Egypt Day 6

Sunday January 16, 2011

 I loved sightseeing around Alexandria.  I had a bunch of little sites throughout the day and then a drive back to Cairo.   First I went to see the some catacombs and you weren’t allowed to take your camera underground for pictures but it was very interesting.  I can’t believe that cultures used these mass underground graves for their dead like a big underground cemetery. My 21^st century brain immediately thinks “what about all that decomp soaking into the ground”!  They never thought of that until everyone started getting sick. LOL I not only saw the little cuts in the walls were the bodies were laid but there were still some skeletons there to see NOT TOUCH!

 After the catacombs we visited the ruins of what is called the Pompeii Pillar.  I can’t remember a lot of the details of this historical site but I do remember that it had to do with Cleopatra and I’m pretty sure that one of the men that were in love with her had this built in her honor.  But don’t take that to the bank because I’m not sure.  Speaking of Cleopatra I did learn that she wasn’t as pretty as she is made out to be and apparently most people don’t like here.  According to Mustafa, who knows his history, she was queen b**ch and very manipulative and pretty much destroyed everything she came into contact with from men to cities. 

Next we went down town to see the remains of the Roman theatre.  Alexandria played a big part in Roman history and their influence is all over and it is very surprising seeing that mixed in with the Middle Eastern culture. 

 

I also got to see another citadel or castle.  This one was more of what I would imagine or relate to the movies.  It was crazy thinking how you would stay warm, though because everything was concrete and there were huge open spaces.  I wouldn’t want to be on the bad list. LOL 

The afternoon call of prayer was put over the speakers like in every city that I had been too so far and my driver asked if I minded if we made a quick stop at a nearby mosque so he could pray.  I of course said that was fine because Mustafa had already explained to me so of the religion and told me how my driver was very religious.  When a Muslim misses one call to prayer that they must make it up later that day so my driver had been making up a day’s worth of prayer all at night when he got home or to the hotel.  I was glad for him to stop and go pray because first I got some great pictures of the architecture and I also got to talk more about their religion, which has a lot of the same foundations as Christianity.  While I was waiting a man who gives out copies of the Quran gave me a version that had been translated into English for me to read.  I was/am excited about this because it is always nice to remain open minded about other’s lives and also just to learn about something so different. 

The original Alexandria Library was destroyed by fire years and years ago which is so sad because I have heard so much about it and it was so old so it would have been really something awesome to see.  Besides just the library its self the scrolls and books that it contained would have been awesome to see.  We are talking back from the Roman days!  Anyways it was gone but they have a wonderful new modern museum which is equally cool.  The design of the library was so neat and was designed with all the readers and studiers in mind.  I would love to not just tour it but actually be a lucky student or patron that got to use the library.

When I left the library a smarter woman it was lunch time.  Instead of sitting in another restaurant we got take out from Pizza Hut and went to eat on the beach.  It wasn’t really bathing suit weather seeing it was January, clouding, and quit cool but this was my first trip to the Mediterranean and I was determined to make the most of it given the circumstances since I have no idea when I would be back.  The pizza was a nice change from the Egyptian food that I had been eating the past week and the water was FREEZING.  I would have loved to submerse myself but ankle deep was all that I was doing.  LOL I was so excited to say that I touched the Mediterranean Sea.

That afternoon I sadly had to leave Alexandria and make the trek back to Cairo and get everything together since I was flying out the next morning.  I enjoyed my stay in Egypt so much but I can’t say that I was glad to go.  The pollution and filth was weighing on me and I still was battling some sort of badass cold.  I was ready to get back to Dubai which compared to other places that I had been the past 3 years felt familiar, like home.  J