thibaultintheworld: AA15 - Day 10-12: RennesUnion #2 in Adorable Alexandria

It took us a full day of driving from Hurghada back to Caïro. The beautiful sight of the Red Sea on our right side and the desert on our left, made up for most of it though! Blows your mind how so much water cannot change desert into one single tree. Oh sorry, not true. There was one three. During the whole day we actually saw one (not man-planted) tree. I was too surprised to take a picture. At the end of the day, we were but capable of finding a Spot to eat and hang out at the hotel before I gave up and went to bed. Unfortunately our airconditioning wasn’t working in our room. Luckily we could change to another one where…. it did not work either… Small tip for everyone going to the Middle East: be sure to have a room with working airconditioning, because you’ll miss it most when it’s not there!

A mere four hours of proper sleep later, our alarm clock rang and at 7.30AM we had breakfast at our hotel, Caroline Crillon, which was the same as Day 1’s. Back to our bus for a 3,5hrs ride to Alexandria!

Alexandria, named by and after the legendary Alexander The Great.

We arrived in Alexandria on the day of the Feast, Eid, which is much like our Christmas. This means there was way less traffic than usually and people were not so stressed as on working days. Arriving to the city, we immediately hit the National Museum of Alexandria. This old but large 19th century house holds artefacts found nearby Alexandria as far back is 3000BC until today, giving you a small insight in what the city has undergone over the centuries with Pharaos, Alexander The Great, Greek-Romans, Islamists, French, Brittish etc. controlling the city and its surroundings.

One hour is more than enough to visit this museum and we headed for the Delta Hotel. Arriving there I was awaited by Erasmus Rennes-buddy Mohamed! 3,5 years after our last #RennesUnion in Amsterdam, we met again… My Egyptian friend, whom I had met during my Erasmus experience in Rennes (2011), and is based in Alexandria, barely gave me the chance to drop my stuff of in my room before we got in his car to discover the city like a local. Catching up on what had been going on in both our lives, work, travel etc. we managed to drive all through the coastline road of Alexandria to King Faruk’s castle and gardens. A beautiful park just outside the city center, used for picnic’s or big events, with a view on the mediterranean.

Catching up with old friends

We drove back to the city center and picked up Mohamed’s fiancee, Nada. Yes, that’s how fast he changed: from a lazy Egyptian to a Bachelor in Business Administration, Vice President in the National Shipping Company, engaged but luckily still ugle as …. haha, just joking my friend! Nada is an incredible woman. Beautiful, smart, broad view of the world, good opinion on what’s going on, fluent in Arabic, English, German and French and going for her Masters soon. Don’t know what Mohamed did to get her, but maybe he could give me some tips?

We headed out for some shopping and had a great dinner with just the three of us at a restaurant, followed by an awesome evening chilling with some of Mohamed’s friends -they’re all engineers, what was I doing there?- in a local bar (no alcohol served…). Luckily they all spoke perfect english and I managed to learn a lot about there culture as well as share some insights in mine, I think, but as well about them as a person. This clearly showed me that, wherever you are born, in the end all the guys are still happy when the girls go home sooner so they can chat about footbal, business and girls without getting any angry views from them…

I got back to the hotel a bit after midnight, going right to bed as the next day we got up at 8AM. After a quick breakfast, our tour headed out to visit a part of the Greek-Roman Catacombs, beautifully decorated, followed by a quick visit to the Fortress standing where -it is believed- the ancient Light House of Alexandria used to stand. Great sightseeing of the mediterranean from here, although the Fortress is not worth going inside. Last, we visited the El Mursi Mosque, one of the first Mosques in Alexandria, and Egypt, and still a center of encountrements between Muslims in the city. Well-worth visiting!

After a quick siesta in the hotel, I was picked up by Nada and Mohamed again, now heading to his house. The Shams’ family all live in different appartements in the same building right at the coastline, meaning they have an amazing view over the ocean right from their house! I was very lucky to be invited by his family to celebrate the Feast with his family and found myself in the middle of a warm, perfect english-speaking and super kind family of Egyptians, having one of their main traditional celebrations of the year. Truly a beautiful experience, which I hope more people could enjoy. As stated in the Qu’rán, a sheep (or cow or lamb) should be slaughtered on this day, giving at least ⅓ to charity and sharing the rest with family, relatives and friends. A table packed with food awaited us and I was literally stuffed with food until I had to loosen my belt. Jerry, grandmother of the house who prefers to be named like Tom & Jerry, is an excellent cook. Luckily I do not have to eat from her cooking skills every day, or I’d be fat as an elephant…

When the sun set, which is around 6-7PM here, we headed to a compound outside the city. A compound is basically a big resort where between 500-1000 houses stand and where the better-off families of Caïro and Alexandria come for weekends or holidays. Here I was lucky to meet Nada’s parents, just as hospitable as the Shams’ family as well as Mohamed’s best friend and his family, all offering me plenty of food and drinks. If there is one thing, except for the pyramids obviously, people should remember about Egypt: is that everyone always is ready to help you out, and stuff you with food and drinks…!

A last meet-up with his friends later, Mohamed dropped me back of at the hotel around 1AM where I still had to pack my stuff before redeparting for Caïro on Friday.

Alexandria is well worth-visiting. Even if you don’t know anyone, the breeze of the mediterranean will be a welcome change to the oftern unbearable heat of the rest of the country. Moreover the city is way more relaxed than Caïro, and without a doubt the most westernized city of Egypt. Thank you for receiving me Shams’ family, hopefully one day I can return the favour!

_safe travels!