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After a full work week I finally arrived at the airport to catch my flight in the evening of Thursday to Alexandria. The only problem was I had put off booking a hotel, because of the busy week and every hotel I booked was either sold out (which was the majority of the cases) or wanted $250 a night. Apparently there was some Dr.’s conference going on that weekend in Alexandria so everything was sold out. But noting having a hotel didn’t stop me, I figured that I could find a smaller hotel or if worst comes to worse I would sleep on the beach.
Apparently I really had tourist stamped on my head once I stepped off the plane after a short 45 minute flight but the weather was absolutely perfect. As in all cases there is a mafi style operations when it comes from transportation from the airport. After negotiating with the cabbies they finally agreed that they would help me find a fondo (hotel) “downtown” for $50. and that the cab fare would be $9. About a 4 minute cab ride later we pulled up to the Downtown Hotel, quit literally named the downtown hotel, I mean what were the odds.
After telling him that for sure he knew what I meant and that this for sure wasn’t it. I then went to the Arabic approach and called Magdi to let him have it in Arabic. Five minutes later it was all straightened out, and we were on our way to a hotel in which Magdi knew. I walked inside they had hotel rooms available for exactly $50.
It is a great hotel right on the corniche (the beach) with an ocean view and a short walk to what they called a great restaurant. Not to my surprise the restaurant was seafood, in fact they had a table which was full of all of the different types of fish to choose from. The meal was wonderful and of course they asked my how many kilows of fish I wanted. After the food came out I realized I had no clue how many kilows I wanted, because I had ordered way too much.
The next morning I woke up bright and early to explore all of what Alexandria had to offer. It was immediately noticeable the change in the weather from Cairo to Alexandria just perfect with the sea breeze air hitting you in the face. My first exploration was the Citadel (which almost all Egyptian cities have them, it is a fort on the coast basically) but this one also happened to have the oldest mosque in Egypt in it from what I was told. It had stunning views since it was out on the edge of the corniche looking out to the rest of the city. After making my way to the famed Alexandria Library which really is an archetechurture wonder from the outside to find out that it was only opened from 3 to 7pm so I would have to wait.
I decided it was time to have the second round of seafood, and shrimp that were so so fresh. It started making me wonder why I don’t live on the coast, but then I realized that I first have to comit to one place to decide to be able to live anywhere.
Then my thoughts turned to my being in Cape Town South Africa about two years ago. And now being in the Northern most part of Africa and the difference this has made in my perception of the world. Comparing the economic phenomenon of South Africa combined with Egypt being one of the fastest growing emerging markets in the world. It made me ask the question what happened to the middle of Africa? Was it simply that Egypt and South Africa are on the international radar for trade routes or is it something else. I guess it is kind of like asking the question why did the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people get blessed with 40% of the worlds known oil?
Enough on that, I then took one of the micro buses (which is an Egyptian bus system which basically you wave down and for about 10 cents will take you in approximate distance of wherever you want to go as long it is on the way of where the bus is headed. The trick to this is jumping on as quickly as possibly because these micro buses do not stop.
We went all the way down the corniche, throughout the city and ended our journey in a market booming with action. My bus was lucky enough if you want to look at it that way as getting to stop right next to the sales woman of live chickens and ducks. It was so interesting watching the women come by and pick up the chickens and inspecting them and then putting on back in the cage and getting out another. I really wish at that point I could hold a fluent Arabic conversation to ask exactly what it was between two live chickens that made one better then the other that were seemingly the same size.
As the micro buses started on its journey again we went alongside the corniche and the beaches which are public but have a small fee to get on are amazing. They seem like no other place I have ever seen, but at the same time remind me of a lot of places. The best way to describe it would be Rio De Janero mixed with South Parde during spring break. Millions of umbrellas and I mean millions all lined up with millions of people to go with them. It seemed as if all of Egypt came to the beach that day.
The rest of the evening I spent exploring the rest of what Alexandria had to offer and what made it different from Cairo which was a lot. But my 7:30am flight sure came early the next morning. In true typical Egypt Air style it was delayed as usual. But upon returning to Cairo International Airport they were about to put on quit a show for some foreign dignitary flying in. They had about 200 military guards in different uniforms lined up with a band, flags, the red carpet and all the works. Who knows it may of just been president Mubarak coming back into town.
I guess that’s all of the excitement from my side of the world.
Chad
