Our first field trip ended in semi-disaster. Going on the advice of friends, fellow travelers, and a very emphatic Lonely Planet Guide, we decided that we just HAD to see the Egyptian Museum. The Egyptian Museum is apparently one of the best museums in the world, though it comes by the reputation dishonestly: you can't help but be one of the best museums in the world when you're located in one of the most richly historical places in the world. The museum wins by default.
I say this because the museum itself is apparently awful, speaking from a conservation point of view. It's packed to the brim with all kinds of artifacts, and yet it can't even hold everything that it should. It's notorious for having countless priceless pieces jammed into storage or in the basement, and the running joke is that the artifacts need to be excavated AGAIN, because they've been in the basement for so long that they've sunk into the soft floor and have practically been reburied.
[NOTE: I call this the running joke, but it's actually literally true.]
Plans have been made for a big new museum, with climate control (something the present museum lacks - which I'm sure is also pretty terrible for the museum pieces) and all kinds of fancy-pants museum designs - but they are sorely underfunded and only tenuously commited to a 2012 finish date.
[Funny story: The present museum didn't even have a security system until a few years/decades ago. When they closed for the night, the last employee would lock the door and go home. However, one night a clever crook decided to hide out after close, and made off with loads of priceless artifacts. This gave them the impetus they needed to finally install an alarm system.]
But enough ragging on the museum. It may not be perfect, but it is still incredible, and better than having NONE of these artifacts on display. So Autumn, Tim, Cory, Andrew and I decided that we should pay it a much-deserved visit.
We didn't necessarily go about it in the best way possible though. Committed to our Cairo schedule, we got up at noon, per usual, and planned to leave the apartment around 1 o'clock.
A note for anyone who might ever be in Cairo during the summer: NEVER GO ANYWHERE AT ONE O'CLOCK. Don't do it. It is bad news. When we told people this story later all they could do was look at us disdainfully and ask, "One o'clock? Really guys?" See, from one to four o'clock is the hottest part of the Caireen day, and this day in particlar was even hotter than it had been. In addition to that, it's Ramadan, and although none of us are Muslim (and thus do not personally observe the fast) it's pretty much a dick thing to drink water in public, no matter how hot or thirsty you are. No one is going to fault you for it, but would you want to eat or drink in front of someone when you know they haven't had anything all day? I know I can't bring myself to do it. And all teh restaurants are closed so it's really hard to find food during the daylight hours.
Autumn, Cory and I, in our light, breezy apartment, had been sleeping through the hottest part of the day and only going out during the cool, comfortable night. We were blissfully unaware of the joys of Cairo midday. Thus we set out at 1 o'clock to head downtown and meet up with Tim and Andrew. We successfully, though sweatily, walked the 10 minutes to the train station; got on a stuffy, breathless train packed to the eaves with sweaty, smelly men; and suddenly realized that maybe this wasn't the best idea we had ever had.
We made it five stops before I realized I was going to faint.
I grabbed Autumn and Cory's hands and stumbled out of the car, and sat on the ground for a few minutes until my vision cleared and my ears stopped ringing. I was so embarrassed; I had been so excited about the museum and there I was ruining the trip. And I refused to let Autumn buy me water because it was Ramadan and I felt too guilty.
I would not give up! We would not go home! We had promised poor Cory that we would show him the sights, and yet we hadn't done anything worth mentioning in the four days or so he had been there. And I LOVE museums. I was so excited! And we only had three more stops to go! I took a deep breath and made them get back on the train with me.
It took one more sweaty, stifling stop before I called it quits.
Even if I got to the museum, I don't know that I would be able to enjoy it if I was unconscious.
At least I tried, right?
We decided to catch a taxi home, rather than try to get back the way we came, and the silver lining of this sad sad tale is that we bought a big juicy watermelon while wandering the streets searching for a ride. I was too miserable to necessarily appreciate it right away, but after I got back, drank a gallon of water, and lay down for two hours I was much more receptive.
In order to make up for this failed first outing, we decided to come up with a grander scheme, involving earlier hours and cooler temperatures.
Alexandria would be perfect.
Alexandria, or Scandria as it's called in Arabic, is a little city right on the edge of the Mediterranean, about a two and a half hour journey from the capital. It has an amazing history, far too complicated to recount here, but do yourselves a favor and Wiki it. Its recent history is similarly interesting: it was a den of sin in the 40's and 50's, filled with foreigners and brothels and drugs and French pleasure gardens, til Nasser kicked them all out and it slowly filled up with conservative Egyptians migrating in from the South. The result is a city that is far more conservative that Cairo, with a deliciously salacious past that it seems quite keen to forget.
History notwithstanding, the beaches are lovely and the air much cleaner than it is back home in Maadi.
Autumn has a friend whose boyfriend, Michael, is living in Alexandria, and she had been told that if she ever wanted to see the city she should call him and ask for a tour. So Wednesday night she called him, told him we wanted to come Friday morning, and he generously invited us to spend the night in his flat and head back to Cairo on Saturday.
Smart little Caireens that we now are, we got up at 8, left the house at 9, headed downtown and found a microbus headed for Scandria. It was surpsinigly easy - we popped around from driver to driver til we found the right van, and it only cost 22 pounds - about 4 dollars. Can you imagine taking a two and a half hour ride with Greyhound for that price? I think not!
Leaving the city was wonderful. We drove through some wonderful landscapes; rocky beige tracks of land that extended out and out to the sky, with every now and then a pinkish concrete building sprouting out like a dusty spacepod. Everything looks out of place in a world so flat. My favorite, though, was driving along an unassuming highway, nonchalantly observing the skyline, and suddenly realizing that you are seeing the pyramids shimmering in the distance through the dust.
You know. Just sittin there.
[We never got to the pyramids during this visit. Wandering Cairo in the summer heat was bad enough. Wandering out to the desert in August was just asking for it.]
Alexandria was beautiful and full of breezes. We attracted a lot more attention there than in Cairo; we got off the microbus a ways before our destination, and spent some time just wandering the streets. I think the people aren't so used to seeing foreigners off of the beach, just looking around. There was a lot to look at, though! The streets were decorated with lanterns and streamers in honor of Ramadan, and the buildings were beautiful; old and towering, a lot of them painted in pinks and creams, with bright peeling blue, yellow, green shutters. Check it out:
The streets were lined with the usual venders selling food and wares, and at one point we passed by a table literally teeming with bunnies.
"Bunnies!" Autumn exclaimed, and took a picture delightedly. "Let's buy a bunny! We should get a pet for the apartment!"
"Of course, Autumn," I said warily. "Pets..." Realizing she hadn't noticed the steaming grill set into the alcove behind said adorable bunnies, Cory and I, who didn't have the heart to crush her little vegetarian dreams, hurried her on. Unfortunately she figured it out later. Ah, loss of innocence.
We met up with Michael about an hour later, and found in him a kindred spirit and a remarkable tour guide. He knows the city of Alexandria like the back of his hand, and after making us a delicious Egyptian lunch in his beautiful flat he took us out to see the town.
Our first stop was at the catacombs, which were discovered in, I believe, the 1920's. An unfortunate donkey fell through the street, five stories to his unexpected and understandably unpleasant death - too bad for him, but how great for us history lovers! The twisting system of carved tunnels is filled with artwork that shows both Greek and ancient Egyptian influences, creating an interesting fusion of cultures. The stone panels depicting the gods are the best: they've got the bodies of Greek gods with Egyptian animal heads smushed on top.After the catacombs we walked for a half hour or so, maybe more, til we came to the Corniche, on the Mediterranean. We got a good feel for the city on the way - saw some of the architecture, a lot of the people, some ancient Roman ruins, some imposing buildings left over from the hayday of colonialism. We even stopped at the intersection under which Alexander the Great is supposedly buried. Michael really was an incredible tour guide; I'm still amazed at his knowledge of Alexandria, and we soaked it up like appreciative sponges.
For dinner we stopped at one of his favorite fish places, down a dark little street lit primarily by strings of electric ramadan lights. They had the most amazing hommus I have ever had, along with baba ganouj and cucumber salad, and for our main course they sliced open a big old fish and cooked him with garlic and onion and pepper. It was SO good.
The fish actually reminds me of something. My radical weight-loss plan - i.e. Carolyn gets terrible traveler's sickness and cannot eat for weeks at a time - still has yet to come into play. I avoided questionable food for my first week or so, but I've been much more daring lately and I still feel just fine. I'm not complaining, I'm just amazed, because I got so sick in Tunisia I was sure it would happen here too! And of course, there's a chance that the sickness is still looming in the distance...but Egyptian food has treated me well so far, and for that I am thankful.
Except that I tried to bulk up a little before I left so that I would have some weight to lose, and it turns out it was all in vain. I guess I can't afford to gorge myself afterall. And I brought at least 10 boxes of pepto bismol with me, and I've only taken 4 tablets so far. What a waste!
So the fish was delicious, and did NOT make me sick, and we had some really good conversation over dinner. I decided that at some point before I leave I want to go out dressed in hijab, and see if people treat me differently. I told Michael about my plan to see what he thought, since he has lived in Egypt for two years and has a lot of knowledge about the culture here, and he thought it was an excellent idea. There are light-skinned Egyptians, and we both think that it would be an incredibly interesting social experiment. Being a foreigner unavoidably brings about different treatment, and carries with it certain streotypes, and makes people treat you a certain way. But what would it be like being Egyptian, and blending in with the crowds? How would men treat me, once the idea of Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton was out of their heads? Especially if I was wearing the head scarf, I am sure it would be an entirely different experience. I think I would like to try it in Alexandria more than Cairo too, since Alexandria is more conservative. So I'm planning on giving it a try sometime in the next few weeks, and of course I will blog about it if I do.
After the fish place we went on a fun run of bars and cafes - to a hole-in-the-wall expat pub called the Spitfire run by three Egyptian Brothers who love to joke around with customers - to a fancy cafe right on the water that serves great sheesha while playing Whitney Houston and Celine Dion from speakers attached to palm trees - and finally back to Michael's flat, where we went to bed happy and exhausted.
We had to leave very early the next morning, to get Cory on his flight back to Syria. But we were proud that we had finally gone on an adventure, and it had been a wonderful one! Autumn and I are determined to go back to Alexandria as soon as we can, and to hopefully swim in that big beautiful ocean when we do.
So that was Alexandria.
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