Alexandria - We Survived!
Alexandria, Egypt
June 05, 2013
Today was a rough day. Bill was sick during the night, so we did not get a lot of sleep. Some makmoon (crazy) guy next door started banging on our connecting door calling for his friend. Afterward he tried doing the same on the closet and front doors. Finally his friend showed up and they chatted for a while. I turned the A/C back on and put a towel by the front door to muffle the noise.
In the morning, Bill was still not feeling well and I had not been sick, but did have stomach cramps. We did not make it down on time for breakfast, but Hanny gathered some pastries and fruit for us to take on the road.
Mohammed and Hanny were our travel companions for the journey to Alexandria. We were able to stop at a pharmacy and get Imodium before leaving Cairo The Pompey Pillar.
Bill and I had taken Gravol before we departed the hotel, so we both slept in the car on the way to Alexandria.
We arrived after 10:00 at the Alexandra Museum and met Zara, an Egyptologist and Archeologist. She also has her MBA and is going to get her doctorate. She is a single woman, so she has plenty of time to keep studying.
The museum had artifacts from the Pharonic period, Hellenic period and modern Alexandria. Alexandra had influences from Romans and Greeks that are reflected in their artwork. Many of the Egyptian gods were merged with Greek gods. The statues have Roman and Egyptian elements. This was done to harmonized the people and create peace.
Next we went to the catacombs. This area was discovered when a donkey fell down one of the wells. Only a small portion of the catacombs have been recovered to date. We walked down 100 stairs as the family of the deceased would have done, the body of the deceased would have been lowered down the large opening with ropes Lunch with a View.
Inside the catacomb there was a room where rituals were performed. At the funerary celebration food and drink were served in pottery. It was unlucky to reuse the pottery, so there was a large collection of pottery at this site when it was uncovered. One of the tombs that was uncovered had statues of the family and a casket. We walked by many tombs in the walls that had been used, opened up, reused and resealed.
Since the revolution the government now allows new construction near the catacombs, so it is unlikely that the escalation site will be able to expand.
We fought through traffic to Pompeii Pillar. All I can remember is that it was really tall, surrounded by ruins and there were remnants of the 40 surrounding pillars.
We had our lunch break at Tikka's. Bill did not have much of an appetite, so he just picked at his food. I was not feeling great, but made the most of this delicious meal that was heavily influenced by the Greeks Incredible New Library. They brought out the warm puffy pitas that I really like and several mezze dishes of baba ganoush, tahini, garlic with yogurt (I really liked this), hummus, onion hummus, a dish with peanuts and tomatoes, beets,… Bill was back on the Coke in the belief that it will make his stomach feel better. I stuck with a club soda. The local fish that we had for lunch was very well prepared and delicious.
The view from the restaurant overlooking the harbour was fantastic. There were lots of boats in the water, children jumping into the water, we saw where the light house used to be. It was a perfect clear day and we were able to take advantage of the view even though we did not make a large dent in our meal!
We went to the Alexandria library which is less than 200 meters from the original site. It was completed in 2002 and is absolutely stunning. It is so well designed and executed The Palace. The reading area can hold up to 1,000 people at a time and has lots of natural, but not direct sunlight. They have used several techniques for sound deadening which have been very effective. The library is not free to use, but the cost of entry or an annual membership was very reasonable. While you are in the library you had access to over 1.7 million books in several languages. You are not allowed to take them home, but anyone can access the books for free over the internet. While at the library they offered free wifi, but you could not access free email such as hotmail or yahoo. Check it out for yourself: www.bibalex.org
After the library we went to the former Palace. The grounds of the Palace are almost 400 acres. We drove around a small section. The gardens are very beautiful and are open to the public. There are even a couple of hotels on the property now.
Our hotel, Hilton, was not too far from the Palace. It was recently purchased by the Hilton group and they finished renovating it 3 days ago The Mediterranean From Our Hotel. The hotel is very beautiful and the staff were very attentive. The floors were all marble, even in our room.
Bill and I took full advantage of the large, comfortable bed. I was feeling really bad and aching everywhere. We were both exhausted and slept for a few hours. Bill was hungry so we went down to the lounge around 9:00. He ordered a burger and a milkshake. The thought of food made my stomach do back flips, so I just had a hot water with mint leaves. Bill was able to polish off the milkshake and eat 1/3 of his burger.
We headed back up to the room and went to sleep almost immediately, hoping that tomorrow would bring better health!
