Safe and Sound In Alexandria, Egypt

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

                           

Ship announcements started at 5:30 this morning.  So many of the passengers were leaving early for their excursion into Cairo, that the ship’s entire food schedule was changed to accommodate the travelers.  They aren’t expected to return until 8:00 this evening, that is, unless they are on the overland excursion that is staying overnight in Cairo and will meet up with us in Port Said tomorrow. 

We have been told that internet and satellite service will undoubtedly be poor or unavailable while in port tomorrow.  We don’t have any plans so there won’t be much of a blog to work on.  We are hoping that this visit to Port Said will be less eventful than our last in 2001.  Details on that to follow in tomorrow’s blog.

We really didn’t know what to expect today in Alexandria, but we were pleasantly surprised.  The Egyptians welcomed us with open arms and souvenirs of every sort.  We docked in a much newer section of the port than last time and although we were required to carry passports at all times, the security checkpoints were unobtrusive.  A shuttle was provided and it took us into the center of Alexandria to the Hotel Cecil. 

  

As we departed the shuttle bus, we were confronted by every taxi and carriage driver.  Each had his individual way of attracting our attention in hopes that we would relent and end up choosing his mode of transportation.  Our only goal for today was to revisit the Bibliotheca that we had seen on our 2006 visit here.  It was a mile and 1/2 walk from the shuttle drop-off to the Bibliotheca.  There were no crosswalks and the traffic was three lanes in each direction.  We just followed the local’s example and charged right on through, praying all the way.  We saw numerous ambulances with sirens on and they couldn’t work their way through the crowded streets.    

   

The city was alive with color and commotion. The souk (outdoor market) extended as far as we could see from the bus.  Every imaginable product was laid out on the sidewalk and sometimes even in the street.  There were people everywhere and with the turmoil of cars, buses, minibuses, taxis, horse carriages, all fighting for each tiny bit of open space and each driver spending most of his time on the horn it was wonderful to experience. Our previous visit had been on a Sunday and what a difference we experienced today.   Taxis and vans would just pull to the side of the street and slow down and people would jump on and off. 

                    

                    

                                 

When we arrived at the library, we were told that they would not accept dollars or euros.  A nice guard pointed us in the direction of a bank.  Our friend, Jan tried her ATM card to no avail, so we went inside the bank and had our money exchanged.  The library was as fantastic as we had remembered and this time we spent as much time as we wanted exploring.  There was a wonderful exhibit of antique printing machines as well as a display of artwork made from recycled items…circuit boards, wood blocks, ropes, etc.

  

 

  

  

  

The gift shop was open and although they said their visa machine was “down”, they did take dollars and euros.  We had exchanged too many dollars and had an excess of Egyptian pounds so we felt the strong tourist obligation to use them up in the gift shop.  I now have a beautiful Egyptian textile to add to our collection of textiles from around the world. 

We enjoyed the vibrancy of the library.  It was easy to understand the impact that cell phones and the internet had on the latest events in Egypt.  The majority of the students were wearing traditional garb, but all seem to be connected to the electronic world.  The library was being used to its fullest degree and just being here was a thrill for us.  We do love our libraries!

We arrived back at the hotel just in time to catch the shuttle to the ship.  We were exhausted and happy to have the time to take a quick nap.  I got my hair trimmed and am happy to report that it is just fine.  Teri, she said it was the best perm she had ever seen. 

The Lido was having a Mongolian Grill on the deck so it was a good excuse to skip the dining room again tonight.  We thought of Doug’s favorite place to eat in Omaha as we went through the line.  It was apparent that most of the passengers didn’t have a clue as to what to expect at a Mongolian Grill.

         

As we type up this blog we are sitting here with our verandah door open.  We hear the evening call to prayer as our ship leaves for Port Said.  It will be a slow sail as we only have 155 nautical miles to go and dock time is 8:00 am.

           

NOTE:  Chris mentioned that the link to the Prinsendam location is not correct because it thinks we skipped Egypt.  Hopefully it will be corrected soon because it is a fun way to see where we are (if it is correct).