Alexandria in 12 hours

(by Miller) Talk about your hit and run. Because we need to get our Indian visas cleared and don’t want to travel any further than a few hours away without our passports, we needed to rearrange our schedule a bit and cut the 2 days planned in Alexandria down to one. This was a difficult decision as this is the town I’d been most excited to see, ancient metropolis, trading post of the old world; Alexander the Great, Constance Cavafy, and many others whose names haunt history and the classics. After a lovely night out in Cairo with one of the hostel guys (which involved a drink whose name I can’t remember but is made of hot sweet condensed milk, mixed with peanuts and sliced grapes, yum!), we got up right after the call to prayer and were out the door of Sara Inn by 6:05. No time for breakfast and it wasn’t that grave as I’d splurged on a few kilos of plums, peaches, and bananas. Oh vitamins! We didn’t even eat until Alex though as we felt a little guilty breaking out the buffet at the train station when no one else was indulging. Thinking we’d catch the 6:30am 2nd class train both the guidebook and the hostel guys told us was possible, we didn’t even bother with the metro and grabbed a taxi for 10 lbs. Walking into Ramses II train station was a throwback to what we imagine the 1940’s stations to be. It seemed to be the quickest and easiest way to go from point A to point B, and besides, Annie LOVES trains. None of the 2nd class ticket booth workers spoke enough English to explain that because we’re foreigners, we weren’t actually allowed to buy 2nd class. I was a bit fatigued and ready to acquiesce to their claims that we needed to buy a more expensive first class but Annie had no problem hunting down one of the tourism authorities to kindly explain that we had permission. He asked for a pen in return, which really was no problem, but wasn’t the song and dance from Annie enough?

The only snag was that there wasn’t a 6:30 train at all…that they would acknowledge (we did see a train pull out about that time headed towards Alex). The next best thing was an 8:15 that took 2 and ½ hours, about the estimated time. This meant considerably less time able to be spent at the Bibliotheque, a huge library/museum/art gallery completed in 2002 in remembrance of the ancient version which burned down long ago.

So, with our cheaper, hard earned 2nd class tickets, we people watched until our train arrived. The incoming cars had people bolting out of them and running towards the street. Don’t know if they were late for prayer or work but definitely could not wait for a complete stop. We boarded a few minutes early and were completely happy with what we paid for! All the cars are air-conditioned (which was a tad too cold), and the seats reclined farther down than any plane I’ve been on. Read up on where to go after we got out and promptly took a nap. Waking up an hour or so before destination, we saw people working their fields, hanging out laundry, and other passing trains, whose rails were tucked very snuggly next to ours.

Arriving at Misr train Station was déjà vu as it is the exact model of Ramses II in Cairo; this was great, as we already knew where to go to purchase return tickets for tomorrow, which we did today(tuesday). Lesson learned: buy all train tickets directly from the station, in advance, especially if one does not speak the national language. We walked out and around parallel to the street we needed to find and realizing it was already noon and things close early, decided to cut our losses and get a taxi for another 10 lbs. This sounds exorbitant but really, it’s $2 well spent to avoid lost time at an exhibit. Found the hotel we’d wanted, the Hyde Park Hotel. Lonely Planet claims it isn’t placed near enough the Mediterranean to fully appreciate the ocean breeze and view. I don’t know what room that person stayed in but any closer and we’d be sleeping in scuba gear. It’s located on the 8th floor so once again, took the opportunity to get some cardio in. The rooms are great and the view from the huge bay window overlooks the main drag and, of course, the sea. It’s situated next to a beautiful mosque with a huge minaret that’s lit up at night.

Took a stroll to find the Bibliotheque before it closed and found it with one hour left. Hurried to check our bags as nothing but money and a notebook is allowed in and tried to blow through everything as quickly as possible while taking in the building’s grandeur. The structure really is amazing, especially the main library part. It’s 4 tiers of book stacks terraced down a hill. The ceiling is sky-lit and lofted and each bookshelf is softly illuminated. Confirming the fact that we must be huge dorks to get this emotional about a library, we took off to wander the room and see the display of old printing presses, cataloguing the evolution of the process. In the basement, there was a ceramics show, and in the library itself were two rooms, one on the history of Alexandria, and one in tribute to the Egyptian film maker SHADI ABDEL SALAM. Both were so well presented and we hope the new Egyptian Museum that’s slated to be opened in 2013 will follow suit. It was sad to leave as a whole day could easily be spent there, especially if taking in a planetarium show or one of the concerts programmed throughout the month. We did manage to get up into the children’s section too where Annie took notes for her Boys and Girls club back home. I couldn’t help but think of the library in Guinagourou and how it’s progressing (it’s already seems so long ago!).

Across the street is the Corniche, the walk that snakes along the coast. Sat in a park and watched a man snorkel out to net some fish and then get swarmed with cats when he came back to shore. Alexandria has a big city feel with a beach town undertone. Things are more relaxed here but traffic is still insane.

Now, this blog is called Boozers without Borders right? Even though it’s Ramadan, and beer is harder to find and comparatively more expensive in Egypt, we decided to embrace the laissez-faire attitude and spend a lazy afternoon in a restaurant. Walked to find a recommended and slightly cachet-ed spot called “Elite” and had our first (and second) Stella. After having our table moved to a back room in order to avoid flaunting our blatant Ramadan rebellion, I ordered a Greek salad with AWESOME fresh feta and Annie had a garden salad; though this was really all about the beer. It had a rather generic taste; slightly similar to the Beninoise we’re accustomed to in Benin. That’s not to say we won’t be sampling it again as it is, in fact, the beer of Egypt.
We’ve been wearing the same clothes for days, since we arrived, so it was time for laundry in the hotel sink. Had a little sit-down when full on jet lag compounded with our early morning kicked us hard and we were down for the count until 7 when the fast breaking prayer resonated through our room. All the streets outside our room were closed down and hundreds of people, men apart from women, were praying, going through the prostrations. Incredible to see en masse and we indulged in a bit of guilty-feeling voyeurism from our 8th floor window.

Not wanted to spend our only night in Alex in a hotel room, we headed out to walk the strip. Annie rightly compared it to Michigan Ave in Chicago during Christmas time. People were out in droves! We encountered no other foreigners and had a great time window-shopping; my favorites were the ice cream shops and the bakeries full of sweets. Stopped off to get some coffee and tea and had the chance to people watch, which just isn’t getting old. Families were out, mom and the kids drank sodas while dad smoked his sheesha (a water pipe with flavored tobacco). The atmosphere was jovial though by 10:30 it was time for bed.

Our hotel had been heckling us all day to give them our passports to make photocopies. Knowing people who’ve been victims of identity theft, one even ending up in a Yemen prison, we were slightly reluctant to hand them over. They offered to call the police to register the passports but we said no, it’s really no problem and kept smiling. A few Arabic words (which we butcher terribly) and lots of teeth will go a long way here. No use getting angry as the communication level doesn’t allow for tantrum throwing.

4 days down and 99 left to go. We’re headed back to Cairo on the 8am train (2nd class again folks!) Fingers crossed all goes well at the embassy.