Our third day in Cairo began around 7 am driving the 3 hour
trip to Alexandria, former capital of Egypt, and a port city of Egypt. Alexandria, with a population of 9 million, has a history which includes being founded by
Alexander the Great, being the throne city for Cleopatra, marked by the towering
Pharos lighthouse at the entrance to its harbor which is one of the Seven
Wonders of the ancient world and had a great library which is renowned for its
archive of ancient knowledge. It was
once the capital of Egypt, but many misfortunes which have included the
Mediterranean Sea swallowing up buildings, a fire that destroyed the ancient
library, the Pharos lighthouse collapsing and the Muslim rulers moving the
capital to Cairo. Today Alexandria is
reviving itself and its beautiful coastline( called the Corniche). We visited first King Farouk’s palace and the
Montazah Palace Gardens.
We then explored the Aqaitbey Fortress with the Pharos lighthouse which was viewed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World in ancient times, the Fish Mummification Museum and the
aquarium where we saw fish from the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. We then heard the Call to Prayer and went to
the mosque where our guide, Yasir, explained the religious significance and 5
pillars of Islam. The Call to Prayer
then began and we could see it in action.
A committed Muslim answers this call 5 times daily, either at the mosque
or in their own home or way as necessary.
We then went to lunch at the The Fish Market which had a
tremendous panoramic view of the Alexandria coastline with grilled fish to die
for.
After lunch we went to the library complex (which was closed
today due to the constitutional referdum in Alexandria). The library is the only one in Alexandria,
but includes a children’s museum, deaf museum, and planetarium. All cities, including Cairo, only have one
large library as opposed to the US where we have small community
libraries.
We then visited the only Roman amphitheater in Egypt. The amphitheater was discovered when excavation took place for
a new apartment complex. In 2010 the
ruins of a Ptolemaic-era temple was uncovered with statues of gods and
soldiers. This amphitheater only sat 800
as opposed the other the theaters we saw on this trip. We then headed back to Cairo.
On the 3 hour trips we had lots of conversation with our
guide, Yasir, who we also had for day one of Cairo. He is in his mid-20’s with a wife of 2 years
and a little boy, Mohammed (1 yr) who he hopes will be a doctor some day. Yasir himself was a talented student scoring
over 95 in secondary school in languages which qualified him to attend public
university in languages. He speaks
Arabic, English, Spanish and Italian fluently.
One can attend public university
for a minimal amount if one scores over 90 in secondary school; otherwise one
must attend expensive private university ($2-3,000/yr) to further one’s
education.
Some conversation included the constitutional referendum
that began today in certain parts of Egypt.
Judges went on strike when Dr. Morsy, the 5 month president of Egypt,
expanded his powers above judicial review on Nov. 22 and precipitated the
latest protests in Cairo and Alexandria.
For this reason there were not enough judges to oversee the election
process so they are voting in stages with Alexandria voting today and other
areas voting next Sat We saw lines for
voting (much like Fl) and one of the museum attendants indicated he had voted “no”
already, but had to stand in line 3 hrs. to vote. The Egyptian people overthrew Mubarak 2 yrs.
ago in their revolution or “Arab uprising”.
Mubarak had been in office 30 yrs. and rules Egypt in a dictatorial
fashion, pocketing much money for himself, family and friends. The Egyptians wanted more rights and better
conditions so Dr. Morsy won by a narrow margin and took office 5 months
ago. Egyptians are a happy people who lie
structure – they want to know the rules, obey them and see punishment if rules
are broken. The Morsy period has been
fraught with un-enforcement of rules and a drafted constitution which lacks
certain safeguard rights for women and religious tolerance. Even liberal Muslims are being urged to vote “no”. Yesterday, Friday, which is a holy day with
no work as Muslims attend mosque at noon, the main Alexandria mosque speaker
urged a “yes” vote and was drowned out by the mosque prayer participants. The politics in Egypt are complicated and
they view democracy so far as a “messy” situation which produces protesting and
an unsafe environment. How this will
work out is the future is yet to be determined, but will be a painful process
(hopefully non-violent).
The personal tour we have been on in Egypt was necessitated
when Norwegian Cruise Line dropped Egypt from its cruise itinerary. We had allocated 5 days in Rome at the end of
the trip and decided to go to Egypt instead for 4 ½ days (this happened in
early Oct. before the latest protests).
Jim researched extensively tour operators and chose a relatively new
group – Janna Tours – which have been excellent in all respects. While this was to be a small group tour, we
are the only ones on it and have gotten excellent service and knowledgeable
Egyptologists for all our tours. We have
felt safe the whole time even though we are 3 blocks from Tahrir Square and
have done many things in Cairo proper.
We will be leaving Cairo tomorrow morning to fly back to Rome.
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