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Published: February 20th 2009
Gateau Exotique
Delices patisserieFor whatever reason, the urinals at Cairo's Rameses train station are highly unpopular at 7:15 in the morning so I was able to have my pick of the three available ones while queues five-deep waited outside each of the traps. This wasn't my only relief, as I was shortly to board a train taking me away from the capital into the supposedly more refined setting of Alexandria. The city is situated on the Mediterranean coast less than three hours northwest of Cairo and, in its time, had been home to two of the ancient world's most famous buildings. I had also been led to believe that singularly excellent chocolate cake could be found there.
Having lashed out $6.50 for the first class fare, I was pleased to find myself in a clean, spacious, air-conditioned carriage trundling through the Cairo suburbs in the morning light. Outside of the city limits the view turned to countryside, and the sighting of many white ibises in drainage ditches beside the fields was not enough to keep me entertained, though my fellow passengers would have been amused/annoyed by the regular whacking of my head against the window as I fell in and out of sleep.
Alexandria has a long and storied past that suggests its current low-key feel is more of a lull before it hits the heights once more. Founded by the legendary Greek Alexander the Great, its location guaranteed it a generous slice of the Mediterranean trading pie, however it attracted not only money but also knowledge, leading to the construction of the Pharos, an enormous lighthouse considered as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and a library that was the largest in the world at the time and drew scholars from across the globe.
Alexander created his new city as the capital of Egypt and it was to retain that title for a millenium, even as its ownership passed from the Greeks to the Romans to the Persians. Finally it was sacked by the Arabs in the 7th Century AD and, with a new capital being founded at Cairo, the decline of Alexandria began. It's not known when the Library was destroyed, but the likeliest estimate is that its demise came during the Roman occupation. The Pharos survived well into the Middle Ages but was eventually toppled by a succession of earthquakes.
The city's strategic position
ensured that any acquisitive foreign power with an interest in Egypt would have to pass through, as Napoleon and then the British subsequently did, precipitating an influx of outsiders who created a cosmopolitan centre in the first half of the 20th Century. This era in Alexandria's history produced literary works such as the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell and the poems of Constantine Cavafy ("When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge"), as well as the French patisseries and Greek restaurants that remain to this day. The French influence is particularly palpable, with many shops and streets having signs in French. However the nationalist government that emerged in Egypt after independence brought this period to an end, forbidding foreign ownership of businesses and driving many of the foreigners out of the country.
Alexandria is spread out along the coast for nearly 20km, though the part that most visitors see is the crescent formed by the Eastern Harbour. Along the front can be found a variety of hotels, restaurants, and cafes, the latter populated by hookah-smoking locals watching the Mediterranean's changing moods. The city boasts the oldest
still-functioning tram system in Africa, the rumbling of which completed a trio of antique sounds audible from my hotel room, the other two being the old-style bell-rung telephone at reception and the pre-war lift groaning as it inched between the 5 floors.
At the western tip of the harbour is Fort Qaitbey, built on the site of the Pharos and incorporating some of its fallen masonry, though somewhat lower than the 100m+ that the fabled lighthouse was alleged to have topped out at. Strolling along the corniche towards the fort, it was interesting to watch how a different culture enjoys the seaside, with barely a toe being dipped in the water. However a liking for icecream in such circumstances would appear to be universal, and I tried a couple of dollops of the local product, which is apparently only available here and in Greece.
I dined a couple of times at Elite, an old haunt of Durrell and Cavafy but now resembling a diner rather than a meeting point for the intelligentsia, and learned from experience that the Sakara 10% beer is not to be recommended - try the deceptively-named (and Heineken-owned) Stella instead. A large spread at
the spiffy Fish Market restaurant, in which I got to choose my particular fish from the catch of the day displayed on a mountain of ice, set me back about $10. I was surprised to find that the Brazilian Coffee Store, despite its chain-sounding name, is the oldest in the city, though it had been updated in a decidedly modern fashion with the staff wearing Kaka and Ronaldinho football shirts. An evening visit to the century-old Spit Fire Bar revealed a surprising number of women with their hair unveiled, and a miasma of cigarette smoke that had me gasping my way to the exit.
However I gave most of my custom to Delices patisserie, which served some estimable cakes in its high-ceilinged rooms looking onto Midan Saad Zaghloul on the sea-front. In particular the various chocolate gateaux all were coated in thick layers of proper chocolate. Downsides were the waiters keeping some of my change even though service was already included, as well as a charming but slightly bonkers local called Said who collared me for an hour (and a free capuccino) to explain how one of his colleagues had been drugging his coffee and engaging in "psychomatic wars"
Under cover
Fort Qaitbey with him for the last 3 decades.
A little east of the centre lies the Bibliotheca Alexandrina - the new library of Alexandria. Though more modest in scope than its predecessor of centuries ago, it harks back to that time with a frieze along its outer wall that contains characters from umpteen written languages from around the world. Modern technology has in some ways made the concept of localised data obsolete, with information accessible by anyone from anywhere over the Internet, so pilgrimages to this new library will be more likely for reasons of tourism than the seeking of knowledge.
The WLP continued its poor start to the trip by sending me in the wrong direction to visit a couple of Alexandria's other sights, though I did get to see some parts of the city not normally passed through by foreigners. One street contained a number of market stalls selling rabbits, chickens, and turkeys, dead or alive, with a cute bunny retailing for $3. I was greeted with a "Thank you" by one child, and another tracked my progress down his street with constant shouts of "You're crazy!" More by luck than navigation, I found Pompey's Pillar, a
25m tall pillar with no connection to Pompey (more likely built for Diocletian) that once supposedly hosted a party of 22 on its top. Nearby were some catacombs, created in the 2nd Century AD but only found in 1900 when a chariot-drawing donkey fell through the roof of one. The underground complex contained an interesting fusion of Egyptian and Graeco-Roman themes but, with little background information, it was hard to make the mute stones come alive.
In amongst my general rambling, I managed to insult a legless shoeshiner masquerading as a legless beggar. After I'd given him some money, he suddenly produced his shoeshine kit from inside a box and indicated that he wanted to shine my shoes. Given that I'm wearing hiking boots that pick up a new coating of dust and dirt every day, I have little need for the services of a shoeshiner and figured it would be better he saved his polish and energy for another customer, however he was extraordinarily persistent. It can take a surprising amount of effort to outwalk a legless man.
In a nod to foreign culture (possibly in inverted commas) I passed shops named after Marilyn Monroe and Demi
Moore, and a Mercedes showroom suggested that there is wealth in the city.
Alexandria was significantly less busy than Cairo, easier to navigate, and in general much more pleasant. I saw few other tourists, with the average visitor apparently "doing" the city as a day trip from Cairo. However after several days the weather turned cold, windy and rainy, and I knew I'd have to head back to the capital and then on southwards.
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