Egypt - a week in Alexandria

[Deleted]

Some friends of mine moved to Alexandria for a year, and that was all the excuse I needed to go and visit them. It actually was not my first trip to Alexandria, but the time before, I had only been there for one day.

This trip was not to visit the rather modest tourist sights, but to get the feel of what it was like to live, even for a brief period, in the grand crumbling buildings along the corniche. These were the residences of the international ruling classes up until the Suez fiasco. Then it was time to move out of the country quickly.





The entrance to my friends' building was very "streamline moderne."



Once inside, it was easier to determine the level of decay.
the foyer


the mailboxes


the elevator buttons


The elevator had probably stopped working 10 or 20 years earlier.

Inside the huge apartment was fascinating. It had been rented furnished, of course.
.....
..........

The kitchen was quite an experience.

...

(to be continued)

[Deleted]

Since both of my friends were working at the Alliance Française quite a bit of the time, I was left to my own devices during the day. That was fine with me.

There were always mysterious things to notice.


It is quite obvious that Alexandria was not very Islamically oriented in its past.


I really enjoyed wandering around the streets taking photographs. Alexandria is so much calmer than Cairo since the population is "only" 4 and a half million.








A lot of people go to the beach downtown right on the corniche. My friends said that the pollution was horrible there since the sewers emptied directly into the Mediterranean.







We went to the beach one day, but to do so we took a bus to a beach far from the city where the water was not as scary.

I spent a lot of the time out on the balcony of the apartment, especially during the hot part of the day.



This was a good vantage point to see what was going on at the local mosque on Friday. (Actually this is not the one, because it faced the corniche!)



Mosques never seem to be big enough these days, so the street is used for praying. (This happens in Paris, too.)









Did you notice how the day at the beach continues undisturbed in the background?

There were a few efficient tramway lines for getting around town. The only cars that were not overcrowded were "women only" of course.



The evening was always the best time to go out, as it usually is all through North Africa.









The week went by really fast, and I continued to observe life from my vantage point on the balcony.





The last thing we did before I left to was to go to the "Russian Circus" one night. I had never been to a circus in my life, and I never would have thought that the first one that I would see would be in Egypt.



There was one act that had the audience in a trance. It was a shapely woman doing slow motion acrobatics. For this act, the lighting was very dim, and the woman was stark naked -- or so it seemed! At the end of the act, the lights came up and you could see that she was wearing a flesh colored body stocking. I found it fascinating how performers can always find ways to get around the morals squad in various countries.

And that was my last memory of Alexandria.

[bixaorellana]

This is totally wonderful!!

On so many tourist sites they tersely say "skip Alexandria" which makes me all the more curious about it. This was an eye-opener which made me want to visit there.

You can see how the apartment might have been really lovely with proper maintenance. Living where I do, I'm less horrified than some people might be by the living quarters shown. The bathroom is nicer than mine!

Thanks for clearing up the praying-in-the-streets mystery. It never occurred to me that modern cities grew way past the capacity of the extant mosques.

Some of your photos go way past the business of reporting and well into art. I absolutely love the one of the men sitting around in the chairs. The frame shop and the close-up of hanging meat are really fine too, among others.

Thanks for this -- I know I will be visiting it again.

[hwinpp]

Great pics, K2.
Was Alexandria at any time francophone or did you seek out shops with French signboards?
The meat looks good. Reminds me of the butchers in Algeria. Here they don't hang it long enough and sell it while it's practically still warm, tough like hell.

On so many tourist sites they tersely say "skip Alexandria" which makes me all the more curious about it. This was an eye-opener which made me want to visit there.
My favourite place in Morocco was Tangier. Apparently also a very skipable city that I found fascinating.

[Deleted]

Yes, Alexandria was the 'French' city of Egypt just as Cairo was the 'English' city. The street signs are still bilingual, even if most of the people are not. I think that French guidebooks tell people to go into a pharmacy if they are having language difficulties, because most of the pharmacists were trained in French-speaking institutions.

[bjd]

Alexandria has been on my to-visit list for a long time. I hadn't realized that it was supposed to be skippable. Nice pics, Kerouac.

One of my favourite books is Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. But of course things have changed.

[hwinpp]

Mar 11, 2009 9:21:03 GMT kerouac2 said:

Yes, Alexandria was the 'French' city of Egypt just as Cairo was the 'English' city. The street signs are still bilingual, even if most of the people are not. I think that French guidebooks tell people to go into a pharmacy if they are having language difficulties, because most of the pharmacists were trained in French-speaking institutions.

That seems familiar!

[Deleted]

I found 2 more photos of the apartment -- the actual working stove and the fuse box.

[onlymark]

I think that French guidebooks tell people to go into a pharmacy if they are having language difficulties, because most of the pharmacists were trained in French-speaking institutions.

I've always advised visitors to Cairo to do the same here, except it is English they invariably speak.

[bazfaz]

I was surprised in Hurghada by the number of pharmacies that also had the sign in Greek. I didn't go in to test them.

[spindrift]

Now I want to visit Alexandria!

[Deleted]

A little more of Alexandria...



A fish market



One day I went alone to the 'European' cemetery. There were gardeners to keep the paths clear and to trim some of the bushes, but otherwise the cemetery seemed almost totally abandoned, as of course it was in 1956.

[Deleted]

I was just looking through this again, and it really made me want to return to Alexandria one of these days. Just one week was very frustrating.

[bixaorellana]

I just love that first photo in #11 -- so foreign, yet such a homely slice of every-day life. It's like getting to read one page of a marvelous book.

[nic]

Sept 10, 2009 19:06:14 GMT kerouac2 said:

I was just looking through this again, and it really made me want to return to Alexandria one of these days. Just one week was very frustrating.

I can think of a few places where a week is too long, but I agree: a week anywhere is far too short. Especially in a city like Alexandria. You didn't even get to go the library!