By rights I should like Alexandria more than Cairo. If Alexandria were a marriage prospect, Yenta would come hobbling up to my door crowing “Girly, have I got a match for you!” But it’s not the case.
Don’t get me wrong. As soon as I the bus left Cairo proper, I turned around to get a better perspective of my temporary home, I was glad to be leaving, if only because I couldn’t actually see the city through the putrid cloud of smog that contrasted sharply with the midday desert sky. It was horrifying to think that that’s what I’ll be breathing most every day for the next few months.
As an aside, Dad, I think you would hate Cairo. Between the traffic, hygiene, and air quality, it’s just not your spot. Actually, I don’t think Cairo actually appeals to many people beyond its proximity to Giza. The 13 million who live here are just pretty much stuck.
The bus drove through alternating fellahin plots and stretches of desert down a poorly maintained highway. The distance between Alexandria and Cairo is about 300 kilometers, and takes approximately 3 hours by bus due to the speed bumps and sheep that are scattered intermittently along the highway.
When our weary band got to Alexandria, we were fed up. We had been herded on to buses in the early morning, only to wait around in Cairo for about 1.5 hours before actually leaving. We got to Alexandria too late to do what was originally on our itinerary (which was basically abandoned for the rest of the weekend) and starving. I for one hadn’t eaten since the day before, and neither had my friend who is a diabetic. We were slightly cranky.
I cheered up when I got my first real view of the Mediterranean. I’m a beach person. My family vacations when I was younger were divided between Nantucket Island and Holland, Michigan. I love the sheets soggy with coastal humidity, the briny taste that never quite leaves your mouth, and the bits of sand you find in your hair even when you’d left the beach days before. When confronted with something as immense as the ocean, everything else seems just as insignificant as the sand captured by the ebb and flow of the tide. Quite a pretty Jungian metaphor, if you’re into that kind of thing.
The beach at Alexandria is disgusting. Tires, Coke cans, scraps of material, and unidentifiable substances are her buoys, benches, and sand toys. Despite this slight turn-off, I kicked off my shoes and stood in the water that carried the fleet at Lepanto, facilitated Napoleon’s invasion, and saw Horatio Nelson’s greatest victory.
That evening I went into catacombs marked by the three main cultural influences in Alexandria: The Egyptian sun cult of Amun Ra, the Greco-Roman mystery cult of Isis, and the Islamic Mamluk period. All in the same tomb. The silence of of a solitary tomb is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. The scuffling of my shoes and the sound of my own breathing fueled my overactive imagination, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine curses, mummies, and danger within these walls. Or maybe it was the Egyptian guy following me asking me to go out with him. Men are a bit more aggressive in Alexandria.
After we went to the Biblioteca Alexandrina. Built within 100 meters of the original site, it’s the second largest library in the world (to the Library of Congress). I wasn’t too impressed until I went inside. The idea was conceived by Hosni Mubarak’s wife in 1985, and was completed in 2002. I came for antiquities and got contemporary. But they have some fascinating collections of art and Alexandrian history, as well as continuing the mission of the original library (which burned down twice, the final time in 68 CE) of collecting every book in the world. I truly would have called it quits and taken up residence there, if they would have taken kindly to me sleeping in the stacks.
The rest of my evening was comfortably spent revelling in the exclusive use of Arabic (less people speak English here, another plus of Alexandria) to order the best sorbet I’ve had and eating balls of fried dough on the beach. I really like the cafe attitude here. The thing to do is go to a cafe for hours to talk and enjoy your friends’ company. Even after the bill is paid, conversation continues long after the last cigarette (or in my case, mango juice) is finished.
The next morning we got up early again, but Egypt was operating on Egypt time again. Egypt time is easy enough to explain, but hard to deal with if you’re used to schedules, plans, and punctuality. In short, those don’t exist. Time is a little slower, a little looser. As a goal oriented person, I like the change. I need to operate on Egypt time a little more often.
We went to Pompeii’s pillar first, located at the highest point in Alexandria. Carved out of a single block of granite, it’s massive, about 25 meters tall. Ancient engineering is fascinating to conceptualize. Don’t you ever wonder “how did they DO that?” It makes me feel lazy. It was a Greek Temple until the Crusaders came and destroyed it. In its place they built a church, which was subsequently destroyed by an earthquake. I found that very funny. The pillar is so named because the Crusaders, for some unknown reason, thought the ashes from the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius and the city of Pompeii were located at the top. Another win for the Crusaders.
Next was the Roman Amphitheatre, unearthed in 1965 when, ironically, the municipal authorities were looking for a place to build another theatre. It was remarkably well preserved. A spot in the center still functioned acoustically where you can hear your echo in surround sound, and the audience can hear you. Not knowing any Catullus or Cicero in the original Latin, I resorted to Hamlet, and recited a few lines to get a feel for oration. Best I could do short notice. Archaeological digs of the adjacent Roman Baths were unearthing bits of pottery. The sites weren’t well maintained, and I walked next to exposed earth where the clay pots jutted out of the side unprotected. After my explorations were admonished in broken English and heated Arabic, I left.
Our last visit was to Qait Bey, a Mamluk fortification built in the 15th century after the Pharos light house was destroyed by and earthquake. Let me pause to note that everything in Alexandria has been destroyed at least once or twice. Usually more that that. But looking off-shore from Qait Bey, I can understand why it’s maintained a consistent population for thousands of years. Not just for economic and political convenience, Alexandria boasts some beautiful views. A Mediterranean city of the oldest tradition, modern Egypt co-exists with a laid back, self-assured atmosphere. Even the citizens seem to have a very rooted sense that they aren’t leaving or changing anytime soon.
I don’t think I can accurately capture what I felt as I wandered the hall of a real castle and looked across this historical sea, so I’ll leave it to my pictures to do so (will be posted later). But suffice it to say that the philosophers and scientists who inhabited this place had an abundant source of natural inspiration.
I visited the shore one last time before I left. I waded in to my knees and made friends with two little Egyptian kids. They saw me collecting shells, and soon made a game out of finding more and more sea-treasures until I filled a bag. As I splashed and played, I realized why I couldn’t like Alexandria as much as Cairo. I was too comfortable here. If I let myself, I would stay and there would not be nearly as much growth as there is in the sprawling problem that Cairo presents. And if anything, this trips is really about personal progress. Glad for my experience, and bid goodbye to my playmates and made for the bus. Slightly sunburned and very tired, my last thought before nodding off on the bus was that I hope to visit Alexandria again before I leave. I mean, Alexander’s Tomb still hasn’t been discovered, that would be a good resume builder. With compulsion like that I have to come back, though only after I’ve learned a bit more about myself.
But only if they don’t slip Camel into my Kofta again. Not funny, Alexandria.
