Rooted in Adventure: Adventures in Alex

The next four days consisted of visits to all of the tourist sites in Alexandria.

Day 1:
Our friend Samay owns a coffee shop near the school and generously offered to take us out to explore Alexandria on our first day of adventures. Our first stop was the famous Library of Alexandria. The new library was built in 1995 and finished in 2002. Afterward, we ate at Mohamed Ahmed, a well-known Egyptian restaurant. For a relatively small restaurant, they have had some moderately famous people eat there including the current Queen of Spain. Then our friend Samay was kind enough to bring us through some beautiful mosques, a first for both myself and my parents. In the late afternoon, we went to the Citadel of Alexandria which was previously the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we went so we only took pictures from the outside on this day. When we got home, Samay invited us over to his apartment for tea and Hibiscus juice. It was very interesting getting to see a typical Egyptian home. Egyptians are very family oriented and thus Samay lives with his two sisters, one of which is married and pregnant and his parents. His sisters sleep in their living room as they have a two bedroom apartment but nevertheless, they are very proud and grateful for all that they have as so many Egyptians have much less. Afterwards, we invited Samay back to our apartment and we had a little fun making headwraps with our scarves.

Library of Alexandria

Samay, my father and I at the Library of Alexandria

Eating traditional Egyptian food including foul, fried cheese, pita, tahina, humus and falafel at Mohamed Ahmed

Samay, Lauren, Chris, myself and my father gary having tea after eating at Mohamed Ahmed.

A large mosque in Alexandria

A look inside the mosque

The Citadel

A fisherman near the Citadel

Taking a rest and enjoying the Mediterranean sea near the Citadel!

The tomb of the unknown soldier. There are always armed guards posted here.

Samay wrapped our heads in a traditional middle eastern style

Day 2:
The following day we went to a beautiful, large park in Alexandria called Montazah. To get into the park you must pay 20 L.E. or just over one US dollar. Unfortunately, there are very few free green spaces in Alexandria so getting to sit on the grass in a park in Alexandria is quite a luxury all Egyptians can afford. Few cars drive in Montazah and the sidewalks are very large for Egypt making it a great place to bring young kids to ride bikes and run around. Montazah originally started out as a hunting camp for the ruler of Egypt. The prodigious mansion still exists and is used as a second home for the president of Egypt. There are smaller summer villas in the park of Montazah that have been passed down through families for years. These exclusive villas cannot be bought, only passed down so getting invited to one is an offer you shouldn't turn down! We skipped lunch and made it back to our home just in time to begin getting ready for a Christmas dinner party my mother had set up. We had a pre and post party at our home and it was nice to meet some of the school staff and workers. I am sure my mother appreciated the fact that she was able to have a stress-free morning and afternoon as the school cooks made the meal and our maid came to clean the day before.

Mansion at Montazah for the President of Egypt

Some private villas at Montazah located on the Mediterranian

A beautiful bridge in Montazah

A tower, possibly for water, at Montazah

Mom at the Christmas Dinner she put on. She is smiling because she didn't cook anything for the meal! ;)

Day 3:
On our third day of adventures, we returned to the Citadel of Qaitbay. The Citadel was built in 1477 AD on the edge of the eastern harbor to protect the city of Alexandria.

Citadel of Qaitbay

View from third floor of the Citadel down. These areas with tall ceilings were used to project announcements and calls to prayer throughout the Citadel.

Day 4:
To be honest, by the fourth day of intensive touring I was getting a little bit sick of waking up early and walking for miles. To make matters worse, we took the 1-hour tram ride to the end of the line and just as we exited the tram it began to rain. Rain in Alexandria is usually a 1 or 2-hour event that clears up just as quickly as it started. However, this time was different and it ended up being a total of three days before the rain cleared. Since it normally doesn't rain, the city doesn't have very good drainage so the dirty streets became muddy streets and none of us had any sort of rain gear. We kept thinking the rain would clear up and my father underestimated the walking distance to the places we were going: Pompey's pillar, The Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa & the Roman Amphitheater. The Roman Amphitheatre, Kom el-Dikka, was our first stop. It is an extensive roman theatrical and residential complex that is still undergoing excavation. The Villa of the Birds, a home with many mosaics usually costs an extra 10 LE, however, since it was raining nobody was around and we were able to look for free as well as use it as a shelter from the rain. Next, we went to Pompey's pillar. It is a Roman column and is the largest of its type constructed outside of Rome and Constantinople. The pillar is one solid piece of red Aswan granite weighing an estimated 285 tonnes! Finally, we ended at the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa. The catacombs are unique in that it combines features of Roman, Greek and Egyptian cultures. By the end of the day we were drenched, cold and tired and just wanted to get home. We decided that instead of walking to the tram or Corniche to find some public transportation we'd use Uber to get us there! My parents had always had good experiences with Uber but, of course, this day couldn't go our way. Our driver attempted to scam the unsuspecting American "tourists". Luckily, we weren't exactly tourists so we didn't get scammed as badly as a tourist probably would have in this scenario. Basically, if an Uber driver calls you and asks you to cancel your ride and book another because you are too far away don't do it. The first driver will call you back, come to your location and pick you up before your actual driver is supposed to get there. This works in Egypt because they allow you to pay cash for your ride so the ride was not being tracked and we were not able to review this bad driver. In addition, it took us over 2 and a half hours to get back to our home across the city because he refused to get on the Corniche. The rest of the day we stayed at home and watched movies to unwind from our stressful day.