They Loved Alexandria

I took another weekly call I have, on what is usually U.S. Friday afternoon my Friday morning Cairo.  We were on the road to Alexandria.  I could have kept quiet but I offered up that they’d need to forgive me for the Kerouac-like phrase but I was on the road from Cairo to Alexandria. 

Alexandria took longer to reach then I’d expected.  Google maps suggested two-hours-and-change and although we hadn’t much traffic we were still streaming along the highway after our third hour.  The Nile “delta” seems pretty dry from this vantage. Of course, upon arrival there would be far too much to see.  And there would be limited discourse about historical significance with our self-proclaimed “2-star English” driver-guide.  I deferred to my LP chums and figured a first stop at a café, might not be such a bad idea.  Give people some fuel before we took on the town.  Sofianopoulous Café it was suggested, was a place you could smell the coffee a block and a half away.  I tried to imagine Laurence Durrell and his frustrated romances femme-fatal Justine as we ordered a cup and I ordered a second.

The modern reconstruction of the Ancient Library of Alexandria was next, and this being a Friday in a Muslim country it wasn’t open.  But it would eventually open its doors 2:00PM.  Right.  We shall return.  We sped along Al Conriche and soaked in the view that seemed a bit like the Bund and a bit like Rio and a bit like Hydros.  To the White and Blue restaurant then, at the tip of the spit passed Anushi, which the book suggested was a grand Hellenic restaurant and it was.  Here we could enjoy the view of Al Corniche (I keep thinking of hens when I pronounce it) and a bottle of the local Omar Kayam white wine which was dry enough and cheap enough.  It was a beautiful lunch in the sun with reds and blues to contrast the ‘worn-down-brown’ of Cairo and the girls all suggested they loved Alexandria for it reminded them of Greece.

Fort Qaitbey was across the street and demanded attention after settling the bill.  It was bare stone construct but it commanded a remarkable view.  We tried to imagine the wonder-of-the-ancient-world view of the Grand Tower of the Pharaohs  that had long since vanished and my daughters provided a group of young high school students with their best view of the day, as they tagged along at a distance, eyeing them, discussing them, considering how to approach them.  I thought it was only fitting that I march right over and shake hands and see about a selfie, in order to break the ice and embrace the weirdness.

We caught the library, and it was remarkable, but then, if you’re not doing research what else is there to do at a library but consider its size.  I’m glad there’s a current temple to books here in the city where the world’s first and biggest library was once constructed and then destroyed. 

There wasn’t much time left before we’d need to speed back to Cairo. I gave the girls a choice between the museum and the catacombs and they chose the latter.  We wouldn’t have any time beyond that.  A guide on site greeted me and persisted past my initial brush-off convincing me to engage his service.  I told him, we need to do this fast.  He said, I’ll make it work in an hour.  I told him to compress it to 20 minutes and, good-on-him, he did so quickly that almost no one save me, could understand what the poor chap was saying.  But I liked the mix of Roman and Greek and Egyptian iconography that was there, beneath the city, on display in this underworld staging ground. 

The ride back to Cairo was uneventful.  You feel like you know a city when you get to return to it.  Navigating the Ramses train station wasn’t the nightmare I anticipated.  “No” the kiosk man confirmed with a handcuff-like gesture, he had no beer to sell.  The train compartments were tight.  My older one didn’t like it much.  Flashbacks of Siberia, I’m afraid.  Anything, I reminded her was OK for an evening after we’d done five-full days on a train last summer.  Cheer-up . I’ve pre-ordered you a veggie meal.

Friday, 07/05/19