Alexandria Trip

This weekend we went on a trip to Alexandria, which is about a 3 hour bus ride north of Cairo. We were only there for 2 days, so we only got to see some of the high-points of the city, including stops at the Fort of Qaitbay, the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, and the Library of Alexandria.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was being able to swim in the Mediterranean for the first time. The water was a perfect temperature and was so clear. We swam out to a depth of about 9 feet, and it was easy to see the ripples in the sand of the ocean floor. Absolutely beautiful.

After we got done swimming, I made an observation--no one was playing in the sand. I was with my friend Johan (the "j" is pronounced as a "y") who is from Norway. Of course we were already being stared at (which is a strange phenomenon to me) because we're two very tall, skinny, white guys on a beach that was most definitely populated primarily by Egyptians. But then I told Johan that we should make a sandcastle to see what people do.

After a minute of sandcastle construction, we had people gathering around us, watching us building our castle. As the construction continued, we had around 20 people circled around us, ranging from middle-aged men to little boys (no women came to watch, but they were certainly observing from their nearby chairs). Johan and I attempted to talk to them in broken Arabic, and they attempted to talk to us in broken English. It was so much fun and was definitely the best part of the short weekend vacation.

Here is the link to the pictures that I took in Alexandria.

This weekend marks the end of Ramadan, so we have an extended weekend. We're going on a trip to Luxor, which is in southern Egypt. It's gonna be hot, but it has some of the most amazing monuments in Egypt.

Have a good Tuesday!