The last week, I have been running around Cairo attempting to get errands done Egyptian style.
Last Tuesday for example, I pulled out three different forms of identification to prove that I was indeed a foreigner. (Because you know, Egyptians want to pay $60 to visit Luxor on the AirCon Sleeper Train). Last Wednesday I realized rather lamely that no one in Cairo really knows the location of the Pakistani Embassy (including the guards of the Yemeni Embassy a block down the road), and I fought a few cab drivers a reasonable fair attempting to get to Darassa, an area of Cairo, previously never visited.
When Julia suggested that a platter of seafood, some Meditarrenean views and a seabreeze may be what we needed to kick start our spring break, I hopped onboard that plan. Katie picked up tickets the previous night for 8 a.m. train to Alexandria, we headed to the train station on Friday morning, and by 10:30 in the morning, were in Midan Saad Zahgoul, looking at the historic Cecil Hotel, the gorgeous Corniche, and smelling the unmistakable scent of salt in the air.
Our plan for the day was simple, lots of sitting on the Corniche, lunch at Hood Gondol an a mid-evening train ride back to the city- but it evolved into something much, much more luxurious.
We began our day sitting at Cafe Delicies, a landmark cafe and patisserie that's been a part of Alex since 1922. They claim to use the same recipes they used back then- although I can't really compare either version, I've only ever had their We sat sipping Cappucino Vienoise's- the waiter brought out three plates of sugar packets, four cappucinos, and a plate of decorative whipped cream that all four of us proceeded to attack. Katie and I may have licked the remnants of whipped cream on that plate clean too.
Our waiter took one look at Katie's backpack (she was taking a flight to India from the Alexandria airport in a few hours), our light travel gear, and made a sly remark about how they didn't serve fool, falafel, or koshari. His sense of humor made several reappearances on our trip.
We finished our coffee, left Katie to find an Internet Cafe, and then began our jaunt on the Corniche.
We watched a man fish for a while, then walked eastward to the Biblioteque Alexandria. Katie met up with us, we found Hood Gondol (a testament to my stomach), and ordered spicy clams, fish fillet, shrimp, and fried calamari- three platters at 30 L.E. each. Stuffing our faces.
Claire asked for a fork there, and the woman looked at her in surprise, letting out a shocked laugh. "Mafish Shooka" she told us. "We have no forks here." We set off again to the Corniche, finding a secluded spot with a sandy beach view with umbrellas and deck chairs.
There was even a little surf. We sat there for a while, enjoying the breeze until a group of prepubescent boys decided Katie was hot, hot stuff and got out a hi-tech mobile phone to take pictures of the little back she was baring.
We decided to ignore them, seven minutes later they were gone.
After the seabreeze had chilled through our bones we walked back to Midan Saad Zagoul. Deciding to try another one of Alexandria's famous period cafes we poked our heads into Cafe Trianon. The meeting place for the characters of Lawrence Durell's Alexandria Quartet, and a old haunt of the poet Cavafy, Trianon had definitely lost whatever charm and appeal it had during those days. We stepped back out, sat outside Delicies, ordered a few chilled drinks (Katie took off for India).
We had the same waiter- Claire and Julia ordered chocolate milkshake type things, and when he served them to us, he called them "Aswan."
Cultural sidenote: People from upper Egypt (Aswan etc) are considered darker skinned than lower Egypt (Cairo, Alex)- the joke being on the chocolate drinks.
We didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After our second caffeinated beverages, we walked back to the Biblioteque Alexandria, where we discovered the price to enter the library was only two pounds. Biblioteque Alexandria, built kind of where the library of Alexandria would have been is a modern architectural feat (see picture of Julia and me above). The last time I was in Alex, I had no desire to visit it, but this time, I found myself walking inside, and somewhat impressed.
We visited the antiquities museum (Julia convinced the guard that we was Masriyeen enough to where we could enter ont he 2 pound ticket), and walked around the entire antiquities museum (a 20 pound per head discount), loving the melding of graeco-roman and egyptian art.
The statues of Aphrodite were merged with statues of Isis and Hathor, the statues of Amun were right along side hieroglyphic stelas and Roman discus throwing arms, and Mamluk mashrebiyyas were right along with Coptic ivory tools. It was a beautiful and thougtfully selected collection, one that I would visit again.
I love marble Aphrodites, and I could look at Aphrodite with baby Eros over and over again in that museum. Plus a sector of the antiquities museum has some of the original mosaics and antiquities found on the location of the original Alexandria library. The mosaic panels were gorgeous-
After the museum, we walked around the main library, where I was amused by being Julia and Claire's third wheel. After a couple of moments, I guess the guard who had told them that they were beautiful twins realized that I may feel a little left out and told me I was beautiful too. Amusing awii.
We ambled around the antique printing equipment looking at the way the glass panels reflected the light of the ocean, and then when we left the library headed over to the western side of the corniche to get a sunset beer at the Greek Club.
Our plan changed as soon as we got to the Greek Club, where we opened the menu, looked at the appetizers- looked at the time, and ordered, ate, and paid our bill in about twenty minutes. We had fried cheeseballs, two glasses of lemon juice and mint, meat kofta, and chocolate mousse, which we split between the three of us before booking it back to the train station.
I've never eaten faster in my life, and between passing the small bowl of chocolate mouse and eating the kofta and giggling at our harassment of the waiter- we enjoyed an absolutely beautiful view of the boat dock on the western side of the fortress of Qaitbey.
Last but not least, Claire and I enjoyed Julia's flirting with a cab driver on the way back to the train station, as he told her that the train was not important, and that she should stay longer in Alex to eat seafood with him. We grabbed our belongings, ran out of the cab, and rushed onto our train with barely any time to spare.
Minus the man jerking off on the side of the road (Julia made some obscence noise, and he stopped immediately), the horse and carriage guy that just wouldn't leave us alone, the group of cute boys who were in love with Katie, the beginning to Spring Break was just perfect.
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