Images of Egypt: On the Streets of Alexandria

Scenes of everyday Alexandria and its people

Alexandria's streets come across as collage of cultures, architectural styles and creatures and their conveyances (humans, cars, buses, trucks, taxis, streetcars, carriages, horses, donkeys and cats). There is, at once, an old worldliness and a developing worldliness that imbues the city with a rich cultural texture. The city is long and skinny (a bit like Manhattan Island), stretching for 12 east-west miles along the Mediterranean cost and measures just a couple of north-south miles.

The most elegant section is near the Eastern Harbor, with a vibrant commercial district, residential areas and lovely old villas. Despite its seawall and crumbling sidewalks, the Corniche remains an elegant arc along the waterfront. The Western Harbor is the commercial port and more industrial area. A peninsula that sticks up into the Mediterranean separates the Eastern and Western Harbors is punctuated by an old fortress. The city's relief valves is its long coast, where the Mediterranean presents a limitless horizon and a blue-domed sky. Here are some random images of the city's streetscape.

Delta Dropping Its Reward Ticket Redemption Fee

An airline fee rollback of any kind is good news for travelers

I just recently committed 30,000 OnePass miles and a $500 redemption fee to upgrade from a middle seat near the tail end of the plane for a business/first seat on Continental. It's a long flight -- from Newark to the Middle East after getting to Denver International Airport, flying to Newark and waiting for four hours before taking off again. I'm waitlisted for an upgrade on my return trip. If I get it, the cost will be 30,000 miles and $350. Why? Because my eastbound itinerary is on a weekend, while westbouond is not.

Therefore, I can only cheer at the news that Delta has canned the redemption fees for Sky Miles tickets if redeemed less than three weeks before a flight -- on domestic flights at any rate.The Wall Street Journal's airline column, "The Middle Seat," compared the number of miles redeemed on its loyalty program with that of other carriers.  I don't know what their international policy is/was. I just know that this is the first word I've heard in quite some time about an airline lifting rather than imposing a fee for anything.

Let's hope Delta starts a trend.

Images of Egypt: Alexandria's Antiquities

Egypt's second city is captivating and gives off a somewhat cosmopolitan air

While Cairo is a river city shaped by the Nile, Alexandria is a coastal city impacted by the Mediterreanean. It is often called Egypt's "most European" city. No wonder. Instead of a pharonic past that stretches back thousands of years, this "new" city was founded in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great. Egypt's second-larged city has experienced periods of prosperity and decline. Later it was the capital of Graeco-Roman Egypt, the setting for l'affaire d'Antony and Cleopatra and a key port on Africa's northern coast.

After the Roman Empire, it was part of the Ottoman Empire, and still later, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was under the French and English control -- or at least strong influence. Many downtown buildings and villas reflect a distinct European influence, with Greeks, Italians and Jews also woven into the Alexandrian fabric. Even though most foreigners left in the nationalistic 1950s and most local women now seem to choose to cover their heads, Alexandria still presents a cosmopolitan face -- perhaps because of its architectural legacy.

The Pharos Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, once stood guard on a harbor island, now connected to the mainland. The lighthouse itself was destroyed by the 14th century by a sries of earthquakes. Archeological divers have discovered pieces of it in the water, and an underwater museum is planned. The remarkable Alexandria Library (Biblioteca Alexandrina) is a wonder of the modern information age, a contemporary architectural landmark and an important cultural institution is a surprising attraction in ancient Egypt.

Today, many visitors are day-trippers from cruise ships that dock in the Eastern Harbor -- with never enough time even to touch on the city's many museums A(lexandria National Museum, Graeco-Roman Museum, Cafavy Museum, Fine Arts Museum, Mahmoud Said Museum and Royal Jewellry Museum), let alone stroll along the Corniche or languish at a cafe and watch the Alexandrian world go by.

Midan Saad Laghloul
Statue of of nationalist leader for whom the waterfront square was named

Memorial to the Soldiers (and/or Sailors)
Located at the Eastern Harbor

"Pompey's Pillar"

Misnamed remnant of the 3rd-century B.C. Temple of Serapis

Catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa
Three-level tomb complex dug to about 115 feet

Roman Amphitheater (Dom al-Dikka)

Second century, discovered in 1965 under a Napoleonic fort

Alexandria National Museum
Opened in 2003 within an Italianate villa that was built in 1929

Fort Qaitby
15th century, built on the site of the Pharos Lighthouse

Alexandria Library

Opened in 2002 with resources from fragile ancient manuscripts to fast computers

Head of Alexander the Great

Sillhouetted against a sunset sky; located in plaza of the namesake Alexandria Library

Egypt's Factory Stores: Rip-Off or Real?

The cynical visitor eyes souvenirs in Egypt

I have no delusions that the acres of small reproduction pyramids, sphinxes, Nefertiti heads, cats, lions and assorted other examples of Egyptiana peddled aggressively at every tourist attraction in the country actually were made in Egypt -- and I suspect that all but the most naive tourist knows that this souvenir schlock is made elsewhere. "Elsewhere" is most likely China.

The "factories" and "demonstrations" that end virtually every motorcoach tour day are presented as if all fine handicrafts are made right there. Because tour guides get a commission on sales whenever they deliver a busload of tourists, we were forced to visit the papyrus demonstration in a modern shopping center in Alexandria, a carpet school in Saqqara and an alabaster factory near the Valley of the Kings. Mercifully, we dodged the perfume-factory bullet.

The carpet weaving school is billed as a place where young girls are taught weaving. We saw men sitting at a handful of looms in the basement of the carpet factory in Saqqara without a girl or woman in sight. Upstairs was a room filled with carpets. It was not the only carpet factory in Saqqara either. In the so-called alabaster factory near Luxor, three barefoot men sat outdoors on mats and chipped away at alabaster, demonstrating various stages in the process of crafting something out of the raw stone. Inside was a large sales room whose walls were lined with objets d'alabastre. I saw chess sets shamlessly labeled "Made in Pakistan." I bought a little alabaster cat anyway, just as a souvenir of the day.

Souvenir Stand Near the Pyramids and Sphinx (Giza)

Stall in the Khan al-Khalili Market (Cairo)

Souvenir Stand at The Citadel (Alexandria)

Papyrus Making (Alexandria)

Owner or manager stopped me from taking any more photos

Carpet Weaving School (Saqqara)

Alabaster Factory Near the Valley of Kings (Luxor)

Another Ancient Egyptian Tomb Discovered

Saqqara yields another treasure from antiquity

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a post connecting an upcoming King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum with the discovery of the tomb of an official called Archae Amun-em-Opet near Luxor, far up the Nile, that dates back to 1372-1355 B.C. Now comes word of another significant discovery, the tomb of a royal scribe named Ptahmes in the reign of pharaohs Seti I and Ramses II (1203-1186 B.C.). This recently discovery was made at Saqqara south of Cairo, whose pyramids predate the famous ones at Giza. In fact, Egypt's first pyramid, the Step Pyramid of Djoser (2667 to 2648 B.C) is located there, as are earlier tombs, low bench-like edifices called mastabas. When I visited Egypt last year, Saqqara was on the itinerary -- and archaeological excavations were clearly going on. The top four images are mine; the bottom one is courtesy of Egypt's Supreme Council or Antiquities.

There's an interesting backstory to this new discovery, which is actually a rediscovery. Nineteenth century artifact hunters found the tomb, took the greatest treasures and moved on. It didn't take all that long for desert sands to cover the tomb. Archaeologists from the University of Cairo found it and been excavating it. Archaeologists have discovered long hallways and chapels in the tomb and are anticipating finding the main chamber and hopefully a sarcophagus containing a mummy that the original discoverers reported seeing but didn't take. Click here for more information about the tomb.

For visitors, Saqqara is refreshing. Fewer visitors, fewer buses, fewer hawkers at the entrance to the site.

Images of Egypt: Upper Nile Valley Antiquities

Legendary temples and tombs draw hordes of visitors, scholars and archaeologists from around the globe

Egypt is a country of stone and sand, bisected by the green ribbon of the fertile Nile Valley. While the famous pyramids and the Great Sphinx are in Giza just outside of Cairo, the famous temples and tombs are hundreds of miles upstream along the river between Aswan and Luxor. Abu Simbel, south of the High Dam at Aswan, was rescued from obliteration under Nile Lake waters by UNESCO in the 1960s. Downstream from (that is, north of) the High Dam are numerous sites, including the incomparable Valley of the Kings near Luxor.

The history, legends, chronology of the kings and their dynasties, and other information are available elsewhere, so please just enjoy a sampling of images from my recent trip -- experiences I shared with thousands of other visitors from all over the world.

Abu Simbel

Kom Ombo near Aswan

Edfu Temple

Luxor Temple

Temple of Hatshepsut

Colossi of Memnon

The Valley of the Kings

Limited permission to photograph in the exquisitely painted tombs that are tunneled into mountains on the west side of the Nile; as elsewhere excavations are ongoing

Karnak Temple at Luxor

Farewell to the Upper Nile Valley