Friday morning we took the bus (the same bus that picked us up from the airport and has been driving us around Cairo) to Alexandria which is about a three hour drive. We took the Desert Highway which, as you would probably guess, cuts a straight path through the desert from Cairo to Alex. The road just touches the Nile delta for about 20 miles or so, but it was cool to suddenly see huge green fields and marshes after seeing sand for two hours. There really weren't any of the endless desert vistas that you'd imagine due to a strong push by the government over the past several years to develop the areas along the highway.
Alexandria was really beautiful and generally cleaner than Cairo. The city was built on a pennisula by Alexander the Great and coming up the main road with the Mediterranean on one side and the city on the other, it really reminded me of Lake Shore Drive. The hotel was right on the main street overlooking the bay and the Med. The building itself looked like one of the embassies in a James Bond movie or Mission Impossible.
That afternoon we went to the Greco-Roman Museum where our tour guide described the many statues of Roman emperors in pains-taking detail. That night we went to a seafood restaurant where there was no menu, just a display case of fish on ice. You pointed to the fish you wanted, told them whether you wanted it grilled or fried, and that was it. The seafood was all local and very fresh. Later on a group of us went and wondered down the main drag of Alex which was filled with stores, street vendors, and huge crowds of people. It was like Michigan Ave on a saturday afternoon, except that it was 11pm.
Today we saw the catacombs which are an enormous set of underground tombs carved out of solid rock They were first built around 100 BC for the governor of Alex but later expanded to house the bodies of any Alexandrian who could afford the burrial there. The catacombs are enormous and they actually had to stop excavating because they were digging under houses and a large school near by. It was really amazing because most of the relief carving on the walls of the governor's tomb has survived along with some of the original paint. The figure are a interesting mix of the heads of ancient Egyptian gods with Roman clothing and bodies.
We also visited Fort Qatibay which was built on the site of the old Alexandrian Lighthouse which was one of the original seven wonders of the world. The whole place was made almost entirely out of stone with gorgeous views of the Mediterranean. This afternoon we returned to the dorm in Zamalek and are probably going to go walk around to find some souvenirs.
adios
-colin
