Getting to know a little City called Alexandria

Today we spent the day exploring some of the major attractions in the city of Alexandria. We learned that Alexandria was one of the most important cities during the Greek/Roman time and it is currently famous for its oil refineries and fishing seaports. It is also Professor Ghaly’s hometown so he was clearly very excited about the day’s itinerary.

After leaving our hotel in Cairo, we drove about 2 and a half hours North to the city that lies right on the Mediterranean Sea. On the way there we stopped at a small zoo, which was bittersweet. I personally hate zoos because I always feel really bad for the animals, but I do love seeing them. Most unusual part of the museum was that they have dogs, yes pure bread dogs, in cages to be displayed. Apparently people in Egypt don’t have dogs as pets like so many people in America do, and it was really weird to me to see them like that. We also saw lions, ostriches, monkeys, and more. Once in Alexandria, we started with exploring the Botanical Gardens of Alexandria, which we learned was created by an Italian Architect. The Gardens were right on the water as well so we were able to walk around the boardwalk (Sidenote: Professor Ghaly pointed out the house he grew up in on the way there).

Next we went to the only remaining Roman Amphitheatre remaining from the Greek/Roman Period. Apparently Alexandria used to be filled with thousands of theatres, but the stones were recycled for other projects throughout time. The most interesting part of this theatre were its use of acoustics; there was a circle on the ground in a specific spot that if you speak while standing on it, everything is say is volumized an amazing amount (it really took me off guard, especially because I was the first one to try it). In case you were wondering what I said on the circle, Zack asked who in the group had a cat (naturally I was quick to raise my hand) and he told me to call my cat while standing on the circle (miss my Paco so much!) The amphitheatre also had statues that belonged to Cleopatra that were discovered under water; apparently some of the monuments are still under water and you can go scuba diving to see them (very cool).

Next we visited the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa which is a burial chamber that once held about 300 bodies. If is unsure for whom the tomb was intended for, but what is really interesting about it is that it combines Egyptian and Greek/Roman styles. For example; the Egyptian God Anubis (God of Mummification) is depicted in the main chamber of the tomb with the typical jackal head, but he is dressed in traditional Greek/Roman clothing. There is also a depiction of Medusa, which was a mythological figure in Greek Tradition. There were tons of slots for bodies, and huge sarcophaguses likely for royalty. The entire place was carved into limestone and went down into 3 levels, the lowest of which is now flooded. This was definitely a very interesting site.

Next we went to lunch at one of Professor Ghaly’s favorite restaurants; I had chicken kabob but still haven’t been able to eat that much so I mostly ate tomatoes and pita. After that we stopped to take a group picture in front of the Citadel of Qaitbay, which was built from the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria (One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world). After walking around here for a bit (and seeing some more adorable kitties) we stopped for some of what Professor Ghaly called “the best ice cream you will ever have in the entire world.” I don’t know if it was the BEST ice cream I’ve ever had, but it was definitely delicious, refreshing, and unlike any other ice cream I’ve ever had. You could tell it was homemade; I had vanilla and chocolate :)

After the ice cream our final stop of the day was at the Biblioteca Alexandrina, which is a huge very modern library. Let me just say; this was probably the coolest library I’ve ever seen; it was so modern looking and designed in such a clever way. There are even specific designs for tourists to be located behind glass walls that keep sound in while people are studying. The outside of the library contained carvings of letters from over 1000 different alphabets that has no meaning to the words. In case you were wondering, they considered music a language, and there was Hebrew right next to it as well; I also wanted to stumble upon some Arabic books, and of coarse the first book I pull out is a music history book in English, how funny is that! There were also some modern art exhibits in the lower level, which I enjoyed a lot; I especially enjoyed my little debate with Mike about what Modern Art is, and I totally won. Probably the coolest thing about the library though is that they have a printer that works like an atm, where you order a book online and the printer will make a copy of the book for you in less than 20 minutes! I probably couldn’t study in this library if I were a student here because I would be too distracted by the awesomeness of this library; it really was as cool as I’m making it out to be!

We did so much today I immediately passed out on the ride back to Cairo. Tomorrow is our last full day in Egypt; so crazy how 3 weeks have flown by. Tomorrow we are spending majority of the day and the Egyptian Museum, and then having a goodbye party at night. I’ve learned so much on this trip I have no idea what I’m going to do my final paper about!

We have arrived in Cairo!

I am officially in EGYPT! Ahh! I’ve been here for about 11 hours now and I still can’t believe I am here (you can see the great pyramid from my hotel room!) For the record this post is about Tuesday afternoon in NY until Wednesday in Cairo (I'm posting late and thats why it says Thursday). For the record it will say the time I posted things in EGYPT time.

So a few basics about the trip to get the blog started.. I am here with 41 other students from Union College and Professor Ghaly who is an Engineering professor at school, and his mother, “Mama” Ghaly (this is actually how she introduced herself to us!). This trip is jampacked with sightseeing that anyone would expect when coming to Egypt.

So the flight was planned to leave JFK at 6:30pm EST. We ended up leaving about an hour late and made it to Cairo at about 1:15pm (Cairo time); in total the flight took about 11.5 hours. I know that sounds unbarable but it was surprisingly not that bad. Lucky for me, ther last few rows of the plane were empty which Elana and I spoted because we were in the back of the plane, so Ben and I moved to our own row, and Mike and Elana moved the their own row. Clearly there is a God because I did sleep a little bit (about 5 solid hours I would say) which the help of Drammamine. I watched 2 movies (Inception and Killers), and an episode of Glee and an episode of How I Met Your Mother. So to answer some people’s questions, there wa sufficient entertainment on the plane.

The meals were decent for airplane food. Dinner was a chicken dish; the dessert was gross aka a blessing in disguise because I wasn’t tempted to eat it! Breakfast was a choice of pancakes and eggs, and the thought of airplane eggs made me gag so pancakes it was! (they were actually really yummy). I came to a realization that I really like airplane food not because of the actually food, but it allows you to control your portions.

Finally we arrived very groggy as to be expected and got these really cool visa sticker things to put in our passports. By the time we got to the hotel another 2 hours or so had passed. The first hotel we are currently staying at is Mercure Cairo Le Sphinx. **First thing you need to know about Egypt**there are metal detectors EVERYWHERE! Outside the hotel, restaurants, you name it. This actually scarred me a little later on so keep this thought in the back of your mind.

So Elana and I had such a hard time finding our room, but when we finally did we were pretty impressed. The bathroom was really nice (filled with marble) and you can see the great pyramid from our room! Oh, and we have some English channels on the TV thank goodness. Professor Ghaly mentioned to us on the drive over to the hotel that marble and other stones are very abundant here, so it is seen all over the place.

Also on the ride to the hotel we met our tour guide for the whole trip whose name is Mohammed Zakaria (I probably spelled that wrong). He told us that so many people in Egypt have the same first name that people often refer to each other by their last name, therefore he told us to call him Zach. HE was also the tour guide for the mini-term 2 years ago.

Before we left for dinner Ben and I lit candles for Hanukkah. YES even though we are in Egypt, land of the no jews anywhere, we lit candles for the first night! Thanks for the Menorah Liv :)

Finally dinner time approached and we went on a dinner cruise called the Memphis. Zack told us that Memphis was the first capitol of Egypt and that we will be going there later in the trip. Going into the restaurant we went through a metal detector, and I went off because I had my camera, and the guy just let me through! what is that?! He just let everyone through.. totally didn't make me feel safe.

Everyone got dressed up for the cruise on the nile which was very cool. We had a buffet dinner which included chicken, pasta, rice, etc. and the food was decent. After we finished eating, we watched a show which included a belly dancer, drummers, and spinning thing which was fun because they engaged with the audience. We took some pictures on the top of the boat too so the start of my photo collection is looking solid (and so far am loving the new camera!)

Tomorrow we are seeing the pyramids of Giza, going inside one of them, camel riding, and more. Will have the details about that in due time of course which I will include in m next entry. But until then, this place is pretty cool and can’t wait to keep exploring!