Bob and Ann in Egypt and Jordan 2009

We slept in again this morning – a little longer than we expected because we didn’t hear the alarm. Ear plugs will do that. We went to the breakfast buffet at around 8:00 and met Abel on the way. I had Egyptian Corn Flakes with a bunch of bread, hibiscus juice and coffee. Everything was Egyptian except the coffee. It came from Sweden (we asked). Samy collected us at 9:00 and we were off for and Alexandria experience.

Our first stop was in western Alexandria at a harbor where fishermen were anchored or had their boats pulled up onto the beach. Most of them were inspecting and repairing their nets. It was very colorful. Across the street was the mosque area with three of the main mosques in Alexandria.

Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria

From the harbor, we drove to Qaitbay Citadel. According to Ask Aladdin “The Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria is considered one of the most important defensive strongholds, not only in Egypt, but also along the Mediterranean Sea coast. It formulated an important part of the fortification system of Alexandria in the 15th century A.D”. The weather was sunny and warm so we walked along the breakwater, took some photos and absorbed the sights and sounds.

Fish Market in Alexandria

Next, we drove past the street side fish market. We stopped, opened the door of our bus and took several photos of vendors selling a wide variety of fish. Samy wouldn’t let us get out of the bus because of the smell. He was right. It was pretty smelly. The wet pavement with all of its accumulated fish parts would have dragged the essence into the bus. There was a golden speckled eel that caught our attention although there were other fish that were interesting.

Ship Yard in Alexandria

We continued on to a beach area where boats were being built and renovated. We walked into the area over lots of discarded scraps and garbage. The variety of boats being worked on was much greater than what we see in the Richmond marinas. It was a lot dirtier, too.

Alexandria Tram

To broaden our Alexandria experience, Samy was nice enough to take us on a tram ride (See a video here. We were getting an education on how the “real” people live in the city. The tram had two cars. Samy said that the first car was for unaccompanied women and the second one was for mixed men and women. We saw that both cars had men and women. They also had kids who loved to pose for photos and older men who pretended that I was not taking their pictures.

Mosque Area in Alexandria

We left the tram at the stop at the mosque area where we took photos of the Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque. It “is the most historic and most beautiful mosque in Alexandria. It was built primarily in 1775 over the tomb of a Spanish scholar and saint, Abu El Abbas El Mursi (1219-86)”. While we were taking photos, we met several more school boys who wanted to introduce themselves and pose for pictures.

National Museum in Alexandria

To continue a busy morning, we next visited the National Museum. This small museum was once a palace and then the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. moved out after 9/11 and the building became the National Museum. It is considered one of the finest museums in Egypt. There are about 1,800 artifacts that narrate the history of Alexandria throughout the ages, including the Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras. We were able to do a basic tour in less than one hour. I suppose that we should have spent more time here, but it was lunch time and we were hungry.

Kadoura was our fish restaurant today. It is famous for its seafood. Our menu is starting to repeat itself. We start off with bread and various dips. Then we have some rice pilaf. The main course is deep fried squid and fish broiled with fresh garlic, onions and tomatoes. Each time we have this menu, it is slightly different. Today’s meal was very good.

Shisha and Coffee in Alexandria

I have been teasing Samy about having an experience with shisha, the Egyptian water pipe. So he decided that we would try it after lunch. We stopped at a roadside cafe and ordered coffee (very strong and Turkish-like), tea (for Ann) and shisha for Samy and me. Samy smoked most of it. I tried it but like Bill Clinton, I didn’t inhale. It tasted like sweet pipe tobacco which I should have been obvious. Samy said that it was apple-cured.

Our bus was parked along the curb next to the cafe on a very bust street. When a tow truck arrived to pick up another car, we decided that it was time to leave. After having a very full day and afternoon, we went back to our hotel where we relaxed.

Dinner was in the hotel's classy main dining room. Eating here was a little intimidating because this was where King Farouk held his meetings with his guests. Grilled chicked was the entree. The quality of food was excellent.

Here is a map of where we went today: