Hey everyone, I made it safely (kind of) to Cairo! My flight was really scary and I thought the plane would crash, but it didn't, and here I am. When Celia picked me up at the airport (after a long, confusing hour of misunderstanding...) we took a taxi to her apartment in a neighborhood called Zamalek. She had to go back to work, so we grabbed a quick lunch and I ventured back to her apartment, where I stayed and rested/unpacked until she got home in the evening. We had a traditional Egyptian dinner at her house with another intern, and then went out to a local bar called Huraya, where we were some of the only women... the bar was really rowdy and dirty, and unfortunately the beer in Egypt turns out to be even worse than the beer in Korea (can you believe that, Owen?). But it was still a great time, and I had fun getting accustomed to the feel of Cairo. The next day I was actually sick with a fever, so I had to stay in Celia's apartment all day and rest. On Saturday I was feeling better, so we took a train to Alexandria for the weekend.
April 19-20
After a few days in Cairo getting oriented, Celia and I took a weekend trip to Alexandria, on the Mediterranean Sea.
This was the view from our room in Hotel "Crillon" (we don't know why there were quotes around "Crillon," but that made it even funnier). We had taken a train from Cairo with the intention of staying at Celia's favorite hotel, but on the train she realized she had forgotten her passport. We were worried we would have to return that same night, but after being rejected from the first hotel, "Crillon" took us in. The hotel itself seemed as though it had once been a beautiful building, but what remained was creepy and filled with taxonomy...
walking across a "bridge" to get to the hotel
We spent the first day walking along the Mediterranean coast and looking at Fort Qaitbey, which occupies the site of the former Pharos Lighthouse, which was one of the original 7 wonders of the world. It basically looks like a sand castle. It was really beautiful and sunny while we were at the fort, so I was able to get some nice photos.
Ahhh, the Mediterranean...
cats are everywhere!
On our way out of the Fort, a large group of young teenage girls asked me to pose in a picture with them. As usual, I stand out a lot in this country, so it's hard not to get harrassed. It was nice to have some friendly girls interested in taking a picture with me for once instead of men who may have other ideas... the picture was really funny and cute, but unfortunately we didn't get one on my camera.
There are always tons of picturesque minarets everywhere you go.
After the fort, the sun was beginning to set, so we decided to get dinner before heading home to get ready for a night out. In Alexandria there is always an abundance of fresh fish that you choose yourself. I don't really know what kind of a fish we picked, but it was delicious anyway! We also had calamari, both fried and sauteed. It was a fabulous dinner!
Fresh fish dinner
After dinner we searched and searched for a liquor store (they can be kind of hard to come by here, because of the whole Muslim thing...) and finally found some rum that Celia assured me would not make us go blind. It almost did. :) So we sat in our hotel room, enjoying the creepiness of it all, until we were ready to head out for the evening.
prefunking with an interesting rum concoction
We headed out to the Spitfire, which was a bar with a really Western feel to it. There weren't very many people in there and we made friends right away. It was really fun to meet some Egyptians and hear about Egypt from their perspective.
From our room at night
The next day we were supposed to return to Cairo, and we ended up having pretty much the whole day to spend in Alex because of bus schedules, so that was nice. We mostly walked along the coast in the sun all day, and later took a tram (which was definitely an experience!!) to the San Stefano mall (where Celia says all the rich Egyptians hang out) and met some of our friends from the night before at... STARBUCKS. Haha, I think I've been to a Starbucks in all the other countries I've been in, and they really are all the same, just like home.
Lord Shave is apparantly very popular in Alexandria
This picture is of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which was inspired by the original great library founded in the 3rd century BC. It is intended to hold 8 million books, but actually only has a few hundred thousand. We didn't actually go inside, but it was very nice with the sun hitting the water and windows.
I really liked this sculpture
I took this picture to give everyone an idea of how terrifying it is to cross the street in Egypt. Cairo is actually much worse, but this street was really bad in Alex. There are no crosswalks, and you basically have to play frogger to cross the street, except you honestly think you might die EVERY SINGLE TIME. There are rarely any openings between cars for you to dart out and say your prayers that someone will stop for you. There is also constant and incessant honking to distract and disorient you so that it's even more difficult to concentrate and cross "safely." Crossing the street is BY FAR my least least least favorite part of Egypt.
Sunset in Alexandria
Since it's taken me so long to start posting to my blog (sorry, guys!!!), I have seen so many beautiful and amazing things, but before doing much traveling, Alexandria was my favorite part of this trip. It is still my favorite part of Egypt, and I would love to return and spend more time in this seaside city.
Ok, keep posted, I am really trying to catch up on my blog today... I'll do my best!! Hope everyone is doing well back home, and I miss you all!!
p.s. Sorry about the crappy layout of this blog posting... something is messed up with the html and the the computer is basically formatting this however it wants.
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