When we got to Alexandria we walked with all or bags and tried to find the hotel that mommy had found for us. We walked around looking for it for a while and then just found a restaurant to eat at while daddy looked on his own. Luckily she never actually booked a room at that one hotel because we never did find it, and no one we asked had ever heard of it. After lunch (really yummy—really good fish!) daddy went to find a hotel for us. He found this little family owned one on the 3rd floor of a building which had a really nice lobby and was really clean, but the room was less nice and they didn’t give us towels. After we dumped our stuff at the room, we walked the library and got there about five minutes from closing time so we couldn’t go in. That was a bummer because it looked really nice. There was one of those round planetarium theatre things out front along with statues of Alexander the Great (it’s his library, even though it is a modern building). There were college students everywhere in Alexandria, especially at the library, because there is the big Alexandria University there. It was a pretty happening place!
The people who owned the hotel we were staying at started changing their mind about the prices at 10 pm. It was actually really funny, because there was a 13 year old boy who was pretty much running things, a mother, several little boys, and a dad. The dad didn’t do much work at all and probably couldn’t even if he had to. I think the little son had to tell him where the towels were. So yeah, he didn’t do work, and he yelled at everyone whenever something went wrong. We heard him chewing out his wife at about 10 pm because she didn’t charge us enough. That’s why the son kept knocking on our door to raise the prices and stuff. We had been planning to stay there for two nights but obviously changed our minds and left the next morning. When we left at about nine the next morning they were all still sleeping and the lobby was dark. That was good (even though it was weird) because we avoided a big nasty confrontation. We could have just walked out, but daddy left some money and the keys on the desk.
After that was pretty much a repeat of the night before. We found a café and hung out there with our stuff and ate breakfast while daddy looked for another hotel. This time it was on the 5th floor and it was quite a bit worse than the last one. The signs were really decrepit and the elevator was downright scary! The whole place smelled bad, but the worst part was that neither one of the showers had both hot and cold water! The kid’s room only had cold water, and the grown up room only had hot water (the cold water valve was broken). Neither a super-hot shower nor a super cold shower is at all pleasant, trust me! Of course, they didn’t have towels either. So anyways, we dumped our stuff in the room and walked to the Qaitbay Castle. The castle was pretty cool, but the most shocking thing (in a good way) was that the people selling souvenirs left us alone! There were plenty of stands and stuff, but they only asked if you wanted something once and they left if you said no. It was so nice!
On the walk back we stopped by a really pretty looking mosque that we had spotted on the way over. That ended up being a really interesting experience because we ladies had to go into the ladies section that was in a tiny corner. In all of the mosques we have been to so far there has been a ladies section, so that isn’t new, but the different thing was the fact that it was in a tiny corner (usually there is a much larger space), the screen was higher than eye level (usually it is only about waist level), and we (as visitors) had to go inside it! It made us pretty darn angry especially when the guy outside asked for baksheesh (tip). Other than that it was a pretty nice mosque! There was a guy who was giving out free copies of the Quran and all sorts of pamphlets on Islam. Actually, he pretty much forced them upon us so we took them. That book is heavy, so we discreetly threw them away once we were out of sight of the mosque.
After the castle and the mosque, we walked back to the hotel and hung out in the room for a little bit before dinner time. For dinner Zander, mommy, and I went across the street to pick up some fast food (which was actually not that fast, and not that disgusting), fruit, and drinks. We brought it back to the hotel and ate at the tables in the lobby. It was dirt cheap and it was really yummy, so I liked it. The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, which included a gigantic croissant and all sorts of other breads (they really load you up on the carbs in Egypt). After breakfast we met the driver daddy found for us. He was another senile old guy with an ancient station wagon (we seem to be a magnet for those ones). He kept saying ‘happy, happy’ and ‘this for you not for me’ and stuff. Exactly like our felucca guy! “Happy captain!” “Happy driver!”. We went to Pompey’s Pillar (the tallest pillar in Egypt—its huge!) and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (endless underground maze of tombs—creepy as hell). After that we went to the train station and (after daddy got rid of the driver who, like the last old man, wanted more money) bought a second class ticket to Cairo. At Ramses station daddy found yet another crazy old driver with the same exact model of station wagon! Seriously!!! From there we braved the traffic to our hotel. The driver took a long cut that was supposed to get us less traffic, but it didn’t so it took a few hours. It was interesting though, we saw a pretty intense fight because two guys ran into each other or something. When we finally made it to the hotel our driver wanted more money too, so daddy had to get rid of him and hire the hotel van for the trip to the Egyptian Museum and the airport the next day. That van was way more comfortable and the driver was not creepy, so I’m glad he did it.
The whole Alexandria episode was, as always filled with drama for your reading enjoyment, and actually pretty fun (when you look back on it… only when you look back on it). We saw an Egypt mixed heavily with Roman influence, got a copy of the Quran, met two more old men with older station wagons, and we met our first Christian!!!! (He was the guy who drove us around on the last day in Cairo. Daddy asked him how many wives he has, which is as common as ‘do you like Lady Gaga?’ when we are in Egypt, and he looked pretty horrified and said ‘One! I’m Christian!!!!’ I hope he wasn’t offended….). Then we visited the Egyptian Museum (which was awesome) and finally took off for Athens
No comments:
Post a Comment