Thursday 6th January 2011

Rising at 6am was difficult, but Mamdouh’s arrival at 7am was necessary if Jennifer and I were to make it to Alexandria with sufficient time to look around and relax. The long drive along the Alex Desert Highway was just as terrifying as the road down the Red Sea coast. Three hours later and we were back in urban dystopia, with shacks along the road and industry peppered across the marshes of the Nile Delta.

• A fine French-style appartment block in Alexandria
• A great many police and army vans were in evidence following the terrorist attack on New Year's Eve
• Alexandria football stadium, apparently

The roads of Alex were as chaotic as Cairo’s but without the underlying order. There was no predictability to how cars would react to each other, and the vicious un-marked road humps didn’t help matters. After a couple of missed turns, we eventually made it to the El-Salamlek Palace towards the East of Alexandria’s thirty-something kilometre coastline. The palace was built after the Lego school of architecture, and accordingly looked somewhat fake. The servant’s quarters had been converted into a modern “nineteenth century” hotel into which tourists were permitted upon payment of an entry fee. Had I been a guest in the hotel, I would not have been best pleased to be eating breakfast whilst wandering visitors focused their cameras in my direction.

• The El-Salamlek Palace and its Lego-like architecture
• A rare glimpse of bright green outside the library at Alexandria
• The gorgeous interior of the library at Alexandria
• The ceiling lights of the library at Alexandria
• The interior of the library at Alexandria
• A British-made printing press on display at the library at Alexandria

A pleasant drive along the seafront brought us to the New Library of Alexandria, an ugly-looking modern building. I was initially disappointed, as this was apparently the primary attraction of our visit. However, I clearly need to cease judging books by their covers (if you will excuse the library-related metaphor) as the interior was stunning and incredibly thoughtfully designed as a space for reading and learning. The juxtaposition of materials – glass, black marble, concrete and light wood – created a very pleasant environment.

• The library at Alexandria
• The library at Alexandria
• The library at Alexandria

For lunch we stopped at a fish restaurant on the seafront with a glorious panoramic view of a long stretch of Alexandria and the Mediterranean. Hummus-like dips with bread whet the appetite for whole FISH and FISH with shrimps, followed by more FISH. It was a good thing indeed that I had partially relaxed my vegetarianism a year previously. After a quick drive around the centre of town, we departed for home, grateful to Seif’s father for the excursion.

• A Beetle cuts through the Alexandrian traffic
• Taxis in Alexandria are easy to spot
• Traffic in Alex

By dinner time we were exhausted and slumped into seats at an Italian restaurant. But, alas, they only had an off-licence for alcohol, so we were unable to partake in a much-needed glass bottle of wine; on the way home, we searched for an open shop selling wine, but no such luck. We stumbled (despite the lack of wine) across crowds of people gathered around the Coptic church around the corner, where people were congregating for Midnight Mass to celebrate Christmas. Due to the terrorist attack earlier in the week, security was high and visible, and there were many people (both Christian and Muslim) gathered in solidarity. It had been fascinating and very reassuring to see billboards popping up everywhere (especially in Alex) depicting a crescent moon and cross in harmony together. and even more pleasing still to hear muslims and Christians talking a message of tolerance after such a brutal and potentially devisive attack on New Year’s Eve.

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Cairo Diary: A Leisurely Day
Wednesday 5th January 2011

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Cairo Diary: Excitement, Adventure, and Protests
Friday 7th January 2011