Today's port of call was Alexandria, Egypt, a city where we have visited at least three times over the years. Every time we stopped here, we had booked a tour, but having seen everything there was to see, we were on our own today.
The history of Alexanderia, the second largest city in Egypt, wraps around Alexander the Great and Queen Cleopatra. It is both ancient and modern, and from what we saw today, it is a city that is crumbling near the port area. Small museums are abundant as well as many opportunities for seafood dining. We toured this city long ago and saw the Roman catacombs, Pompey's Pillar and the National Museum.
There are 5.8 million people that live in Alexandria, while 96.7 million folks live in the entire country. They speak mainly Arabic, but there are schools that teach English as a second language. The country consists of 1 million square kilometers and the capital is Cairo. Wrought with political, financial, and social turmoil, the people of Egypt are striving to welcome visitors to their land. You are transported to the past when taking an excursion to Cairo to see the pyramids, the Cairo Museum and the Sphinx among other sights such as the Nile River. It is a "must-see" if you can handle the long 3- hour ride one way to get there. You will also laugh when you see how close the sprawling city of Cairo is to the Giza Pyramids. We estimate it is only about one mile between the two.
Our best memories are from our very first visit to Cairo, an overnight stay from the Seabourn Sun world cruise in the spring of 2001. A total of 500 of us traveled the 3-hour each way desert ride to see many of the famous sites. There were ten buses, each with an armed guard, and escorted by Hummers with more armed guards front and rear. We understand that the same precautions were taken for today's convey of buses. Anyway, we got to walk inside the Cheops Pyramid before the area was opened to the general public. It came with a warning, however, that if you happened to be claustrophobic, do not attempt it. You never really know what your reaction would be in tight spaces where you are bent over in the steep stairway going inside. It was a one-time experience for us, and one of us still gets nightmares about it. One elderly couple actually turned back halfway up, and went back screaming all the way until they got out. How they squeezed past the rest of us still is a mystery to us.
We visited other older pyramids, then headed to the Nile River for a beautiful lunch on a riverboat. The buffet they displayed had the most delicious large strawberries and other fruit, but we had been warned not to eat anything that was washed in their water. That eliminated all of their fresh salads. Anything cooked like meats and vegetables was fine as were the cheeses and crackers and breads they offered.
Later that evening, we had a private dinner at the Sphinx, which was closed to the public that night. A most famous archaeologist and curator of the Cairo Museum, Dr. Zahi Hawass was the guest host, who shared his recent discoveries of a new excavation sight. Dr. Hawass was selling his book that he had just written about the new find. If you bought one, he was happy to sign it. Our meal was followed by a laser light show on the Sphinx. It was such a thrill, we knew that experience would never be duplicated.
We stayed at one of the high-end hotels in Cairo and decided to cool off in their huge swimming pool. It took us by surprise to find that the water had been chilled to the point it was painful getting into the pool. We had to laugh when we saw little kids jumping and diving into the water without any problem. Nice to be young, right? The second day found us visiting the Cairo Museum and the nearby bazaar. We did notice that none of the ship's excursions today included a stop at the souk, which was understandable since it is too easy to get lost in there.
Here is a sample of their favorite food in Egypt. Shawarma is lamb or chicken cooked vertically on a spit, then sliced thinly for sandwiches. Flteer is Egyptian pizza with a thin crust with cheese and olives. Manshi kurumb is rice and meat stuffed in cabbage leaves. Molokhiyya is a slippery soup made with jute leaves with added rabbit and garlic. Hamam mahshi is roasted pigeon stuffed with green wheat and rice. Mahallabiye is a dessert made with milk custard, pine nuts and almonds.
There were some excursions offered today. Of course, four of them went to Cairo and all of them would be about 13 hours. They ranged from $280 to $350 and all of them included lunch. There was also a crew tour that we hope cost about half of what the guests paid. And may have been shorter in duration. The Roman catacombs and museum in Alexandria was 6 hours and $190 and the Alamein War Museum was 6 hours and $130 with lunch. These tours tend to take streets that avoid the "real" living conditions of the local population. And that is what we wanted to see for ourselves today.
By the time we woke up at 5am, the ship was docked in a container port that was shared with the Gare Maritime Cruise Terminal. The plan was to be cleared early so the several excursions to Cairo could leave by 6:40am. Well, that didn't happen and there was a delay with the ship's clearance, which was finally announced by 8am. The Cairo buses ended up leaving around 8:45am. The shorter tours left soon afterwards.
We left the ship by 10am, going to deck A where a table with an Egyptian official checked our passports after our room cards were scanned. We were directed to pass through their spacious terminal and their xray. Then we walked to the row of souvenir shops that were permanently set up on the pier. You never would have known this small souk was here because the front of the shops faced the street and not the ship. Naturally, the competing vendors vied for our business, which we said we would look on our way back. And they would hold us to that promise.
There was a raised bridge with cover sidewalks going to the exit of the port area. It was here that we ran into some friends that had attempted the walk outside the portal. They highly advised us against going out there, blaming the crumbling sidewalks, the horse cab vendors, and the taxi guys selling cheap tours. Further up this bridge, we came across another elderly couple, perhaps Spanish or Italian judging from their heavy accents, who told us about trying to get inside one of those little cabs. It was not possible to fit, and these folks were not very tall or large. The taxi driver changed the price three times, and they said bring us back to the terminal. They got out of the car in a hurry and headed back to the ship.
Once we arrived at the gate, we had to sign a list to the local's form with our room number. One fellow passenger by the name of Jim from Pittsburgh was waiting for a suitable couple to tag along walking outside the gate. That happened to be us. He said they made us sign the list so that someone could identify our bodies. Hope he was kidding, but we said sure, follow us, even if we did not know where we were headed. Bill did ask the two young guards which way to walk to a decent area, and they said turn left and follow the traffic.
OK, we had no intentions of buying a tour, a horse cab, or any other form of tour. All we heard was $5 or 5 euro for one hour, knowing they were fibbing. Saying no thanks, they continued to follow us for two more blocks. Staying on the sidewalks became harder, since they were crumbling and filled with trash and rubble. That's not all they were littered with as we saw evidence of dog poop, but there were no dogs close by. Need we say more? There were big trash dumpsters filled with disgusting stuff and covered with flies. To avoid tripping over broken concrete, we all resorted to walking the street, along the parked cars. This was dicey as there was a lot of two-way traffic.
One word to describe what we saw is "squalor", decaying high rise apartment buildings, stray cats and a few puppies. The streets were full of mostly local men and some elderly women in half or full burkas. Their heads were covered completely with scarves. There were a lot of school kids coming out from classes along the way. Even the young boys around 10 or 11 were bold enough to demand what our names were. Our walking partner said these were the young vendors in training. Aggressive could be a better description. An elderly man waiting for a student we assume, told them to stop yelling at us, which they did instantly. The girls giggled while passing us , then gave us "high fives" and wanted to shake our hands, which we did. They giggled even more. There was no doubt in our minds that few cruise guests take this path off of the ship.
If there had been shuttle provided for those of us that did not take tours, it may have been nice. Later in the evening, we ran into officer Bart, who told us he and wife Daphne had taken a cab to the New Library, which was close to a huge and modern mall. Sometimes these malls will provide the shuttle, but not today.
The ship's map was useless because it was printed with English street names, but the local signage is in Arabic Cyrillic figures. Eventually we reached the Naval Department which was very pristine and fenced off to the public. No photos were allowed. That is where the beach began on the corniche, where most of the people were local men once again. We saw some restaurants across the road as well as some hotels and shops. There was nothing that we would have considered suitable for lunch, or even a beer. And it appeared that nothing was even opened yet. It was at this point that Jim from Pittsburgh decided to take a taxi back to the pier. He asked if we wanted to share a cab, but we said no, we would take our chances and walk back. We wished him well and he was on his way back.
There were as many cats as people on this street. Someone had seen fit to toss some small fish on the broken sidewalk for the cats to fight over. The largest male seems to win every time. There was a stray dog nearby who knew better than to mix with the feral cats. It was here that we decided to turn around and walk back, taking even more pictures along the way. Staying in the street, hugging the parked cars, some of which were shells of cars, we found it less difficult to walk. No wonder the locals do not use the sidewalks. Small buses navigated through the streets, picking up passengers along the way. They were mostly the elderly women out shopping for the day. If they lived in any of these apartments, they would hang their wash outside the windows, even though some had no windows, just metal bars. If this was in the USA, all of these crumbling buildings would be condemned. If there was an earthquake, there would be few survivors.
We arrived back at the portal to the pier after hearing a series of really loud prayer calls from the dozens of mosques. One of the nicest mosques was across from the port entrance. Later in the evening, we heard that one of the trusting room stewards went into a mosque to pray, where he had his wallet lifted and his shoes stolen. How sad is that? Nothing is sacred here, but we knew that visiting a mosque is not the safest place to see. And never leave your shoes behind without paying someone to watch them. Better yet, bring a plastic bag and put them inside the bag taking them with you.
Before we were allowed past the gate, we had to go through the xray again. Then we had to stop and cross our names off the list. We thanked the guards for their good directions and were secretly happy we survived our little jaunt into this huge city. We never really feared for our safety, but were more concerned about tripping or being run over by passing cars or buses.
Once over the bridge, we did stop at the souk like we said we would. We have seen so many of these displays in similar countries, that we did not see any treasure we could live without. One little item one of us needed was a keyring, which we found for a mere $3 - US cash was happily accepted as long as the bills were new. We dealt with a vendor who called himself "no b_ _ _s_ _ _ Bob". How's that for being direct. There were several passengers and crew members in these shops that we were able to escape without much pressure from the other persistent vendors. One thing that bothered me, was when one of the men took my arm and said come into my store. No thanks as I turned out of his grasp. They will not do this to a man.
We entered into the massive empty cruise terminal showing our room keys to go through the xray again. Back on the gangway, we had to repeat the xray since the ship's security said the local xray is garbage. We were back to our room by 1pm after three hours of a grueling hike. Lunch was two cannonballs from the Dive-In Grill, which we enjoyed on our veranda in the little bit of sun we were getting. Once that sun disappeared, it was cool enough to wear our arctic jackets. We did have a wonderful view of the working docks where some of the container and freight ships were being loaded all day long. There was a police boat that stayed across from the Zuiderdam all day as well.
Of course, there were scores of photos to process and a story to be written, which took the remainder of the afternoon. Dinnertime arrived as it always does, and by then some of the long tour groups were just re-boarding the ship. While waiting for the elevator, we spotted at least ten tour people on their way to the Lido restaurant. There was a Bedouin Night buffet advertised as a desert dream with a Middle Eastern feast of flavors. We think it was targeted for those folks that came back late from their long excursions since it stayed opened until 9:30pm. It was a good night to gather under the stars with jackets on to enjoy a different type of dinner.
We ordered salads, one soup and a shrimp cocktail. Mains were a small serving of tortellini and one order of chicken Kiev with risi-bisi rice and peas. Desserts were one scoop of raspberry sorbet and one berry tart covered with meringue. Then our waiter Kadek reminded us that we had to turn the clocks ahead one hour, which I said no, I don't like that. He looked shocked for a second, then we laughed and said OK. It should be the final hour ahead for this trip…..we hope. Then it will be back one hour every other day more or less.
As expected, there was no live entertainment in the World Stage, but a movie "Lee" was shown instead.
We really need one day at sea to be ready for Turkey, our next port of call.
Bill & Mary Ann
