Alex

Alexandria is often called the pearl of the Mediterranean. If you spend any time along the beaches or the coastline here, I am sure you’ll see why. The second largest city in Egypt (next to Cairo), the city was founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, and was also the site of the great saga between Cleopatra, Mark Antony and Juilus Ceasar. Egypt is a nation with tremendous history, almost incomprehensible to young scholars and to non-history buffs, like me. While I am fascinated by the Pyramids in Egypt, and was equally impressed by the catacombs, and the remains of other Ancient Roman civilizations in Alexandria, I am even more intrigued by the present day people, their culture and their surroundings. That being said, it is amazing to see modern day Egypt alongside various remnants of some of the oldest civilizations in the world, and I hope the magnificent history will remain preserved for thousands more years to come.

With only two days to explore Alexandria, my friend Ryan and I quickly devised a plan of the various sites to see. It was a gorgeous day, sunny skies, and warm but not humid as it had been all throughout southeast Asia where we’d spent the last four to six weeks. I was of course, impressed first by the beautiful Mediterranean coastline and the long stretch of beaches bordering the city. We wandered around the city first by foot, and literally stumbled upon one of the most beautiful mosques I have ever seen. It was actually an Andalusian-style mosque, influenced by the Arab presence in southern Spain. The largest mosque in Alexandria, it was quite impressive, and we happened to be there on Friday, the holy day for Muslims, so we walked in just at one of the many times throughout the day that Muslims pray. Ryan and I walked up, a bit gingerly, hoping not to intrude. But the man at the door waved Ryan to come in and waved me to the side. I was a bit confused until I saw that only men were going through the front door, and the women were walking around the corner to an entrance in the back. I followed the women. I have to admit I felt extremely noticeable and awkward, and yes, a bit intrusive, walking into this sacred religious place, for which I am not a part of the faith. I found it interesting as well, that yet again the women were separated from the men. I found this everywhere.

In Cairo, I found that many people spoke English and various European languages quite well, and it was fairly easy to get directions or find your way around the city. In Alexandria, this wasn’t the case. We had a tough time trying to find our way around, at first, but we did find many nice and welcoming people who attempted to help us out. They would always ask, “What Country?” and I would say “America”. They would smile and say, “America, good!” and offer to walk us to the bus stop, or even walk us all the way to the places we wanted to see. I found this hospitality over and over again.

We’d heard the Montazah Gardens, where an old King had his palace home were worth a visit, so we took a us for about 1 Egyptian Pound (about 20 cents American) and found ourselves amidst more than 200 acres of beautiful gardens resting just above the Mediterranean Sea. Men and boys playing football in the park, female students walking round in groups, chatting, and foreigners visiting with their families, strolling by or sitting beneath the trees, I probably could have stayed for hours. It was quite peaceful, and a nice respite from the busy city streets. We weren’t able to go into the palace, but we found a nice stretch of beach down below and made our way into the water to wet our feet. I am such a water person, I wanted to get in and swim and spend my whole day there. But we had other plans…

Next on our list was a visit to the Catacombs. Everyone we asked seemed not to know what we were talking about so it took us nearly half the day to find this site. We were standing near Mansheya Square, the site of an old statue of Mohamed Ali, when several young men approached us to ask us if we needed help. (Side note, nearly everyone we saw would say, Welcome to Egypt, or “Hello”, and they were particularly intrigued by Ryan with his blue eyes, and wanted to know his name. I think they might have thought he was a celebrity or something). Finally three of the guys who spoke English quite well, figured out that we were asking about the catacombs, and offered to take us there. They became our buddies for the next day and a half.

Shareef, Rico, and Waleed took us all over Alexandria, and we had an amazing time, getting to know them, learning about Egyptian and Muslim culture, practicing a bit of our limited Arabic, and laughing at their jokes. These guys were great. Still, I had yet to meet any Egyptian women, so I was quite pleased when Esme, a friend of Waleed joined us at a bar that night (she didn’t drink, of course), and I thought I might be able to speak to her. Unfortunately, she didn’t speak English and I can’t say much or understand anything in Arabic, so I wasn’t really able to communicate much with her.

The next day, Shareef met us early in the morning at Mansheya Square and we journeyed on foot to the Great Biblioteca Alexandrina, the site of the amazing new library. Many people could have spent hours in here; it is like a museum, compete with collections of old rare books, machinery that was used for papermaking and printing hundreds and thousands of years ago, and art from both ancient and modern times. We also enjoyed the beautiful view from outside the library, overlooking the Mediterranean. But there were a few more things we wanted to see.

My favorite site by far was a beautiful old castle at the Fort of Qait Bay, resting just along the Mediterranean coastline. Here, anyone could feel like a King or Queen, and it reminded me of playing games when I was a kid, out of bits of furniture or toys outside that we would erect into a fort. Only, this was a real castle! Again, if I’d had an entire day, I’d have spent at least half of it here. The view, the architecture, the ocean breeze, it was breathtaking. And we found not just tourists, there, but in fact many local Alexandrians just taking a walk, or sitting with their friends or loved ones looking out to see. At one point, Ryan was even approached by three young university aged women, who wanted to sit and talk with him. We were so excited to finally meet some women who wanted to talk to us. They were equally as excited to have met us. They offered to teach us a few more words in Arabic and take us to have some more Koshari. The three girls were studying a little and spending the day celebrating one of their birthdays. We asked if any of them had boyfriends, to which they quickly all shook their heads, no. They are only 20 years old. When they asked if I was married and I said No, they looked puzzled and asked “Why?”. If I had a dollar for every time….

Unfortunately, while the young women were quite enthusiastic about speaking with us, it became really difficult for us to understand one another, and a bit awkward using Shareef as our interpreter, so we weren’t able to talk to them quite as much as I’d have liked. I wanted to know how they felt about wearing the veil, and what their lives were like. From what I could tell, they seemed very typical of young Muslim Egyptian women, and quite different from most university women back in the states. I wish that SAS would have offered a university exchange here, such as the one I visited in Hong Kong. Now, at least I know that I can find some middle eastern women studying on exchange in America, and talk with them there. It’s not that I haven’t done so before, it’s jus that now I will have been to their country and know a little more about from where they’ve come.

At the end of the day, Ryan and I bid our farewells to Shareef and Rico, our new Egyptian friends, and as always I was a bit saddened to leave both them and this beautiful place behind. I don’t know how I will do it, but I really hope to come back to each of these places again. I want to spend more time here.

Next stop on the voyage is Istanbul, Turkey. I am so excited to visit another Islamic country and meet Turkish people. One little problem… we came back to the ship and were informed there would be rough seas all night and we were in fact postponing our departure, We are now still docked in Alex and, and are not sure when we’ll get to leave. I hope it is soon. I am looking forward to this next adventure.