Alexandria the not-so-great

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  Alexandria, Egypt
Thursday, July 14, 2005

After settling into our hotel, we set about to explore the city in a single day. As most sites closed at 4pm, we had only about 4 hours in which to do it. This turned out to not be such a huge problem. My overall impression of Alexandria was not wonderful. The history of the city and what I had read about its cosmopolitan era that it enjoyed in the 1940s and 50s led me to believe it might stay maintain some that charm. Well, it didn't. It was dirty, crowded, noisy and obviously has had a poor tourism planning board. Nothing appears to have ever been properly excavated and the city has been built on top of many important historical sites that are lost forever. It's also the site of massive numbers of summer holiday-goers from Cairo; so it was just throngs of people everywhere. They were even holding evening prayers outside in one of the main squares!

Some background, Alexander the Great founded the city in 331 BC

Artwork at the library

. As you may remember, Alexander was warmly welcomed by the Egyptians as they were under Persian rule at the time, which was wildly unpopular. Alexander had had his decent as the son of Zeus confirmed in Memphis and later at the Oracle in Siwa. I'm not going to go into more detail because I'm sure most of you aren't history buffs like me. In any case, Alexandria was once a great city that rivaled that of Rome in power and culture. But after the Arab conquest and the Middle Ages, the city dwindled. In the 1940s many ex-pat Europeans called it home and there was much literature written there, etc. Even the British secret police had operations out of the Cecil Hotel on the main square.

Our first stop were the Catacombs of Kom Ash-Shuqqafa. No photos allowed, sorry. These date back to about the 2nd century AD. What is interesting about these is to see the decorations inside the catacombs. They are a blend of phaoronic decor (like that seen in Valley of the Kings) but with a Graeco-Roman twist thrown in. Having seen the ones in the Valley of the Kings back in January, it was very interesting for me to now see these. But all in all, there wasn't a great deal to see in the catacombs...but their immense size and hundreds of square boxes where bodies once lay were fascinating to see.

We wandered a bit through the souq which was fun. There were flopping fish everywhere for sale and the sights and sounds assaulted the senses in a lovely way. I had the brilliant idea to take the tram out to our next stop. Anwar was not excited but agreed. Soon I knew why: the tram was the slowest means of transport around! After about 10 minutes we asked how long to our destination and we were told 1.5 hours. So we immediately hopped off and into a taxi

Boy carrying bread

.

Our next stop was Fort Qaitbey. This was a huge let-down and also cost a bit of money in bribes for us to go in together. It was built in 1480 by the Mamluk sultan Qaitbey in order to fortify and protect the city. It is nestled out on the very eastern tip of the harbor. Inside the fort, there was nothing to see in the way of historical relics. It was just a big funhouse to run around in, alhtough it offered some nice views of the harbor and city. But what really makes the site famous is that it was the site of one of the seven wonders of the world: the lighthouse (which is totally gone now, of course).

After the fort, we walked the entire length of the corniche which is about 2-3 km long. It is interesting to see Arab women frolicking in the Mediterranean fully clothed. They not only wear full coverage clothing including pants and log sleeves, but they also wear their head scarves in as well. Alexandria once housed the greatest library in the world. It was founded in the 3rd century BC and was said to have housed a half million texts. It's gone now, but they have erected a monstrous new structure on the site that has generally been a non-success. But they had a cool art exhibit going on that we walked through, so that was nice.

Bust of Alexander the Great

Next we went to visit a friend of Anwar's who works in Dahab. His brother is getting married and we were invited to the pre-wedding party, but I just wasn't up for it. So we headed out to have a nasty over-priced dinner. Restaurants pull this crap where they put things on the table like bread and salad that usually come with the meal...but in Alexandria they charge you for it, but without telling you ahead of time. They also slapped on 20% in taxes after all was said and done. And the food was cold and disgusting and most likely the source of the stomach problems both of us would endure for the next four days.

Okay, so I think you're catching my drift here: Alexandria was a major let-down. I would not recommend it to anyone to waste their time there. We called it an early night as we had a bus to catch to Siwa on Friday at 8:30am. Read on as Siwa was probably the BEST place I have visited yet...

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Fort Qaitbey	Fort Qaitbey from a distance	Interesting sign	Mosque and fountains
Outside of the catacombs	Pigeon house	Swimming in the Mediterranean fully clothed	The Cecil Hotel
The Eastern Harbor	THE famous Egyptian cotton	The new libaray	View from Fort Qaitbey porthole

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