Egypt - Week One

Hello from Cairo and Happy Holidays to all. We flew into Cairo last Monday, arriving close to midnight. After a day in what has to be the busiest city I have ever been in, we headed NorthWest by train to Alexandria, in order to get used to Egypt and the madness of the traffic. As well, Tom's interest in the North African campain of WWII made El Alamain a major destination for us.

We found, thanks to Lonely Plant, a great hotel, The Union, over looking the harbour with satelite TV for a little more than $20US. With not much in the way of nightlife, other than shopping such great establishments as Demi Moore, Tommy XXL, Fabulous, and Dangerous Fashion (yes, those are the names, and the English labels written on peoples clothing are sometimes abolutely hilarious and make no sense whatsoever - such as something like Motorscooter and Fitch, or Pillow head lover) the variety of English movies was great. So, we spent four nights eating devine baklava from this 1920s relic called Delices and trying Egyptian wine, which seems for the most part to come from Lebanon to be bottled in Egypt.

We spent the days taking in the sights, trying the local food and sheesha. The Alexandria Library, located next to the University was truly a modern architectural work of art. Little of the great city built by Alexander the Great remains, however, the city's museum does give a hint to the past from the Roman Period, through the Islamic and also the time spent by more recent Europeans begining with Napoleon's stay. A walk through the streets of the city centre past the fine architecture gives more of an idea how important this city was to Europeans during the 1880s and early 1900s. The coffee and croissants (although I have to say I am now quite sick of croissants) from the cafés were a serious treat.

The food, I have to say is far better than Morocco, although the gauking men are far worse. The seafood in Alexandria was amazing. One place we tried had us choose from the catch of the day, and then while we waited for it to be cooked, served us salads and tahini with pita. We also found a great sheesha place where 50cents gets you an apple sheesha, and the drinks were around a euro or less. Very relaxing yet authentic.

Our trip to El Alamain prooved a great sucess. We booked a tour with a guide (who really didn't do much but it was a package deal) and drive to take us an hour and a half out of the city. The museum to our surprise was pretty well put together, and is frequently visited by veterens of the campaign. The loot of military leftovers found out in the desert was truly amazing. They included a Canadian transport truck found in the Libyan desert in 1997, countaining suplies, as well as the bodies of two soldiers. Uniforms, implements, weapons, vehicles, etc., from the allies as well as the Germans and Italians are on desplay.

We were also taken to the Commonwealth cemetary. A very well maintained plot, where every November 4th veterans gather to celebrate the victory and remember the fallen.

It was a bit hard for me to leave the more relaxed atmosphere of Alex behind, but we still hadn't seen the pyramids or go through the great Egyptian Museum. So we caught the train back and this time book into the very central Canadian Hostel. They arranged a trip to the pyramids for us, as well as doing our laundry for a small fee.

So, yesterday I walked away from the visit to the Pyramids with mixed emotion. They are truly a sight to see, being of course the remaining wonder of the ancient world, but the hassle was a bit much. I wish I could say you get used to being bothered to buy this, take rides, etc., but I have to say it still drives me nuts, especially when the guy who is trying to get you to take a camel ride, is following you down the road and getting angry at you, while you (Tom, because I am just a lowly foreign woman, and they usually just talk to him) are politely refusing. The other thing that struck me was the garbage. It is everywhere, especially around Kheops, the largest and finest of the great pyramids. The Giza area is a must see, but I have to say those things made my trip less pleasing.

We did also see Sakkara, the ancient city where the first step pyramid of Zoser is located. Today we discovered online that Egyptolists have found more to the city than was origionally believed. So, the men with hardhats we saw around the site yesterday were making a huge discovery.

The final place on our tour of Pharonic Egypt was the ancient city of Memphis, the capital during most of this period. Its former glory is long gone, but there is a museum containing a huge statue of King Ramses II, as well as numerous other statues.

We finised yesterday off with a fine meal of Egyptian food at Farfela, a Cairo institution, which has appeared in Gormet Magazine, but has also served the likes of Jimmy Carter. All I have to say is that the food is superb, my favorite being the felafel, or for Egyptians, ta'amiyya.

Today we spent numerous hours in the Egyptian Museum. With over 100,000 artifacts on display it is really hard to see everything, but using the Cairo Lonely Planet as our guide, we saw all of the highlights. Most impressive were the royal mummy rooms, mostly becase I recently saw a documentary detailing how they discovered the mummy of Queen Hatchepsut using modern technology, as well as the King Tut exhibit.

Tomorrow we are off to the Fairmont outside of town to enjoy a Christmas there. We're both feeling a bit homesick at the moment. Tom is pretty sick of me wishing I could find a candycane and looking everywhere.

So, from us, Happy Holidays, Merry/Happy Christmas!