Day 34

Not all the sights of Alexandria were pretty!

(Though some were).

TUESDAY 12th JANUARY

Synopsis of day: Alexandria and a little retail therapy.

Highlight of the day: The shopping centre in Alexandria – the fashion there was excellent, the prices pretty reasonable and it was so clean and overly comfortable especially compared with souq shopping. (We've been wanting to visit a mall for the entire trip).

To enter the Carrefour (sort of  like Woolies and K Mart)

you had to have all your other bags security bagged.

 
Lowlight of the day: The taxi ride to the Carrefour mall. The driver used his mobile, the seat belts didn't work, I was in the front and it was the most terrifying driving experience I have ever had (ever worse than being in various minor accidents).

Toilet ratings: Those at the Bibliotheca were perfectly fine.

Inside the Bibliotheca (I bought a blow-up Tutankhamun for 3 years plus here!)

Favourite quote/word: “It probably involved pigeons” (Our guide's English was a little hard to follow sometimes and we only got part of a story about Pompey's Pillar but there were pigeons involved. Any time we were trying to decipher what things were, we figured pigeons had played a part).

The pillar wasn't that exciting.

 Favourite photo:

A blow fish at the markets near the port at Alexandria.

Cultural-shock moment: The taxi ride.

New food consumed: felafels at breakfast. How strange but kind of cool.

Random act of crazy: The taxi driver had a police siren and for the first few minutes I was convinced that the cops were after us, but it was actually just being interspersed with the horn. Crazy.

What Arthur did next: We only saw him at lunch time because he chose not to come with us for the tour. We made it everywhere on time and no-one got lost.

Something I want to remember: Walking into the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and marvelling at the books and extent of the collection. We also got to see the Rare Manuscripts museum which showcased a variety of old books and manuscripts from different times and religions, but mostly medieval and early modern Islamic texts.

Outside the castle at the port of Alexandria.

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