My time with the cats finally came to an end and I took a long overnight bus trip to the city of Alexandria, having decided to see those corners of the country I’d previously missed (as well as the new Grand Egyptian Museum). Alexandria was really interesting, with so much of the country’s ancient history (founded by Alexander the Great, succeeded by the Pharaohs, Romans, Mamluks, Ottomans, French – even the Brits, for a short period) having left its mark here – in the case of the Romans, allowing me to combine my interest in viewing historical remnants with that of birdwatching, when I saw this swamphen amongst the Roman mosaics remaining in the city!
It was fun travelling around too. I did a lot of walking as the city is
stretched out along the Mediterranean coast, but also enjoyed travelling in the
12-seater white minivans which you can flag down and take to most places for
just ten Egyptian pounds (the equivalent of 14p in British terms). Oh yes! …talking of which … the similarity of
their ten and twenty pound notes to ours, in size, colour, typeface, etc, is
really uncanny…
One thing about the city that surprised me was the number of collapsed buildings. Not the old buildings from Greek and Roman eras, but modern ones. I looked up why this might be, and discovered that whilst part of the reason is poor enforcement of building regulations, in particular when people add additional floors to the top of a building and thus overload the foundations, it is in large part due to rising sea levels; the city appears to be protected from this in that the water-front is lined with big concrete blocks separating the sea-front area from the waves - but the water table is still rising, with saltwater infiltrating the foundations of buildings, eroding the soil stability from below and corroding structural materials. Apparently a few hundred have collapsed this century and some 7,000 currently standing buildings have been identified as being at risk of collapse.
The people were nice and friendly. Another of those places where you see people
look at you shyly, and if you smile at them they then beam with such happiness –
it’s lovely to be able to give so much pleasure just by smiling at them! But their friendliness was taken to another
level on my onward trip from Alexandria to Siwa. A trip taking 9+ hours, it was a little
annoying when we stopped at a bus stand in a town along the coast for a full
hour about half-way through the trip, I suppose to give the driver a rest and
the chance to eat and drink something, but I just wanted to get to Siwa. I’d brought food and water with me, so rather
than waste money in one of the cafes, I crossed the main road and headed down a
side-street in the direction of the sea, thinking that it would be good to
stretch my legs but also perhaps offer the opportunity for a nice view of the
sea or at least of some local life. But
a minute or so down the side street, I got one of those shy looks from a local
lady, and so smiled at her … resulting in her inviting me into her home to sit
on a cushion and enjoy the cola, tea and cakes she swerved me with! Whilst I was eating and drinking, she phoned
a friend who speaks some English and got us invited to his place down the
road!! Once again I was offered food and
drink, but when I explained that I really had to be on my way as I had to get
back to my bus, his family quickly packed a dozen fancy home-made biscuits into
a box and insisted that I take it with me for the journey, then he walked me
back to the bus stand. Wow… I really can’t
imagine that such a thing could ever happen to a stranger walking around in the
UK.
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