Venturing Outside of Cairo

Princess was looking for Ariel in the Mediterranean Sea. Dimples was curious too.

Again...who can resist a cannon?

Hubby climbing the wall...Princess was up there just behind him without us knowing it.  The wall was only 40 feet high.

In the park by Mubarak Palace.  Princess was particularly interested in the camera this day.

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving with a trip to the Mediterranean Sea.  We woke up bright and early, got the kiddos ready to go and were picked up at 6:45 AM.  The roads were quiet and it was already warm and sunny.  The drive was very quiet into downtown Cairo where we were dropped off at the train station with our 1st class train tickets to Alexandria.  We were excited and full of anticipation as we approached the train, not really knowing what a 1st class cabin in Egypt would look like.

We have traveled by train in Europe many times, often in "coach" and found the accommodations and seats to be very comfortable.  We never really felt the need to go "1st class" there.  But, were we ever glad that we chose 1st class here.  The seats were big and comfortable and although the floors were really dirty, the train car was very spacious and the people were all very helpful.  When the train started to move and venture out of Cairo we got a glimpse of what farm life is like.  It was fascinating watching the people work in the fields as it is still very different than the farming procedures at home.  When was the last time you saw a farmer with a cart being pulled by a donkey to carry the grain?  Many farmers were carrying their own harvest and using a sickle to cut the grain down.  It was like everything I taught the grade 8's a couple years ago when I taught about ancient Egypt and their harvesting techniques...minus the shaduf and the oxen of course.

The train moved swiftly along the tracks and delivered us to Alexandria in just over 2 hours.  A driver was waiting for us at the train station and quickly whisked us away from the other taxi drivers that were aiming for our business (they see white people and instantly think 2 things...tourist and ripping the tourist off).  We were thankful for the driver who immediately took us around Alexandria.

Within minutes it was very clear that Alexandria and Cairo are two completely different places.  Everything in Alexandria had a more Mediterranean feel to it.  The food, the architecture, the feel...it was refreshing to smell the salty sea air and venture into a different part of Egypt.  We visited all the typical places that a tourist would visit in Alexandria, although we never finished our list of things to do there because the kids could only tolerate a certain amount of tourism.

Things we did see:

Quaitbay Fort - a must see for all the visit Alexandria...it looks like a castle on a hill.  We really enjoyed our time at this fort, but our experience was disturbed by the constant requests for our pictures to be taken by complete strangers.  Many girls were fascinated by our family.  It was a very strange situation that could have easily ruined our experience if we weren't such an easy going group of people.

The Waterfront -  You cannot travel anywhere in Alexandria without seeing the waterfront.  It is beautiful and everywhere you look there are fishermen with really, really long fishing poles pulling out the tiniest little fish.  It was quite a sight to see and Princess really got a kick out of watching the fishermen.  She was particularly intrigued by this one man that had caught a fairly large fish with a very, very long, pointy nose.  She could not take her eyes off it.  I am sure that if she could have, she would have grabbed a pole and tried to pull out a fish of her own...but those fishermen were pretty focused on their poles and their fish and there was no way she would get away with it.

The Parks and Gardens -  Having kids it is a must to visit any parks/gardens we can find.  It gives them an opportunity to play and for mom and dad to get many great pictures of them playing.  The park in Alexandria was not nearly as nice as the one we visited in Cairo, but the kids still had fun and it was relaxing for mom and dad.

The Library - Every tourist that visits Alexandria at some point visits the library.  As strange as it sounds, this library is actually very interesting and architecturally beautiful.  The library is in the same location as an ancient library that housed many ancient manuscripts...some of which are still believed to be there today.  There is a bit of a museum in the library and it is nice to walk around...but, it is still a functioning library, right by the university, so kids are not allowed in and you have to be extremely quiet.  Not exactly a tourists dream if they have kids, so our visit was very brief.  We spent more time outside the library than anything.

Our stay was brief and we could have spent way more time touring and visiting places like the Catacombs and tombs, but we simply ran out of time and hope to see them next time we go!

Our trip back was not as splendid as our trip up.  We ended up on the slow train that made multiple stops, so it took almost double the amount of time to get back to Cairo.  Two out of three seats were broken somehow which made the journey more uncomfortable and the worst part was that we traveled over lunch, and since we expected to be back in Cairo by 2, we thought the kids would be okay with snacks on the train and lunch when we got back...but when the train gets back closer to 4, then the driver is late and the traffic is bonkers...well, needless to say, we ran out of snacks and skipped lunch because by the time we got home it was dinner time.  The joys of traveling with children.

The next big adventure is not until November when we go visit the Red Sea...we will be driving through the Sinaii Desert which will be pretty exciting and the Red Sea is supposed to be splendid.