Alexander, Cleopatra and the Secret Police

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With the Nile tour completed I had arranged to spend another couple of days visiting the coastal city of Alexandria which is only a short trip from El Alamein, the scene of a major WWII battle that my grandfather had fought in. Anyway first some background on Alexandria and why its worth a look. The city was founded by its namesake Alexander the Great after he had conquered Egypt and had himself proclaimed Pharoah. Despite being Macedonian Greeks, Alexander and his successors decided that they would embrace the Egyptian culture by adopting their gods and customs and they ruled Egypt as the Ptomely dynasty of Pharoahs with Alexandria as their capital. Anyway the reason I am bothering to explain all this is that despite the Ptomely's originally being Greeks, the most famous (and last) of their dynasty was Cleopatra (you know the hot bird as played by Elizabeth Taylor, shagged Julius Caesar and Marc Antony - I think she even met Asterix once or twice). So even though everyone thinks of her as the Egyptian Queen, she really wasn't that Egyptian at all. Kind of feel like getting your money back don't you.

By virtue of its location on the shores of the Mediterranean Alex is a very touristy sort of city with great beaches and a vibrant waterfront - very different from the other Egyptian cities I have been to which are strung out along the Nile. I suppose you could describe it as the Egyptian Riviera in a way, as it is very much the playground of the rich and famous, many of whom have summer houses in Alex to get away from the summer heat in Cairo. Anyway while I was in Alex I busied myself with the usual tourist things such as heading to the Roman Catacombs that are buried under the city and the Museum (where for the first time I was actually allowed to photograph the resident mummy). I also went to the site at the entrance to the harbour that was formerly occupied by the Pharos Lighthouse, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World until an earthquake brought it down (the Pyramids are the only surviving wonder still standing). These days the spot is occupied by Fort Qaitbey, which was partly built out of red granite scavenged from the ruins of the Pharos.

On my last day in Alex the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was in town for talks with the Saudis on the Israel-Lebanon conflict. In Egypt democracy is largely a token concept and Mubarak has been able to run the country unopposed for the past 30 odd years, making him a kind of modern day Pharoah (at least in his eyes!). Everywhere he goes he is preceded by an ENORMOUS security detail, and so Alexandria was effectively locked down by about 30,000 of his special bodyguards. Honestly I have never seen so many uniforms! As is the case with most of these borderline dictators the special police all wear black uniforms and are the elite of the armed forces. To protect Mubarak and his guests they were standing guard side by side on all the streets, no more than 2 meters apart for block after block. I doubt a seagull could have farted its way through the cordon without being shot down and interrogated. So this is what a police state feels like! My driver and I were stopped numerous times on our way back to Cairo to see our papers and where we were going, but as we were heading out of town we had no problems!

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Photos

Across the Harbour to Fort Qaitbey
The Great Pharos Lighthouse once stood at this location (and was partly used to build the fort).

The elusive Mummy shot
Finally a museum that allows you to photograph them. This one was in great condition but unfortunately its face is covered by the death mask.

Downtown Alexandria
Looking back towards the central square and ultra-flash Le Metropole Hotel.

Dragnet of Black Shirts
A sneaky photo as I didn't want my camera confiscated. Just one minor example of the massive street by street security crackdown.