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Hey again!!
Out of Siwa and now we're at Alexandria, onto the final leg of the Siwa Oasis tour with Budget Expeditions. And as great as Siwa was, Alexandria, I have to saw was a disappointment, sort of like that chick that looks completely hot from across the street, then when you get closer, inspires a cringe. Anyhow, on to some details.
So we made the reverse trip back across the desert, and pretty much headed straight for Alexandria. Stomach cramps still playing up - i corked myself with some Lomotil and decided NOT to use the squat toilet at a rest stop we made at a "restaurant" by the side of the road.
Anyhow arrive in Alexandria - we snaked our way through the industrial port and through Ancient Alexandria. Ahmed, our driver, appeared to get us a little lost and I was sure we passed by the same places a few times!! Anyhow, we eventually got to our accomodation called the Kaoud Sporting Hotel. I have no idea what a 'sporting' hotel is, and there was nothing 'sporting' about this hotel that I could make out, despite the odd young kid wearing a fake Arsenal
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Pompeii's Pillar jersey occasionally walking past on the street. Anyhow, didn't really do much on arrival and we just had Pizza Hut for dinner (very Egyptian) which predictably was pretty much the same as it is everywhere else in the world. I quickly developed the sense that Alexandria, being such a major port and the jewel in Egypt's crown, was a very western place, and it all cemented itself when Mostafa couldn't find himself an Egyptian/Turkish coffee anywhere, let alone shai and had to settle for Lipton tea.
Anyhow, the next morning was spent sightseeing places that really, weren't that exciting. First up we entered the Greco-Roman Catacombs, which do not cannot even come close to those in either Paris or Rome. I forget the historical significance, but there are only a few tombs, and the reliefs on the walls are a curious combination of Egyptian and Greek mythology. No cameras were allowed, so alas, no photos. I suppose one interesting fact was that there was a tomb dedicated to the animals of Emperor Caracalla. Inside were the remains of one of his horses which is said to have carried him back home from the battleground after he was injured. The
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Mezze at Fish Market Restaurant Emperor, however, did not survive and died whilst on the back of his horse. In honor of the horses loyalty, this tomb was constructed.
We then trudged around Pompeii's Pillar, a solitary granite pillar (who would have thunk it), that's all that's remaining of a Roman temple. There's ongoing excavation going on, but most of the artifacts that have been found have been transported off to various museums.
Next up was the mediocre (by western standards) gardens of the Palace of Montaza. Out to the east of Alexandria, this palace was built at the turn of the century. No access was allowed to the palace itself, and so, really the gardens are the only areas that we were allowed to roam around. Abutting the Mediterranean Sea, it offers decent views, however, the gardens, though expansive, could be better kept, and with a better use of plants. Not that I'm a landscape gardner mind you. Anyhow after a forgetable visit to Montaza, he headed back to Alexandria for lunch.
Lunch was better, though a little pricey, and was at a restaurant called Fish Market (original name i know). Adorning the walls were pictures of celebrities who had dined
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Rear of Citadel of Quaitbey at this place including Kofi Annan, Yasser Arafat and other dignitaries. Basically picked fresh seafood from a display cabinet - and they were cooked to order accompanied by all manner of mezze. Needless to say, I had my fill and the bill added up to 90 egyptian pounds (or around AU$20-something). My stomach content (for the moment before the cramps hit again), we headed back to the hotel to chill out for the afternoon. After a little rest, I went for one of my walks in search of an internet cafe. Lynette came along as well, however, I forgot to tell her one of my walks constitutes a significant input in time and effort. Anyhow, we walked past the Bibliotheca Alexandria, and onwards to downtown, some few kilometres and around an hour away from the hotel. On the way back, we scored a free taxi ride since the driver didn't speak English at all, and we were nice people.... (-.<)
Next day was sort of a free day to bimble around and Lynette and I were going to take up the optional trip of visiting the Citadel of Qaitbey (where the Pharos, or Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the
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Hallway inside the Citadel of Quaitbey Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, once stood), the Bibliotheca Alexandria and the Roman Ampitheatre. Unfortunately, Mostafa told us that the Bibliotheca Alexandria was closed for the morning, as some dignitary was making a visit, and it wouldn't reopen until 3pm, by which time we were off to Cairo. Crap....
Anyhow, found the Citadel quite interesting, merely from an architectural point of view, and we could clamber all around the interior and the outside walls, and the view from the third floor was quite nice. Check out the photos for a snapshot.
The Roman Ampitheatre was underwhelming to say the least, most notably because I have been to Rome. There were some scattered artifacts as well, but most have been eroded away with time and currents of the sea (they were discovered underwater as Alexandria has sunk over time, and most of Ancient Alexandria lies underground, beneath the modern city). Curiously, there was a statue of Isis in the form of a Greek woman.
Anyhow, that pretty much concluded the time in Alexandria, and we headed back to Cairo. All in all, as i said at the start, the lustre of Ancient Alexandria is no longer existant,
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Roman Ampitheatre and you really have to use your imagination to picture what a grand city it would have been like. As the local government in Alexandria are trying to reinvigorate the city with new projects, I hope that if I ever visit again, the experience would be more memorable than the one I had this trip.
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