On the way to Alexandria stopped at the war museum in El Alamein (Oh, forgot to mention stopping at the war cemetery in Tobruk, Libya as well, about an hour before the Egyptian border). One of the better museums we had seen in a while; rooms were generally organized by countries involved in the war in N. Africa. Spoke a lot about the day to day lives of the soldiers, how difficult 50C in the desert can be. Quickly visited the cemetery which was nearly identical to Tobruk (and kept in incredible condition I might add); found around 2 – 3 Canadian graves in each cemetery.
Remainder of drive to Alexandria was basically a continuous townhouse complex on the beach; slightly comforting as ugly as they were, turned out to not be foreign owned like I expected. Apparently most wealthier Egyptians in Cairo/Alexandria also own one of these summer homes. ended up accidently on the wrong road into Alexandria and came in on the backside. I have never seen a more industrial area in my life! It was literally oil refinery after concrete plant after lumberyard for what felt like forever. Someone later told me it’s Egypt’s only industrial area, so not a big surprise I suppose.
Unfortunately our 2 nights spent in Alexandria were stuck caught in a storm. On the brochure it listed the specific storms that pass through every few years so I guess we were lucky to have hit one?? (reminds me of how it rained in Tkarkiba, Libya on the edge of the Sahara apparently for the first time in 10 years). That said we quite enjoyed Alexandria and could have stayed an extra couple days, as has usually been the case on the tour since the beginning of Libya.
First night was spent mainly walking around the markets. People seemed quite happy to see us as I don’t think a lot of tourists make it to Alexandria. On top of Egyptians generally not caring about slaughtering cows, sheep, what have you in plain view of everyone on the sidewalk, it’s their holiday week where they are required to slaughter for the big feast; was amusing being with Kashmira and Tim, the 2 vegetarians around town (almost converted me).
First morning set out to walk over to the castle that overlooks the harbour; about 10 minutes into the walk were hit by an 80km/h wall of water, so we quickly ducked into a cafe. Eventually made it to the castle – was your usual tourist trap but was on the unsheltered side of the bay so was pretty exciting watching some of the waves come crashing in!
Later on in the afternoon a few of us walked out to the catacoumbs – walk down a spiral staircase a good 3 or 4 stories underground and it opens up to a sizeable maze of tombs, as well as a dining area, waiting room, etc. Built in the Greek era and was discovered by a farmer when his donkey fell through one of the roofs! Walked back to the hotel afterwards; I’d imagine we did a good 15 km’s that day on foot.
Up and out early the next morning to do Cairo. Looking real forward to the tour being over as these 1 day stints can never do a place justice!!
Cool old phone
Harbor
Castle during storm
Kids near castle
Castle again