Blogs from Mediterranean, Egypt, Africa - page 3

Dear All Greetings from Alexandria! City of my name, founded by none other than Al-Iskandar Al-Akbar himself (Alexander the Great), the capital of Cleopatra’s Egypt, and the site of not only the famous Great Library of Alexandria, the greatest collection of scrolls and manuscripts ever at that time, but also the Pharos lighthouse, one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World which towered over the ancient city’s harbour. Alas, none of these wonders remain today, as after the Arabs swept through North Africa in the 7th Century, Egypt’s capital was moved to Cairo, and Alexandria was all but abandoned. The Ancient City today sits some 6 metres below modern Alexandria, and much of it is actually now under water. Today the city is as Arabic as they come, a frenetic, heaving metropolis of 4 million ... read more

I checked out of the Canada Hostel and got the Metro to the Turgoman bus station. I was lucky to get on a bus straight away and was on my way to Alexandria. For most of the 3 hour bus journey it was very sunny and looked like it was going to be a very nice day. Then about half an hour before arriving in Alexandria, the clouds started to gather and it started to lash rain. The Irish curse strikes again. After I got off the bus, I fended off the taxi drivers and went looking for a minibus going into town. One guy asked me where I was going, brought me straight to the minibus and got in himself. On the bus he and the other passengers were asking for my opinion on what ... read more

Ahlan everyone! I wrote most of this yesterday before our Halloween so apologies if the timeline is a little squiggly. Time is flying by and my blogging rate leaves much to be desired i know. As usual, my apologies. Em and I had the sudden realisation yesterday that we don't really have all that much time left before we are back at the airport leaving the country. The strangest thing is, that despite all my bitching, i will really miss it and i can't quite wrap my head around the idea that the next bit won't be with emma... However we still have 5/7 weeks here respectively and so i won't take up any more space with that stuff just yet. It is an absolute abomination on my part that exactly 3 weeks ago today em ... read more

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday dark clouds, today brilliant sunshine! We have now left Crete well behind. It's like we have entered another dimension. Everybody is walking around with smiles on their faces. Not only is there plenty of sun to go around but also there are ample sun beds. It gets better because they are completely free!!! Our route seems to be taking us through a busy shipping lane. I can't understand why, when there is so much ocean to choose from, all ships have to stick to a 5 mile radius of each other!! We arrived in Port Said (pronounced Sigh-eed) at around 8pm. This became even more confusing as it was first visible from the Starboard sigh-eed!! When the announcement was foirst made, we didn't know which way to look!! Port ... read more

Ok, so i have arrived on part 2 of my year abroad. There are many things i had to say about the last week or so of france and then more again about my brief stint at home. However time seems to have dashed away from me and i have missed my chance really to say many things. I will perhaps add a small reflective blog at some point soon as i'm sure everyone would love to hear the stories of my last week or two. A quick example being my last aquagym session when some participants had to leap out of the pool to help me remove an entire wasp from my arm. Yes the whole wasp. It's sting didn't detach or something. Not funny when you are supposed to be "professionally" jumping up and ... read more