Alexandria

Waking up in Giza

True to his word, Osama was at the hotel at 6am. As I left the hotel around 6:10,  I let the front desk know about the sink. They told me I’d have to be around for them to fix it, so it would have to wait until later. I was curious how housekeeping would address the situation and what the room would look like when I returned.

Heading for Alexandria

Alexandria is a historic port city on the Mediterranean sea. We were scheduled to tour one an underground burial chambers from the Roman era, a Roman era coliseum, the new Alexandria library, a classic Mosque, and an old Lighthouse and Castle off the sea. The drive was three hours. Since I was still fighting the head cold, I slept most of the way.

Arriving in Alexandria

Our first stop was in the poorer area of Alexandria. Osama wanted me to see the everyday life and conditions of the people. The conditions weren’t much better than Cairo. The streets were flooded with tuk-tuks and the cleanliness of the streets was slightly better than Cairo. I joked with Osama that I was going to pay a kid $20 to let me drive around a tuk-tuk. He misunderstood, thinking I simply wanted to ride one. “You’re crazy, it doesn’t take a license to drive one. You’ll be driven around by a 7 year old.”. His estimation wasn’t far from the truth – the kids driving the tuk-tuks were young. Osama left and came back with three drinks in real glass cups. He picked us up sugar cane juice and we did a toast. The juice wasn’t bad.

 

Mahmood, our driver, smoking and drinking

Burial Ground

Cameras were not allowed and the rule was enforced, so I couldn’t grab any images. We descended into the ground via an ancient spiral staircase about 30 feet.  Osama mentions that this site is subject to frequent floods, so it’s slowly deteriorating. There are a number of rooms containing areas for created urns to be stored. Except for a collection of human and animal bones in one section, all urns and remains have been moved to museums. The site was discovered when a man’s donkey fell into the ground near the staircase.  

Amphitheater

Shortly after touring the burial ground, we made way to a Roman influenced amphitheater. We walked around as Osama explained the influence the Romans had at the time the amphitheater was built. We got some good pictures and were off to the next stop.

 

Ampitheater

 

Me as a conductor!

 

Osama having fun with the camera!

More Fun

Bibliotecha Alexandrina

Next stop was to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The facility is nothing short of amazing. It cost around 230m USD to create and is something like 9 stories. The library is adjacent to Alexandria college, so it’s normally occupied by students. Anyone can pay an admission fee to use the library. The library also has a collection of museums within the premises. Unlike libraries in the US, a membership fee is required to use the library (around $13 USD). Wireless internet is free, although like the rest of the country it’s slow with timeouts common. After taking some photos of the exterior we went in. Free tours are offered and the next one was scheduled to begin in roughly 30 minutes. I suggest we go to the coffee shop next door and get some coffee. 

 

Osama and I getting coffee

 

Outside Bibliotecha Alexandrina

The first 5 letters of every language are inscribed on the exterior

 

Outside the Library of Alexandria

 

Never ending walls

 

Inside the massive building

One thing I found interesting was that Iraq was a major sponsor of the library. Saddam Hussein apparently wrote a  check worth around $20m USD days before the start of the first gulf war. Second, during the revolution thousands of people circled around the library during the revolution to protect it and the museums within. There would be no looting following the revolution. In fact, this was true for almost all museums throughout Egypt. It's inspiring to know the people of Egypt rose up to protect the treasures of their country.

 

List of sponsors to the Bibliotecha Alexandrina

 

Citadel of Qaitbay
 

The last stop before returning to Cairo was to see what appeared to be a castle on the waterfront. The castle was built around the 14th century on top of the ruins of the Alexandria Lighthouse. When it stood, The Alexandria Lighthouse was one of the ancient wonders of the world (it was destroyed by earthquakes). This fort was considered one of the most important defensive strongholds. There really wasn't much to see, but it was nice to walk along the Mediterranean waterfront again. Several counterfeit merchants operated along the waterfront. I would haggle with a watch seller offering various styles of Rolex, Omega, and Tag watches. He claimed the replicas were of various quality - some he said were Italian. I would purchase nothing from the man. 

 

Citadel of Qaitbay

 

 

Outside the Lighthouse

Back at the Hotel

After returning to the hotel Osama mentioned we’d have a late start the next day. He’s swing by to pick me up at 1pm. Check out time was noon, but he successfully requested a late check out for me. I had asked if he and his wife might want to have dinner tonight, but he had said she wasn’t feeling well. Osama mentioned we’d have a different driver tomorrow – I asked him to wait so I could get a tip for the driver. I went upstairs only to realize my key card did not work. I inquired at the front desk and the man mentioned the issue with the sink. He had said there would be a strong odor so it’s best I switch rooms. I got the feeling he was suspicious I had done something to break the sink. I had mentioned I reported it when I left in the morning and he stated he didn’t get word. In any case, he found me another room with a queen bed on the same floor so all was good.

Looking for Food

After Osama left I ventured out for some food. The streets of Giza are very dirty and sketchy. Traffic is also insane. Crossing the street is like crossing 8 lanes of traffic without a single crosswalk. Even if there was a crosswalk, it’s unlikely it would be respected. I did see single Egyptian women walking alone and women with children, so I figured the area couldn’t be too bad. I settled on KFC and had ice cream at Baskin Robins afterwards. I would have been open to trying street food (the meat he and I had was pretty good), but Osama had mentioned quality could be an issue and to be careful.  The places that appeared to be restaurants appeared more as night clubs than places to eat.  

 

KFC (far back) & Baskin Robbins (left hand side, behind the red booth)

Tomorrow

Tomorrow would be a late day. Osama would pick me up at 1pm, we would tour an area on the outskirts of Cairo, and head for the airport.