Alexandria Day-Trip

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

The 5 am wake-up time and 130 L.E. (about $25) were well worth the trip to Alexandria! This trip was organized by AFS-Egypt, so I wasn't expecting much, but we managed to pack a lot of events into one day. This meant we rushed through nearly everything...but it was better than not seeing Alexandria at all!

There were about 50 people in our group, which included most of the NSLI-Y students, AFS-Egypt volunteers, as well as other AFS exchange students in Egypt (e.g. from Italy, Austria, Belgium, Thailand).

The first activity we did after the 2 1/2 hour bus ride was tour a citadel called FORT QAITBEY, which is situated on the water, so we had great views of the city, the marina, and Mediterranean. It was built in the 1480s supposedly on the same site as the Pharos Lighthouse, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. (The picture is of my friend, Izzy, and me at Fort Qaitbey.)

Next we visited POMPEY'S PILLAR and KOM AL-DIKKA, which are both excavation sites of Roman remains. During Roman times, Kom al-Dikka consisted of a small amphitheater, baths, and villas, but the amphitheater is what mostly remains today. Pompey's Pillar was a giant marble pillar erected by the people of Alexandria in an effort to assuage the anger of the Roman emperor, Diocletian.

We took a 30-minute boat ride out into the marina which was a nice change in scenery. We divided into two boats and had a small water fight, which was entertaining, and luckily I didn't get too wet! The marina was littered with small, brightly-colored boats which made the area very quaint and picturesque. I did see a few really, really fancy yachts, too.

(One of our boats with Fort Qaitbey in the background.)

The BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA (Library of Alexandria) was the highlight of the day! The building, which cost around $355 million and opened in 2002, is very impressive. The reading room of the library, which has seven levels, is the largest in the world, and there are many special architectural features to make it an ideal setting for studying, reading, etc. The AFS girl from Thailand is staying in Alexandria and she said she comes to the library nearly every day after school to study, so everyone was, of course, very jealous of her! After a 30-minute tour/info session, we quickly ran through the small museums inside the library before we had to get back on the bus.

Since we were in Alexandria, eating fish was a must, and even though I don't usually care for fish, the one I ate was delicious! Egyptians usually eat fish with this special rice - called "fish rice" ('ruz samak') - which is brown because of the cinnamon and other spices added to it...yumm.

We went to a mall after dinner for an hour, and I was expecting it to be the worst part of the day because the last thing I wanted to do in Alexandria was go shopping, but some of my friends and I managed to turn it into a great bonding experience. Some of my best memories are actually from the mall...not to say that I didn't like the rest of Alexandria, because I did!

That was about all the sight-seeing we did for the day, but I was exhausted! I wish we could have walked around the city and along the shore because we went everywhere by charter bus, but it seemed like a friendly, beautiful place to live, and the air was much cleaner than in Cairo!

I ended up getting back to my house around 1am and then had to wake up the next morning and run around the PYRAMIDS...hopefully I can post that story soon!