Gallivanting Grandma

Monday – February 18, 2019     Alexandria, Egypt

There was another spectacular sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea this morning. I hurried out to the balcony of the hotel to take pictures and watched as a glorious full rainbow appeared out of the mist. Unfortunately, neither of my cameras could capture the entire arc.

Our adventurous group had explored most of Alexandria’s tourist sites during the last two days. The schedule for the day was to drive back to Cairo and spend our last night in the capital city before our departures home tomorrow.

On the way, we stopped at St. Macarius Coptic Monastery located just off the highway about 60 miles north of Cairo. One of the gracious monks gave us an interesting tour and explained the history of the monastery and the Coptic faith.

The church of the Forty Nine Martyrs honors the monks who were massacred at the monastery in 444AD:

The monastery was founded about 360AD by Saint Macarius the Great of Egypt and has been continuously inhabited by monks since the 4th century up to the present day.

Our group picture:

We drove past another monastery along the highway:

We passed miles of farmland along the road between Alexandria and Cairo in the Nile River Valley:

Near Giza, we stopped for a delicious lunch at an attractive restaurant.

Several smiling women baked Egyptian pita bread outdoors:

Two young bus-boys greeted us:

Lovely floral interior of the restaurant:

Then we drove through heavy “rush hour” traffic on the street around the Pyramids of Giza. The city of Cairo has grown right up to the pyramids. The photo below shows buildings across the street from the ancient site:

Maged, our guide, had said it rains only eight days a year in Egypt!  So when we first arrived in Cairo two weeks ago and it rained during our visit to the famous Pyramids, we were very disappointed. Today was a bright sunny day so we asked Maged to stop at the Pyramids before reaching the hotel.

Here are a few photos of the famous Pyramids of Giza in the sunshine. The late afternoon sun was warm and bright.   

The Sphinx sits nearby like a cat stretched out in the warm sand.

We had a wonderful time in Egypt! We visited ancient sites and experienced the modern culture of a dynamic country. One more place off my “bucket list….”

Sunday – February 17, 2019

I looked out from the balcony of the Four Seasons Hotel this morning to see a spectacular cloud formation over the Mediterranean Sea. It had rained at night and the temperature was a cool 48 degrees.

We were in the ancient seaport of Alexandria to explore several historic sites. The city was founded in 332BC by Alexander the Great and remained the capital of Egypt for almost 1,000 years.

Our first stop was the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa. Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside. The tombs were dug into solid bedrock and had been used as burial chambers from the 2nd to the 4th centuries. The decorations of the tombs were a blend of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman styles.

Driving through Alexandria was a slow process due to very heavy traffic but it gave me a chance to see the city and take photos from our tour bus.

We drove to Pompey’s Pillar to see the ancient monolith which is the only free-standing column in ancient Roman Egypt. It’s located in a small park in a residential neighborhood surrounded by apartment buildings.

The pillar was built in 297AD out of a single piece of red Aswan granite. It measures 67 feet tall with a diameter of almost 9 feet at the base.

Our next stop was the Roman Amphitheater of Alexandria which was built in the 4th century AD during the Roman period of Egyptian history.

Constructed during the 2nd century AD, the amphitheater was a roofed theater which housed musical events and a variety of competitions. It seated about 600 spectators and was recently discovered in 1960 when workers began to clear the land to build a government building.

Afterwards, our group visited the Alexandria National Museum. Again there was no photography so I just took a picture of the outside of the building.  The lovely Italian-style mansion was built in 1926 by a wealthy Egyptian businessman. From 1960 to the 1990s, the villa was used as the United States consulate.

Today the city of Alexandria reflects the political turmoil and poor economic conditions of Egypt over the last few decades. The city looks tired and run-down with poor infrastructure. Viewing the architecture and condition of the buildings, the city appears to have had a rich vibrant past but due to years of neglect and recent migration, it needs a huge infusion of attention and restoration. More photos:

The Mediterranean Sea is beautiful but the “corniche” along the waterfront was well worn.

One of the main reasons I had wanted to visit Alexandria was to see the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. This is a new library which was built to commemorate The Great Library of Alexandria. The ancient library was the largest and most significant library of the ancient world.  Built by Ptolemy II from 285-246BC, it was the “capital of knowledge and learning” at that time.

The current library complex was constructed in 2002 and functions as a modern library as well as a scientific and cultural center. The new library has shelf space for eight million books.

The main reading room contains 220,000 square feet of space on eleven cascading levels. There are also four museums, art galleries, a planetarium, specialized libraries, and a manuscript restoration laboratory.

The model in the photo above shows the building’s exceptional architecture. The glass-panelled roof of the main reading room tilts out toward the sea like a sundial and captures natural light while diverting heat from the intense Egyptian sun.

We explored the public spaces in the library and enjoyed the exhibits and displays:

At the end of the day, our bus drove along the corniche back to the hotel. The sun was setting on the Mediterranean Sea. It had been a very interesting day in Alexandria, Egypt.

Friday – February 15 and Saturday – February 16, 2019

Our Vantage Tour group completed our 7-night cruise down the Nile on the tourist ship, The Mojito.  Friday morning, we said our fond farewells to the crew and staff of the riverboat, took our last looks at the beautiful waterway, and drove to Luxor airport for our flight back to Cairo.

We had been two groups of about 40 adventurers with two Egyptian tour-guides traveling between Cairo and Aswan. Maged and Aladdin proved to be excellent knowledgeable leaders and we learned much about Egyptian culture and history and we enjoyed unforgettable travel experiences.

We flew from Luxor to Cairo and checked into the Renaissance Hotel for one night. Half the group was flying home Saturday while seventeen of us continued to Alexandria.

The most direct route between Cairo and Alexandria is a wide highway along the Nile River Valley which takes about three hours.  Our plan was to stop at the historic site of El Alamein on the way to Alexandria so we took the longer road through the eastern Sahara Desert.

It was a boring 5-hour drive and definitely miss-able. The landscape reminded me of one of my previous trips driving through the Kyzylkum Desert between Bukhara and Khiva, Uzbekistan.  After many hours of looking at sand, and occasionally camels, it was exciting to get a peek of the azure Mediterranean Sea:

El Alamein, which means “the two flags” in Arabic, is a small town located 66 miles west of Alexandria. It is the site of two important World War II battles. We made a stop at the German War Memorial which looks like a medieval sandstone fortress. Inside are the tombs of almost 4000 German servicemen.

The El Alamein Battlefield is a haunting desert landscape with somber memorials to commemorate servicemen from many countries who fought and died during the war. The Allied victory at El Alamein led to the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943.

Our next stop was the El Alamein Military Museum which was built in 1956. The museum presented a vivid portrayal of the battles in Egypt during World War II using dioramas, maps, images, and artifacts.

We finally arrived in the city of Alexandria in the late afternoon, had lunch, and checked into the Four Seasons Hotel.

The traffic in Alexandria is very heavy especially along the 22-mile corniche which runs along the Mediterranean.

The Four Seasons was a large complex of apartments, shopping center, restaurants, shops, and a relatively small hotel.

I explored the modern shopping center which was through a guarded door in the lobby:

Along with clothing and shoe stores, electronic shops, and cosmetic outlets, there was a food court with fast-food options, and a Whole-Foods-type organic market:

We had essentially been traveling for two days from Luxor to Cairo to Alexandria and it was nice to arrive on the Mediterranean Sea and have a relaxing evening. Our view from the hotel: