I am in a nice car with two lady friends and a tour guide named Ramez, cruising back to Cairo from Alexandria, a city that has been on my bucket list ever since some history teacher long ago said something about a huge library. The oud music is playing, the air conditioning is fine, and there is almost no traffic because it’s the first day of Eid al Adhar. Ramez: “Can you dig out a new CD? Maybe Abba?” Me: *sucking all the air out the car* “You have Abba?!?” “Dancing Queen” for me is the musical equivalent of a really nice Pinot Grigio, second only to “Word up” by Cameo, (which is like Dr. Pepper and Cheetos). And Ramez has a pretty sweet set of speakers in his nice car. He actually said to me, “Great music can really make Cairo better, am I right?” We also listened to “Dust in the Wind,” “Shape of My Heart,” and some Adele covers featuring traditional Middle Eastern instruments. Sidebar: Abba was in concert here on September 15. True story. I am enough of a nerd to know that Alexandria is famous for the library, but not enough of one to recall that the original was destroyed a really long time ago. I am seriously embarrassed to admit this, but in my defense, I think when my teacher brought up the subject I heard, “…and there was the greatest library ever assembled…,” and then I blissed out picturing it and heard absolutely nothing that came afterward. The fact that I missed this important piece of information through two more passes of ancient history (#homeschoolmomshame) just tells you how much of a “mental margarita” I take the minute we start talking books. What remains is called the “Daughter Library.” It was really more of an underground storage for books, and felt like catacombs. Ramez walked us all around and told us how people did not really come to take out books and study them, but rather to sit in a big pool and have philosophical conversations. Huh??? Above ground are the ruins of some cool stuff and a couple of sphinxes. I am not adding a lot of detail here because Ramez was so full of great info that I retained only about 30% of it and this post is already too long. What I do recall well from this site was how a surfer found a sphinx underwater in the harbor and alerted the government to check it out. When they did they found a LOT of stuff. A lot is out and on display here, but the granite began deteriorating much faster on dry land so now there is an underwater museum being planned. It will allow the antiquities to remain safer back underwater with viewing chambers for visitors. On this same site is a very well preserved Roman amphitheater. When orators or performers stood on the round marker stone, the acoustics allowed for a sort of natural amplification that was like having a microphone monitor so they could hear themselves very clearly. Ramez demonstrated this to us by having us stand and speak from a few feet behind the stone, then trying it again while standing on it. The difference was really remarkable. Our next stop was lunch, followed by gelato at a famous shop. Had it not been the first day of Eid, Ramez said the place would have had an intolerably long line. I tried strawberry mixed with vanilla and it was wonderful. We took it and walked down to the edge of the harbor to see the fort where the Lighthouse of Alexandria once stood. It was here that Ramez shared with us the symbolism of the Egyptian flag. The red bar across the top is for the blood shed under British rule. The center white bar is for the peace Egypt has experienced since being freed from British colonization. The black bar is for the dark years under the British. The eagle in the center is for gaining their independence from Great Britain. I wish they would be more honest in how they feel about this part of their history. Our final stop was St. Marks Church. It houses some relics - supposedly the skull and some other bones of the disciple Mark who, according to Coptic tradition, was martyred in Alexandria. Relics are one of those old church things that are pretty hard to verify so I was not terribly interested in this, but the interior of the church was really beautiful. On our drive out of the city, Ramez swung us by the new library. It’s really nice looking, but we could not tour the inside because it was closed for Eid. This probably would have been the highlight of the day, but as it was, we still had the whole drive home with all the Abba and Adele/oud and air conditioning. Library or no, it was a lovely day. - Jenni
1 Comment
Charlotte keiter
9/20/2016 04:55:10 pm
Loved the tour, Jenni. Did you go on your birthday? The photos were wonderful as well as the text. So glad you had a nice birthday whether there or elsewhere. Love you lots
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