Last Stop: Alexandria

When I told a French guy on the Prince Abbas that we were going to Alexandria, he told us we had to do two things.  Neither was on the Memphis Tours itinerary, but Shaimaa agreed to add them after we visited the Catacombs.  Our route took us deep into the city past high narrow alleys of hanging laundry, decrepit buildings and dozens of street vendors, selling all kinds of food, including fish.

Shaima texted the Egyptian tourism minister to complain that the catacombs were flooded. They have long been emptied of their bones and treasure, so I'm not sure how much difference the water made aside from navigating the subterranean rooms.

A crude cobra decorated a burial room.

The city's colorful trams looked as if they might have been around when Lawrence Durrell wrote The Alexandria Quartet.

Taxis in the city are yellow.

Thom had been hoping for something like the Egyptian Riviera after our three-hour drive to the coast.  We got the Corniche instead, a  multi-lane highway that winds along the Mediterranean.

Google wasn't much help in locating the Mahmoud Said Museum, which our French guide declared a must-see sight for any art lover.  It bumped  a visit to Constantine Cavafy's home. I figured an artist's villa would have more visual appeal than a poet's living quarters. Said, a former judge, brought modernism to 20th century Egyptian art.  You'd be able to see for yourself what a terrific contribution he made if photos had been allowed.  His work reminded me a little of Marsden Hartley's.

Afterward, we drove along the Corniche to the Citadel of Qaitbay and walked along the windy promenade.

I love a man in a uniform.  These sailors agreed to pose.

We took Shaimaa and Nagy to the Greek Club for lunch where the fish was every bit as delicious as our French guide promised.  Too bad it was too chilly to dine al fresco.

Shaimaa said she got us a deal by haggling with the chef.

Afterward, I snapped my favorite picture of the trip.

Shaimaa, who wasn't familiar with either Cavafy or Said, did prove there is more to Egypt than ancient civilization by taking us to the magnificent Bibliotheca Alexandrina.  Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the president deposed during the Arab Spring, helped bring it to fruition just after the turn of the second millennium.

Even corrupt regimes can fund great public works.  Note the papyrus shapes at the tops of the supporting columns, a delightful allusion to the original library.  It housed many papyrus documents before Julius Caesar burned the place to the ground.

The library is almost entirely solar powered.  The shape of this exterior lamp nods to the Alexandria lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

This bust depicts Naguib Mahfouz who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1988.  I'm reading The Cairo Trilogy now.  One character says, "There is more than one explanation for your fake news as usual."

The library's other art and exhibits were as nifty as the architecture.

Shaima had a sweet surprise up her sleeve to end our Egyptian trip.  Thom thinks Ice Twist could be big in the US.

Bah!

Khan el-Khalili

Ahmed, our Nile cruise guide, told us not to bother with Cairo's famous bazaar.  "Everything is made in China," he warned.

Corrugated plastic keeps out the harsh sun.

And lenses don't care where colorful goods are made.

 

 

Although I must say I found this mannequin a little shocking.

Shaimaa led us to a store deep in Khan el-Khalili where she could verify the glass goods were blown in Egypt.  She drives a hard bargain, too.

Real Egyptians shopped for food and home goods.

Cats are welcome, too.

Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Museum, just off Tahrir Square, reminded me of a gigantic curio cabinet.

 Finally, an actual lotus flower!

If all goes according to plan, a grand new showcase for many of the museum's treasures will open later this year in an enormous building within view of the Pyramids.  Financed by the Japanese government, it's another example of how Egypt always has depended on the kindness of foreigners to display its archaeological treasures.  Until then, mobs of tourists and schoolchildren will just have to sweat it out in the now shabby museum that the French built at the turn of the 20th century.   

The place isn't even air conditioned but it definitely has an old-world charm.

Security is tight--you can't go wrong with a Yale lock!

Low tech mirrors enable visitors to view carvings beneath sarcophagi.

If there were a "Real Housewives of Cairo" franchise, Shaimaa, our freelance guide, could star.  She lives in a tony suburban neighborhood called the 6th of October.  It marks the date Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula in 1967, long before her birth.  A progressive Muslim woman with two sons, Shaimaa abandoned her hijab at age 16.  She's also an ardent supporter of el-Sisi.

When I asked if Queen Hatshepsut might have been transgender because of her beard, Shaimaa said no but pointed to a depiction the controversial pharaoh who steered Egypt towards monotheism.  "Look at the femininity of Akhenaten's lower body, it's almost as if he's pregnant."

Akhenaten, husband of Nefertiti and reputed father of Tutankhamun, certainly has androgynous features in this sculpture.

Several of the museum's kitschier artifacts appealed to me more than the boy king's treasures.

Although I did covet Tut's amazing shoe box!

Somebody needs a shampoo.

The Hall of Mummies costs extra.  I snapped this one before a guard gently rebuked me.

Egypt's most powerful pharaoh lays in a case nearby.  It seems a tad disrespectful that Ramesses II has been dug up and put on display for the masses.  How the world has changed!