Alexandria Daytrip

This morning we are taking a daytrip to Alexandria. I was able to get into contact with Thu, the Seattleite who I met on the stone bridge in Wadi Rum. Later tonight Eric and I will also catch a train down to Luxor to see the premiere Egyptian ruins, so we leave our bags in Nick and Paulina’s room and head off to the train station. It always seems like when you need a taxi there is never one around, but when don’t they’re everywhere. After haggling we are able to get a good rate to the train station.

In Alexandria, my vodaphone runs out of credit, so I have to wait for Thu to call me. She is only able to meet up with us after work, she teaches at a slum school, so we have the day to ourselves. Our first destination is to head to the library which is probably Alexandria main attraction.



At the library there are a lot of school groups there on a field trip and the floods of hello’s, how are you’s, and what is your name’s are thrown at us. There are even requests for pictures to be taken with us. There is a fee to get into the library and I have a policy of not paying for stupid stuff like going into a library so Nick, Paulina and I leave Eric at the library and explore the catacombs of Alexandria.



The catacombs were pretty neat. They reminded me a lot of the underground cities I saw in Turkey. Low ceiling, claustrophobic rooms, and poorly lit areas all made them seem like the same experience. A lot of the catacombs have caved in and we were only able to explore a small part of them.



In the evening we rendezvoused with Thu at the local coffee shop. It was a good thing Eric was wearing a bright orange shirt because the original coffee shop we planned to meet up at and was in the lonely planet, was closed. We ended up across the street and spotted his bright shirt.



Thu took us to the famous seafood restaurants. It’s a place where you pick your fish and they cook it for you. After haggling over price we get a good rate. This meal was extravagant and I was pretty impressed. It definitely made up for the less than idea thanksgiving dinner I had before.