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Published: June 28th 2007
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A side trip north to Alexandria by train
We got up early (theme of this journey!), picked up by Hamby, our trip transfer lead, and driven to the Cairo train station by our driver, Ahmed, where we were experienced yet another bout with culture shock.
Trains in Egypt are not what they are in Europe, not even what they are in the States (Amtrak), but they are available to all people for low cost in order to move up and down the Nile cities (where 98%!o(MISSING)f Egyptian population reside and have so for thousands of years).
Under the direction of Hamby, Isram Tours had purchased two first class round trip tickets to Alexandria. First class means nice bus-like seats, an air conditioned car and a la carte service for sandwiches, coffee, soft drinks, etc. Actually quite nice. Coach or "second class" was another matter all together. No air conditioning, no service, train cars that can only be described as delapated at best. We stood with Hamby in Cairo waiting for our train, feeling that all eyes were on us, with Ginny getting the most stares. The kids were priceless - they would stare at us and then
Travel day start - Egyptian Gazette
Picked this up at the hotel. A good and balanced read. Some differences however such as our newspaper headline might read "Six Palistineans killed in Gaza" where the Egyptian newspaper heading reads "Israelis murder six Palistineans in Gaza". No softening of the message here. smile. Our train arrived and Hamby escorted us to our seats, said goodbye and sent us off.
Outside of Cairo, heading north out of the city, mile after mile of apartments in deplorable condition were seen until we broke out into the farmland and the country. There the standard of living dropped several kotches, however, the overall quality of life versus the city might be better - but the homes and towns we passed through were empoverished, confirming that the government economic model of President Mubarek does not deliver a decent standard of living.
Water buffalos, donkeys pulling carts, people working the fields was the view. During the course of the two hour trip, we only saw one or two tractors.
We arrived outside of Alexandria at the Sety Gabor station where we were met by the Isram tour guide - funny how they can pick us out of a crowd:-)! We met our driver and tour guide and set out for a busy day of touring. Alexandria, as you probably know, was built by Alexander the Great - a Greek - about 330 BC. The city grew to join Constantinople and Rome as great trading centers
The Fort at the Harbor
Either a lighthouse or a fort has occupied this site since before 1500 B.C. The original lighthouse was 380 meters tall and considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was destroyed by earthquakes in 956AD, 1303 and 1323. The fort was built in 290BC. of the world.
Alexandria sports the best natural harbor along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. We visted the fort in the harbor that had been destroyed previously by earthquake, the Romans and, the Arabs of Persia and the French (Napolean Bonapart).
We visited palaces of King Farouk, the last of the royal dynasty that had followed the Romans, the Greeks and the Pharoahs. King Farouk lost power in 1952 when Nassar led a revolutionary coup ending the royal reign of Eygpt. Sadat and Mubarek followed. You may remember Nassar as the leader who oversaw the movement of Pharonic Era antiquities to support the flooding required by the Aswan Damn in the 1960s which finally brought flood control to the Nile. Following Alexander the Great's lead, Nassar continued to unite the people of the Upper & Lower Nile into one nation state.
We lunched at Farouk's summer palace which has been remodeled as a hotel and restaurants. It was very good.
We visited Roman Catacombs (no photos allowed) where the Romans began to merge their culture and art with the Pharonic period statues, etc. Later we toured the National Museum in Alexandria where the Greeks then
Summer Palace of King Farouk
Now a hotel with fine restaurants and meeting space for international conferences hosted by Mubarek. took the Roman art and culture one step further. Bottom line: The Roman / Pharoah art were similar but different; the Greek / Roman / Pharoah art morphed completely towards Greek - statues with muscles, different stances and idols with similar names but completely different faces.
Our last stop was the Alexandria Library. You may know that under the direction of Alexander the Great and the leadership of Ptolomy II of Greece, the first library containing antique writings from two or cultures was built. Alas, the famous Roman Emperor Julius Ceasar attacked Egypt and burned the library to the ground along with it's contents.
The new Alexandria Library was opened in 2001 sporting a stunning architecture decorated with examples of all the known written languages that have existed on the planet - including examples of languages that are now considered "dead". There are museum-like galleries which we toured. Overall humbled once again by the experience.
We were dropped off at the Alexander train station, tired and exhausted - we slept a bit on the way home. In Cairo, our trustworthy transfer man (Hamby) met us and our driver dropped us at the hotel around 10:15 pm. Tired
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (1 of 2)
Like the USA at Arlington Cemetery outside Washington, DC; Egypt has a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier honoring it's military. In 1973 this Memorial was expanded to celebrate the 1973 Six-Day War. This is interesting in that after losing ground to Isreal during the 1967 Six-Day War, Egypt in alliance with Syria attacked Isreal on Yom Kippur 10/6/1973. There were early victories during the first 24-48 hrs, but Isreal drove Syria completely out of the Golan Heights and cutoff the Egyptian Army just as the UN ceasefire went into effect, thus they gained nothing. Later, Egypt signed the Camp David Accord and remains the only Arab country to recognize Isreal. Guess they are celebrating those early victories as they did not win that war or gain any territory. but happy, we went to sleep in order to get up to catch tomorrow's flight to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.
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Leonie
non-member comment
Awesome
Wow, what an adventure you two are having! You've made the library sound so great I want to go myself, I find languages really interesting. Enjoy the rest of your trip, I look forward to reading the next journal :-)