Europe – 2009 – day 13

The pictures are:
1. The Roman Amphitheatre, the only example of a Roman Theatre to be found in Egypt.
2. Outside the Library
3, Read this about the Library.
4, King Farouk’s Palace. (Actually his summer palace only)
5, In the bazaar
6. Making paper

We went to bed fairly early because the casino does not open when the ship is in port.

We met out guide Soha and the same driver that we had yesterday at 9am and off we went to see the city of Alexandria which at 8 million people, is Egypt’s second-largest city and it largest seaport. We found out the Soha was a lawyer; however, she no longer practices because she doesn’t like all the conflicts with being an attorney. You can contact her at soha_guide@yahoo.com. She arranged for two wonderful days in Egypt.

We first went to the catacomb of the Romans when they controlled Egypt. An interesting place but certainly don’t want to be underground like that a lot! The catacombs were found when a donkey fell in a hole that caved into the catacombs and they had pictures of the donkey when it fell.

Next it was to the great library of Alexandria and this was an amazing place. Please look it up on the internet as it is one of the biggest maybe the most advanced library in the world. They have in their stacks approximately 800,000 books and in addition, they have 350 computer terminals that can access almost anything in the library. They have a huge area just for the blind as well as 8 separate museums in the building.

We went to the Roman Amphitheater to see the ruins there and back into the van for a drive through the city.

Then we had lunch in another Egyptian buffet with local food that really wasn’t that good. Just about the same as yesterday but it was filling anyway.

After lunch we drove up the coast to see King Farouk’s palace – great place if you could afford the help. It is currently used by the President, who really is a dictator. The election only has one person running and they are already grooming the son to take over.

We went to their market which is basically a large number of city streets that spiral out from a center round-a-bout. Each street specializes in certain products, like spices, clothing for women, leather, brass, etc. The bazaar has almost everything. Our guide said that she bought her washing machine at the bazaar. We went to buy another bottle of Kahlua; however, there are no liquor stores anywhere in the city. Our guide says that they are taught that liquor is a sin.

We then went to a papyrus “institution” where our guide demonstrated how paper was first made by the ancient Egyptians and that was fun. We bought an art piece to put on the wall made with hand-made paper from papyrus.

We finally said good-bye to our guide and driver at 5pm and walked onto the ship.

When we arrived at our room we were surprised by an invitation to tour the bridge tomorrow. A week ago Barb wrote a note to the Captain asking for a bridge tour and we hadn’t heard anything and today we received the invitation. This will be neat because they do not allow passenger to be on the bridge anymore. This will also be when we are actually at sea so we will see everything in operations.

Snacks on the deck followed by a nap and we were ready for the evening.

Barb has caught my cold and has been miserable for the last two days – hopefully a day at sea tomorrow will help her.

Dinner was fun as always and afterwards we all went to the theater for the evening entertainment. When we arrived, we were told that the entertainer had gotten detained in Cairo customs and missed the ship so the show was cancelled.

We all went to one of the lounges and had drinks and sat around talking till about midnight. Our ship friends from England and Scotland are some of the best tablemates we have ever had. If Bob and Shelia from Florida were with the table it would be perfect – maybe next time.

Not good in the casino so it is time for bed and some much needed sleep for Barb.

Night - Night