Sights in Rosetta (Ar Rashid)
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House of Amasyali
One of the most impressive of all Rosetta's fine buildings is the House of Amasyali, one of two restored houses on al-Anira Feriel. The façade here is one of the most impressive in Rosetta, with beautiful small lantern lights and vast expanses of mashrabiyya screens, which circulate cool breezes around the house. Although inside it's devoid of furniture - as are all the buildings - it's still possible to get a clear idea of how the house worked.
A series of rough stone chambers, which would have been used for storage, make up the ground floor. The 1st floor is for the men. One of the rooms here is a reception room, where guests would have been entertained by groups of m…
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Hammam Azouz
One of the most extraordinary buildings in Rosetta has to be the Hammam Azouz, a 19th-century bathhouse. Just south of the city centre, this restored ode to Ottoman ablution has a fine marble interior with elaborately carved wooden beams and trimmings. Several bathing rooms encircle the main, fountain-centred bath room, and tall domed ceilings crown each chamber.
Tiny round holes in the domes let in piercing shafts of light (and would have let out steam), with some still covered in colourful stained glass that further bathes the place in a faint rainbow of surreal colours. Tickets for the bathhouse are available at the House of Amasyali.
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Fort of Qaitbey
About 5km north of Rosetta along the Nile is the Fort of Qaitbey, built in 1479 (just before the sultan’s fort in Alexandria) to guard the mouth of the Nile 6km further on. It was here that the famous Rosetta Stone was found, and there’s a copy inside the fort. The mouth of the Nile is visible from atop the walls. Boats depart from the Corniche near the Museum Garden and make the trip to the fort for around E£50 to E£60 per person return (1½ hours), or you can hire a taxi to take you.
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B
House of Abu Shaheen
The House of Abu Shaheen, or Mill House has a reconstructed mill on the ground floor, featuring enormous wooden beams and planks. You can actually see the gears and teeth rotate, which 200 years ago would have been pushed in an endless circle by a bored draught animal. In the courtyard, the roof of the stables is supported by granite columns with Graeco-Roman capitals. Tickets bought here are good for all of the open monuments in the town centre.
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C
House of Al-Toqatli
On Sharia Amasyali there are more fine houses along the street and in the alleyways that lead off it. The House of Al-Toqatli, though closed to the public, has an interesting façade.
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D
Mosque of Sheikh Ali al-Mahalli
The large and still-functioning 18th-century Mosque of Sheikh Ali al-Mahalli contains 99 columns recycled from Roman and Mamluk monuments.
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E
Beit Killi Museum
The Beit Killi Museum, on the main square, off the Corniche, was closed for restoration at the time of research, but should be open now.
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