Bob and Ann in Egypt and Jordan 2009

Because we went to sleep at 8:00 last night, we were up and getting ready for breakfast at 5:00. We had our bags packed and outside of our room by 6:15. Then we went to the breakfast buffet and were ready to meet Samy in the lobby for our 7:30 pickup.

Our driver took us to the Cairo train station through very heavy traffic. The driving here is pretty chaotic with all kinds of vehicles and horse-drawn carts constantly changing lanes to try to get an advantage. Because the traffic is moving so slowly, there are very few collisions. Drivers know when to back off at the last moment.

Train and Body Guards

We arrived at the train station around 8:30, Samy told us to wait in the bus until the train was almost ready to load. He also told us not to be alarmed with security. He explained that after 9/11, tourism fall way off by Americans visiting Egypt. Our government negotiated with Egypt’s government to provide extra protection to our citizens when they were in Egypt. Typically (according to Samy) the Egypt government went overboard. We experienced this when we were surrounded by several armed body guards who escorted us through a station side door to the train. We asked ourselves whether the spectacle drew more attention to us than if we were left by ourselves. It must have worked, though, because we had no attempted attacks.

Scene on the Train Ride

The train left at 9:00. As most train routes do, ours went through some fairly depressing areas of the city. The were piles of garbage (mostly plastic sacks) between the tracks and the road or the buildings abutting the tracks. The housing was in low-rise building with dirty, brown exteriors. Once we left the city, we were in the Nile delta. We saw lots of green crops with people working the farms. The near-by roads included cars, trucks, three-wheeled taxis, donkey carts, people riding donkeys, scarved and veiled women (some with loads on their heads), men in galabeyas (long robes), and children of various dress.

The ride was smooth and took 2 1/2 hours. We made one stop on the outskirts of Alexandria. We were served coffee and tea in the middle of the ride. The weather was sunny and partly cloudy with the temperatures in the mid to high 60’s.

Porter in Alexandria

When we arrived in Alexandria, a porter ran down the concourse, picked up our bags and towed them on his cart to our waiting bus. This bus and driver for the four of us will be with us for our entire stay in Alexandria through our drive back to Cairo.

Our first order of business was to have lunch. We drove through Alexandria’s version of traffic chaos to a small local restaurant. Samy ordered us fava beans, falafel, flat bread and several kinds of dip. This was our introduction to Egyptian food and it was pretty good. It was fun eating in a restaurant with a bunch of locals.

We then walked down the crowded street to the corner where we waited for our bus while we people-watched.

Our first archeological visit was to the catacombs of Kom el-Shugafa. (You can read about it via the link). It was very interesting. Because it is off-season here, we almost had the place to ourselves. No photos were allowed, so you have to follow the link to see some of what we saw.

On the way to check into our hotel, we stopped for a photo-op at Pompey's Pillar.

Our hotel, El Salamlek Palace, is a former office and formal greeting hall for guests of King Farouk. It sits on a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean Sea among 260 acres of richly landscaped grounds. When we arrived, we were served a glass of hibiscus juice. Then one of the reception hostesses gave us an orientation tour of the main floor. She showed us the main rooms while pointing out the photos and paintings of King Farouk lining the walls. There is a huge Christmas tree in the lobby which seems strange to us being in a Muslim country. One of the porters dressed in period costume took us up the ancient elevator to the second floor where another hostess was waiting to show us our room. It was good that she was there because we would have been lost trying to navigate through it. It is the most lavish hotel room we have ever been in. We would have been happy in a small room with a view of the sea, but this suite is beyond any expectations that we had.

Our Dinner

We spent a couple of hours cleaning up and enjoying our suite. Then we met Samy and Abel (our travelling companion from New York) in the lobby. We drove a short distance to a local fish restaurant for dinner. Our appetizers were puffy bread with several sauces to dip it into. They were more plentiful and more tasty than the ones we had for lunch. Our main course was a white fish grilled with fresh garlic and onions along with fried calamari and rice pilaf. We sat at a table on the second floor next to a large open window facing the street. We could watch the busy street activity below us while we were eating.

Here is a map of where we went today: