street hugs the coast and is lined with palms. Old, stylish cafes with
delicious pastries are scattered throughout. Egypt's second biggest
city, Alexandria seems quite small in comparison to Cairo.
The Alexandria Library with the modern architecture, high ceilings,
and students buried in books was a refreshing stop. It contains a
very respectable number of books and resources as well as (modern)
Egyptian paintings and sculptures. The cool and quiet peace of a
library was thoroughly enjoyable as an escape from the heat and noise
of traffic. We also saw an exhibit on Palestine which documented
Palestinian individuals' stories from 1948, when they were removed
from their land, to their lives now in refugee camps or elsewhere.
Then, just as we were leaving, we wandered into an exhibit on the
former President Anwar Sadat who was assasinated in 1981 in Cairo. He
was one of the first from the Arab countries to initiate peace with
Israel and is admired by most all Egyptians. There were personal
letters handwritten by Jimmy Carter on the White House stationary.
Also a peace pipe from a tribe of Native Americans in Colorado was
given to Sadat commending his efforts for world peace. He seems to
have been loved by his country and honored internationally.
We spent the night strolling the coastline. The sandy beaches were
littered with plastic tables and chairs and full of families eating
together. Children played in the dark water at night. Some men went
in the water. We saw one woman in up to her knees, still covered head-
to-toe including her face. Men were out fishing at night in boats and
from the shore. Some used nets and tried to catch anything left in
the tidal pools.
Last night we took the sleeping train south to Luxor. We had our own
little double cabin. After dinner the attendent helped us turn the
cabin into a bedroom. It was odd to wake up in the middle of the
night and realize we were moving on a train. It was not the smoothest
train either. The attendent woke us in the morning an hour before the
arrival. We looked out the window to see people working in fields of
corn and palm trees.
Exploring Luxor today and tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment