Day 7: Alexandria, Egypt not Virginia

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The weather improved today for our port visit to Alexandria, Egypt. We had partly cloudy skies and a temperature in the mid 70s. This is a big sprawling city of perhaps five million persons was named after Alexander the Great, and is a thriving container port for the country. In the summertime it is a favorite beach resort for many Egyptians wishing to get away from the desert heat. The city is a little tough around the edges, but has a marvelous university and medical dental school and many parks and building from many different cultures and styles. At noon, three and 6:30 PM you could hear the call to prayers resounding from loud speakers attached to the many mosques in the city.

Alexandria has a population of about 80% Muslim, 10% Coptic and 10% other Christian groups. Almost all of the women wore head scarves and even a few burkas could be seen. The populace appeared to be well dressed, industrious and accepting of visitors.

Quite a large number of folks on the Pacific Princess opted for a two-day trip to Cairo so they will rejoin the ship tomorrow in Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez Canal. Our group is making only a day trip to Cairo tomorrow so we opted to stay in town and see the sights of the port.

Our tour visited a 15th century military fort, built by the Mameluke rulers of Egypt on the site of what had been the Faros lighthouse, one of the wonders of the ancient world. That lighthouse was destroyed by invaders in the seventh century. Stones from the ancient light house have been found in the city’s old harbor and many are being recovered. The fort was typical of the era, complete with arrow ports and an opening where hot oil could be poured over invaders. The fort was full of school children from local area schools and they all wanted to say, hello, what is your name? They were full of enthusiasm, just like kids everywhere.

After the fort we moved through some of the worst urban traffic I’ve seen to the site where a Roman amphitheatre has been excavated. They also have used the site to locate some of the other antiquities found in the harbor and from around the city. Linda took a great picture of a couple of kittens enjoying a nap on a chair near the entrance. The city is now in the process of completing the excavation of the Roman baths which sat next to the theatre.

For our final stop we visited the new Library of Alexandria—a modern replacement for the great library of Alexandria which was destroyed during the Roman era. The new library cost more than $220 million and was completed in 2002. It’s an amazing piece of architecture designed by a Norwegian after a world-wide competition. Anyone wanting to see and learn more about this fantastic library just has to go to www.bibalex.org. It was interesting to see how modern technology is helping to preserve the faith. We noticed that Microsoft Egypt was a major benefactor to the library.

After returning to the ship, most folks enjoyed a restful afternoon reading books and enjoying the sunshine around the pool. Tomorrow we stop at Port Said and go off in search of great pyramids and other

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