The final day of touring began with another fine breakfast. All those sweetbreads and coffee, tres bien, owi kwayyis, sehr gut, very good. Chocolate covered donuts and croissants, many glazed and glaced pastries. I love the already prepared grapefruit and oranges, knife-peeled and sliced. There is a coffee machine that can make you an expresso or cappuchino or just plain (strong) coffee. A chef stands at the ready to make you an omelet and there is a cheese and meat island. Fresh orange juice and karkaday juice are at the ready.
We headed out at 9 a.m. with Mohamed and Mohammed, an Alex driver with his own tour van. This van was more of a bus, much bigger with room for over a dozen people. He seemed pleasant enough but his driving was just a bit closer to the edge and that made me edgy. I could relax with Ashraf but not him. Thankfully it was only one day.
We headed across the street to see the Montazeh Palace and gardens. Not much to see really. We could see most of it from our 4th floor windows at the Sheraton. We walked the grounds a bit, going out on the walkway along the Mediterranean, strolled past some old houses. This all belonged to the 20th century kings of Egypt, Fuad and Farouk. The palace looked, well, palacial. But it is still being used by the Hosni Mubarak family so no admittance. In the end the whole little tour didn’t seem worth the time and money but we can say we saw it. I did enjoy talking with Mohamed. His English is quite good and he is learned and thoughtful.
Next we drove all the way across town to the Qietbay Fort. Again we didn’t go inside, just looked at it from the fishing pier. Mohamed bought everyone an ice cream cone (Italian ice). We watched the fishermen attempt to catch something and some boys diving for something, who knows what. It was a pleasant morning to be out, sunny and cool.
Finally we drove to the Biblioteca Alexandrina. I was quite excited about finally visiting this world architectural marvel and idea; resurrecting the idea of a great library in Alexandria, like the one which was considered the greatest in the ancient world, only to be burned to the ground. Some say it’s a mystery, but I had heard that the Christians may have burned down this ‘pagan’ structure. The time is far removed and the spirit of the times can hardly be understood from this distance but I find it sad that Christians, especially learned ones, might have contributed to the destruction of the library and other amazing places in Alex. But such destruction has happened by Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and other religions in all times and places. Humanity’s dark side.
In the end I was a bit disappointed in the library. The children’s libraries they wouldn’t let us in at first but when we pleaded (we are from a distant land, here for only one day), they relented. And it turned out that the libraries were really local libraries for Alexandrians in this world library. That was disappointing. We were given a tour, along with a huge group of planetarium scientists from around the world. The tour felt very hands off and we only saw things at a distance and not for very long. Again, very disappointing. Even the 9 screen, computer interactive screening of the history of Egypt (Pharaonic, Coptic, Islamic and Modern) was far short of what I thought it would be (Disney World’s Epcot Center in Florida does the same idea much better). We couldn’t go into the planetarium because of the conference so really I didn’t see any ancient manuscripts, saw not one book housed in the adult side, did not sit in the library. So disappointing. But I got the feeling that our girls had seen enough and I couldn’t blame them. We didn’t need bells and whistles, just real books, old and new.
It was time for lunch, time to fulfill a promise we made in Cairo; that we would eat at Pizza Hut in Alex. So we did. The food was ok, the service was ok, at least the location was great. Second floor overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. I have to say that the vistas of the Mediterranean; from our hotel rooms, on the beach, from the restaurant and the tour sites, were all spectacular.
After lunch we went back to the hotel. Now it was time for one last beach run. This time it was late afternoon and the sun was now coming directly into our ‘kitchen tent’. We were also getting bit up by something, I guessed ‘no-see-ums’ or something like that. At any rate the family swam for a while then had enough of the biting and we showered in the outdoor shower facilities and walked back across the street and up to the Sheraton pool. Wanda and I finished our Scrabble game and the girls were back in the water.
Dinner time was one last chance to either go to a local seafood restaurant or go to Chilis. My thoroughly NA family didn’t take long in voting, we went to Chilis. In a small way I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to try to read an Arabic menu or haggle with the waiter over the price of the daily catch. Everyone like the Chilis food even though it is expensive (NA prices).
Our last night in Alex and we came back to the hotel for bed. The girls were getting tired and were soon off to sleep. Wanda and I watched a movie on TV called ‘Elizabethtown’ starring Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom, who did a good job with the American accent. It wasn’t a particularly noteworthy film but entertaining nonetheless. A ‘chick flick’ as it were. And we were off to sleep.
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