly 25-35 riyal per kg).

Shopping in Medinah

There are alot of shops and street vendors and you ca find a huge variety of produts and peope shouting 5riyal 5 Riyal 5  riyal is very common after prayer times.

People just put some fabric and go for prayer and no one steels anything.

Precautions

1-Keep a small plastic bag to keep your shoes inside and rememberthe shelf where you put.

2- It can easily take 2-3 hours to visit the Roza Rasul(pbuh) keep small water botte with you

3- If you are old and fear of fainting during the congested waiting time then do not go for Riazuljannah(its hard to even come outside if you are inside crowd)

4-best time for Roza rasul pbuh is 8-10 in morning

I wish you a safe travel and acceptance of prayers.