During my trip to Egypt in February and March 2025, I spent three nights at the Zad El Mosafer guesthouse in Tunis in the Fayoum and Lake Qarun region. I used Tunis as a base to visit Wadi Al-Hitan, Gebel Qatrani, and Soknopaiou Nesos. I organized all these activities through my guesthouse. What's more, they also arranged transport to Alexandria, with stops at the monasteries of Saint Pishoy and Saint Macarius the Great and Abu Mena.

After the previous day's disappointing excursion to Gebel Qatrani, during which the driver and guide refused to take me to the points of interest I had requested to visit, I left Tunis for Alexandria with a driver. For this excursion, I had requested stops at the four monasteries of Wadi Natrum and at Abu Mena. I was well aware that time would not allow me to visit all four monasteries, but I was doing my utmost to see as much as possible.

After visiting the first monastery (Saint Pishoy), I noticed that my driver had missed the freeway exit for the second. When I pointed this out to him, he seemed astonished that I should want to visit others and replied that he had been instructed to visit only one monastery and then to take me to Alexandria. So, as was all too often the case during my trip to Egypt, the excursion I was entitled to was not the one I had planned, negotiated, and paid for the day before. And as usual, the driver's English was more than a little broken, making it difficult to talk to him. Nevertheless, I remained firm and told him again and again what I wanted to visit. Eventually, he gave in and took me to the second monastery. After this visit, he came back and told me that he had to take me to Alexandria without any further stops. Once again, I argued with him. He called his manager, to whom I gave the same firm reply. In the end, I won the argument, and we took the exit for Abu Mena. And I gave up on visiting two more monasteries, without too many regrets.

The road between Abu Mena and Alexandria is well paved and easy to drive at a good speed. However, the route proposed by the GPS between Route 75 and Abu Mena is appalling. It's nothing but small, very muddy, and very bumpy tracks between fields, often on dykes. We followed slow-moving tractors and had to bypass several herds of goats. I could feel my driver exasperated and he let out long sighs as he followed this route, which he would have much preferred to avoid. After more than an hour of barely passable roads, we arrived at Abu Mena.

I was very surprised when I arrived at the site. Based on the photos and reviews on this page and elsewhere on the Internet, I was expecting ruins lost amidst brush and garbage, with no infrastructure, and in a very poor state of conservation. To my astonishment, there were numerous tour buses in the site's parking lot, dozens of visitors pacing the ruins, a shelter and toilets at the entrance, as well as interpretation panels, a map of the ruins, and the World Heritage symbol.

The first and most important section of the ruins is the basilica. Only the outline and a few columns remain. A small wooden church now stands within the ruins. Mena's tomb and the baptistery are also in the basilica. I didn't notice if there was any water left at the bottom (I can't see any in my photos), and garbage is a thing of the past. Outside the basilica lie the foundations of pilgrims' lodgings (photo), courtyards, baths, and presses. And each of these elements is identified by an interpretation panel describing it. Abu Mena is by far the best described Egyptian archaeological site on the site. It was refreshing to have access to quality information while visiting an Egyptian archaeological site, without having to listen to the guides of large, noisy groups of organized tourists. The absence of signs, museums, and interpretation in general is probably the greatest weakness of Egyptian sites, and one that greatly undermined my enjoyment elsewhere.

It took me about 30 minutes to do the tour. I tried to do it rather quickly so as not to exasperate my driver any further, but I didn't neglect any points of interest. We set off again, passing the new monastery, which I didn't visit, and then he dropped me off in Alexandria after a day full of twists and turns.