Alexandria, Egypt - Day 1

Today I took my first steps in Africa!!!!!

 

Egypt is not at all what I, and many others, pictured in our heads before we got here.. it's much much different so far.  I stayed in Alexandria today, and it is a very big and busy city!  There are cars and cabs and horse-drawn carriages around every corner.. and they all HONK at everything.. and I mean everything!  I don't think I ever went a minute without hearing a car honk, probably even 15 seconds.. haha.  The Egyptians so far like the Americans and we get a lot of stares and cat-calls when walking down the streets.

 

This morning it took awhile for our boat to get cleared, probably because all of our passports got stamped, but I don't know!?  So, around 10:30 we finally made it off the boat, and started our journey through Alexandria.  I went with 3 friends and we didn't have a real agenda or anything.. just to walk around and see what Alexandria was like! 

 

We decided to head toward the Alexandria Library and see what we found on our way there.. and no more then 2 1/2 minutes once we stepped out of the port we were asked at least 2 dozen times if we needed a cab!  We kept saying no no, we're going to walk, but they were very persistent!  However, the cops are extremely nice around here and pointed us in the right direction and told us what cabs/ horse carriages not to take because they would charge too much.. so that was very helpful!  We all ended up walking to the library, which took over an hour, but didn't really seem that long and we got to experience the busiest parts of the city.. and the task of crossing the street when there are no crosswalks or streetlights!!! What an adventure that was.. but I'm alive and in one piece so thats good!  We finally made it to the library, which was huge and crazy! It only cost 10 pounds ($2) to get in, and you had to check your bags, which was weird.. but we went in and had a free guided tour in English of the Library.  This new library has the biggest reading room in the whole world, which can seat 2,000 people!  The library's design is very modern and really big.. There are either 9 or 11 floors to it, I forget.. and the bottom 3 are below sea level which was weird.  In addition to the Library, there is a conference center and planetarium shaped like a giant sphere. 

 

After leaving the library, we were all hungry but afraid to eat real Egyptian food because we've heard lots of things about it from our medical staff.. so we ate at a Hilton Cafe.. haha.  It was pretty good and really cheap.. my whole meal cost only 28 pounds, which is a little over $5.. crazy!  Next, we headed back in the direction of the boat because we had been gone for awhile and were all very hot and tired.  It was in the upper 90's today in Alexandria, and supposedly Cairo is 20 degrees higher on average, which is where I will be spending my next 2 days! 

 

We attempted to walk back to the boat, but stopped and asked directions as the ancient Roman Theater to some police officers.. who told us to get a cab because it would be much easier, and he was right!  The police hailed the cab for us, told him where we needed to go, and negotiated our price because there are no meters.. and we were back at the port in no time!

 

On our walk in the port there are many shops inside, so we stopped at a few of them and made friends with one of the shop owners... he started out by giving us free shot glasses and then tank tops for $2 and I bout 2 pairs of linen pants since this is a Muslim country and it's offensive to show your legs/shoulders... and the pants were only $5 each!  So, I ended up with  2 pairs of pants, a tank top and a shot glass for 50 pounds.. or $10!!!  Also, that owner of the shop engraves these pieces of silver jewlery with your name and so me and my friend Lilly ordered them because we thought they were neat!

 

We finally made  it back to the boat, laid out for about an hour and then went to dinner.  At 10:30, Lilly and I went to go back to the shop to pick up our jewlery and made friends with all the other shop owners.. it was nice though because we were still in the port and you can only get in with your passport and you have to check in with your room number on the ship and stuff.. so it was safe and the shop owners were really nice!

 

Now, I am off to bed because my trip for Cairo leaves at 7:30 am tomorrow, which means I have to get up at 6 in order to get ready, go to breakfast, and be at the buses by 7:15!!!  I am sure my stories from tomorrow will be amazing because I will be seeing the PYRAMIDS!!!!!!!!!