I had big expectations arriving in Alexandria after having read Lawrence DurrelI’s Alexandria Quartet novels. It had the backdrop of Alexandria early 1900s along the Mediterranean Sea. Instead, what I saw was a broken-down city in the old part of town that was filled with garbage along the street and dust everywhere. I didn’t go to the outer areas, but there were rows and rows of affluent high rises all along the Mediterranean Sea. The streets were filled with taxis, mini buses, cars and trucks. They were continually honking more than using their brakes. Most of the vehicles I saw had scraped up sides, or were held together with Bondo.
The walkway along the Mediterranean was buttressed by huge blocks of concrete that protected it from the weather storms with occasional private sandy beaches that were accessed by paying 50 pounds for a
chair table and umbrella.
I passed by the Cecil Hotel, and would later visit the bar for a soda while reminiscing that Lawrence Durrell and even Winston Churchill had visited this bar during its heyday. The bartender told me that they had a club here that started up at 10 PM and was open until 5 AM in the morning. I’m no longer a night owl so I passed on that adventure.
The Ithaca Hostel where I stayed had broad sidewalks that were filled with coffee drinkers enjoying the passing people and traffic. Even though the building was located along the waterfront, we had just the back view from our common rooms and dorm rooms.
The staff was friendly, and on the three mornings, I was there. I enjoyed an interesting breakfast of eggs, pita bread, potato salad, and a yogurt blend topped off with sliced cucumbers.
Unfortunately, the air-conditioning not working in our room despite everyday promises of it getting repaired. In the end, I talked to the owner and he gave me a two-dollar-per-night refund—$8 per night vs $10.
I met Osama from Jordan, who told me that he had graduated from the San Jose State University along with attending the University of San Francisco, which is where my wife graduated from. He was an electrical engineer and he taught school at several universities around the country, including California, Texas, and one of the Carolinas, and then worked for Procter & Gamble in Georgia before transferring with them to Dubai. He really enjoyed his time in the United States except his wife couldn’t stand living in Texas, so she returned to Jordan. He said he had a son who was born in the US who was now working in Washington DC along with a niece there, too.
He would wake up at about 4:30 every morning to do his first of five daily prayers while I was on a Zoom call in the common area.
I enjoyed visiting the famous Alexandria library, although it was a shadow of its former self before the Roman invasion. Interest in books by Alexandrines was apparent because of the large number of bookstores that lined many streets.
The Alexandria National Museum was filled with antiquities, including some that were retrieved under the Mediterranean Sea.
Very fresh meat anyone?
I took this yellow tram back to the Cecil Hotel.
Fort Qaitbey, at the end of the harbor peninsula, was built in 1480 to protect the harbor. Much of it has been carefully restored.
These mini buses cost me just pounds to go quite a ways.
I enjoyed bathing in the Mediterranean Sea, even though it wasn’t as warm as I expected, and it was dirtier than I had wanted it to be with garbage wrappers floating all around me. Just across from the bathing area was my favorite mango cafe where I enjoyed daily mango smoothies.
The tomb of the unknown soldier is along the waterfront.
On my last day, I walked down to the beach area and saw huge crowds of people holding their huge swim fins called mono fins. With these fins, they swam like porpoises. It turns out that this was a national competition of these mono swimmers who had to swim around four pylons that were spaced 250 m apart.
It was about a mile walk to the train station, and since I got there early, I had another cup of murky Turkish coffee and then boarded the train for Cairo that left at 11 AM.
During the Intrepid Tour in Egypt, we learned about the war between Israel and Palestine, and in reaction, a policeman in Alexandria shot and killed two Israeli tourists and their guide. What a random act of terror here that got overshadowed by the war with its great loss of life. A member of our tour was going on to Israel after our Jordan section, but Intrepid Tours informed her that all trips including hers were canceled. They gave her a full refund.
Our guide was very upset with the situation in Israel and Gaza, because of the concern that tourists will begin to cancel their plans to visit Egypt and other Middle East locations.
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I’m always happy to read your blog! Lots of interesting activities and insights. Any idea if the Alexandria policeman was charged with shooting the Israeli tourists and their guide?
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