Egypt Part III (Alexandria)

Alexandria is amazing! Theo and I had the best day of our trip together here and I’d recommend it to anyone. We took an early morning train from Cairo and after being lost for an hour trying to find Pompey’s Pillar, we “settled” for hiring a driver to take us all around the city. We initially hopped a tram (think F-line in San Francisco) and ended up really lost. No one had heard of “Pompey’s Pillar” or “Catacombs” even. They didn’t understand us if we had the site names in Arabic either! Street signs were in Arabic and the Lonely Planet map we had was dinky, so the private taxi turned out to be a fantastic option. He drove us everywhere we wanted to go (including a palace 15kms outside of town) for about 7 hours. It was $25 only!

Another reason to love Alexandria:


So random!!

First official stop: Pompey’s Pillar. Nearby are the Catacombs (Kom Al-Shaqaffa) which were really cool. They go three levels underground though we could only visit the first two because the third is under the water table. It’s a bit weird knowing you’re so far underground and surrounded by all these tombs, but definitely a really cool place to see. No photos allowed….


Just before lunch, we stopped in at the Biblioteca Alexandria which is pretty stunning. I still have a soft spot for Doe Library, but this one is in roughly the same location as the ancient library and is really beautifully constructed. They also have a lot of free permanent exhibits like book-art that I found surprisingly awesome.


Best Meal in Africa: Hood Gondol Seafood. Maybe this is why I like Alexandria so much – the food was amazing! We read about this local seafood place in the Lonely Planet and decided to give it a try. Our driver was highly entertained that we wanted to go there for lunch. He told his taxi-driver friend who gave us a thumbs up :). We arrived at this unmarked alleyway and saw big pans of shrimp and fish. We asked how much it was for a plate and the guy said 35 LE (~$6). Sounds good. We ordered two and got ushered upstairs. (Unrelated, there were a couple of giggly Muslim girls who were super uninhibited…. laughing and joking with each other [and us] – they were quite charming.) So we were served a seafood soup and some pita, hummus, and salad to start. Unexpected, but good – the seafood soup especially. Then we each get a heaping plate of spicy rice and then a plate full of shrimp, grilled fish, fried fish, calamari, and clams. Wow. We ate all we could and still ended up with leftovers. When we went to pay downstairs, we were expecting to pay 70 LE plus tip. The guy said something about 35 LE and an extra 5 LE for something or other. I would have happily given him 80, no problem. But, he only wanted 40 LE!! So basically, we had this amazing seafood feast for two for less than $7 including tip!


Post lunch, we drove by Fort Qaitbay,


the Abu Abbas Al Mursi Mosque (though only Theo was allowed in),


stopped in at the 4 Seasons,


saw the Montazah Palace (formerly the Presidents summer palace),


and then had one of the best mango juices ever at Il Kobesi.
Such a good day! We saw and did everything we wanted to see and do, and ended the night with a Syrian Schwarma.