Alexandria - Day 2

Today started with beans and falafel! My Egyptian friends in Egypt and at home have asked about this, so I had beans and falafel for breakfast (as well as quite a bit of other stuff, as it happens). It was very nice! The beans were done in the Alexandria style--a puree with chilli, lemon, garlic and some other spices, I believe (but I could be wrong). Falafel is falafel and surprisingly good at breakfast.

I was met on time by Serfine and she explained the plans for the day finishing with, "which should you leave time to see the library if you wish. It would be a shame to visit Alexandria and not see the library." Well, I was surprised as I expected the library to be part of our tour today and said so. What's more, I pulled out the copy of my itinerary and showed her how it said that's where we were going. Well, that caused some consternation, phone calls, hasty street-side meetings. Eventually, of course, and with great protestations that it was no problem at all, my expectations of the itinerary were met.

The Small Palace

So, today we visited the Montazah Gardens first. This is a large garden area (350 acres?) that surround former palaces of the Kings of Egypt. The gardens are now open to the public and the palaces are various hotels. The small palace was quite impressive and the gardens are nice too.

Then we visited the Roman Ampitheatre. That was fun for a few reasons. Here was an amphitheatre that had numbered seats (!) that was re-built after being damaged by an earthquake (apparently) and they put the seats back but not in order! FFS! There's a stone where you stand for perfect acoustics, and that also means that you get an echo. Serfine thought I liked that spot a lot because I could hear my own voice. Can't imagine where she got that view from! Finally, it was fascinating that here are some extraordinary ruins from antiquity and the whole place looks almost abandoned, presented almost like someone's decided to show off some ruins in their backyard. It turns into something I've noticed a bit in all Egyptian museums: there's little explanatory material beyond the label on the exhibit; no why, no significance, just the thing. I can't work out if my expectations are inflated or naive, or if the Egyptians are doing it wrong.

While we were looking at some hieroglyphic inscriptions on a column retrieved from underwater ruins near the Fort, Serfine said that she could write my name in hieroglyphs  The conversation ended up with her saying that she could get a kartouch with my name created.

After the amphitheatre, we headed off to a jeweller that Serafine knew and I've had a kartouch with the Ankh, my name and a scarab made. It was made for me during the day and I collected it on the way to the hotel from the jeweller's workshop in Cairo. It's really only a trinket but it is hung on a lovely white gold chain.

Finally, I was delivered to the Alexandria Library where I was connected with the internal tour guide. This is an extraordinary building. Of course, it is attempting to reconstruct the Alexandria Library from antiquity, at least in terms of reputation. They have constructed an awe-inspiring place and have started with the job of building the resources to sustain the reputation. I was overwhelmed by the place, particularly the graceful and inviting interior.

The bulk of the afternoon was lost to the long drive from Alexandria to Cairo.

I'm in a City View room at the Ramses Hilton this time. The traffic noise is high, but I think it will diminish as the night progresses. I move to a different hotel tomorrow as the first day of my Nile Cruise adventure.