We had a very long stopover in Alexandria as most of the passengers were taking trips to see the pyramids near Cairo, a 3 hour drive away. We, however, had bigger fish to fry....
I've managed to get Rach out of bed for a number of beautiful sunrises whilst we've been on this cruise and this was the best by far. We were still slowly sailing into the port, moving past ships of all makes and sizes, as the sun slowly rose above the buildings of Alexandria.
After having a reasonably late breakfast on our nearly deserted ship, we made our way to Fort Quayt Bey where the Pharos (Lighthouse), one of the Seven Wonders of the World, once stood. As with most of the Ancient Wonders it has been 'modernised', that is to say knocked down centuries ago and replaced with an ancient castle. We hung out there for a while and watched the fishermen, with their ridiculously long fishing poles, trying their luck.
A fisherman at Fort Quayt Bey. Note the cats - while the fisherman is hoping to catch a fish his feline companions are hoping to get some fish guts.
Rachel and the Mosque of Abu al-Abbas Mursi. My dear beloved is wearing her makeshift burka to respect local customs. It seems to have worked as everybody we met was friendly and we got many cries of "welcome" from the local rabble. It would be interesting to repeat the exercise without a headscarf (and in a tank top and shorts like the other tourists) and see whether there's any difference.
We decided to take advantage of the free (and definitely sanitary) lunch on offer back on the ship.Our route back to the port took us past a beach where some kids were playing soccer and so we decided to go for a walk along it and came across some locals offering drinks and a place to sit. Although I was keen to try the local brew I was even more keen to avoid drinking anything that contained the local tapwater. A couple of unopened cans of cola, thanks... After the obligatory round of bargaining we settled down on the cane chairs whilst they ran off to buy the drinks from a local store - these guys keep a minimal inventory apparently.
A thought struck Rachel as we sat on the beach. Her Grandparents went for a walk along a beach in Alexandria the day after they first met, at which time Monty (Grandfather to Rachel) apparently popped the question - no mucking around with that guy, eh? We wondered if where we were was the same beach...
While we sat and took in the sun and sand and filth and muck, the call to prayer started to wail from a loudspeaker on a nearby building. And then from another building. And another and another. Sitting out in the open meant that we were swamped with the drawn-out cries of the holy men, the warbling sounds overlapping one other and echoing off the sides of buildings, producing an amazing chorus of droning chants.
Despite the beach being strewn with all kinds of rubbish there were people actually swimming - recreationally - in the water.
We watched these guys bring in their boat and were amused to see the two cats sitting right at the waters edge, faithfully waiting for the fishermen (and presumably some tasty fish guts) to arrive.
As well as truckloads of household refuse we came across a few discarded hypodermic needles in the sand, not far from where these guys were playing football barefoot.
I couldn't resist taking this shot of a billboard advertising expensive shoes in a third world city where the only soccer players we've seen don't wear shoes.Later in the day we wandered through the Souk, a big sprawling marketplace that sells all imaginable items from tiny shops where many of the people actually make the products they sell. We found our way to a place that sold metal kitchenware and bought ourselves a plain teapot.
At the end of a long day we made our tired way back to the ship, once again thankful that we were doing this 'the cheats way', as Rachel puts it - staying on a cruise ship, resting our heads on clean linen, eating nice food, and not having to deal with all the upleasantries that normally accompany third world travel...
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