It’s a beautiful morning at our hotel in the desert; we regret having to leave. Over the next two days, we’ll travel essentially the entire length of Egypt from Abu Simbel near the Sudanese border to Alexandria on the Mediterranean shore.
Morning at Abu Simbel on Lake Nasser
Our flight from Abu Simbel makes a brief stop in Aswan, and then we continue to Cairo, where we check back into the Ramses Hilton on Tahrir Square. Tonight we have our farewell dinner, since the main tour ends here, although twelve of us have taken the optional extension to Alexandria.
Our dinner is on a floating restaurant that cruises the Nile. There’s some soothing music during dinner, then an Egyptian band with a belly-dancer (we’re told she’s Brazilian) and a whirling dervish whose routine ends with his whirling dervish skirt lit up in blue neon stripes. Liberace would have been jealous.
I give out the Toto Tours “Ramses Awards,” for memorable faux pas and notable eccentricities. Everyone gets one of the busts that were purchased in the Aswan market with his award. It’s also Ron’s birthday, so there’s a cake and, of course, his gift of the metallic crocodile, which caused a delay twice going through airport security: in the x-ray, it looked just a bit too real. But there’s something gratifying about seeing an armed, uniformed officer carefully opening and closing a rhinestone-studded box in the shape of a crocodile.
The next morning, five friends head for home, and the rest of us drive three hours by bus to Alexandria. Founded by Alexander the Great, it’s the home of Greco-Roman Egypt. Much of the ancient city, including the lighthouse that was among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the fabled library, was destroyed centuries ago by man or by nature. Some of it, possibly including Cleopatra’s palace, lies buried at the bottom of the current harbor.
We see some of the few bits that remain, like the Catacombs, where Greek and Roman motifs blend with imagery of the traditional Egyptian gods. The most famous relic is known as Pompey’s Pillar. It stands alone in an excavated temple complex in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria
At the edge of the Mediterranean, we visit the Qaitbey Citadel, built by one of the Mameluke rulers in 1480 A.D. Among the limestone blocks, we occasionally see some red granite, supposedly stones that were repurposed from the ruins of the original Lighthouse of Pharos.
Our Group with Ahmed, our Guide, at Qaitbey Citadel
At a spot in the water below the Citadel, you can see small whitecaps breaking above the platform that was the base of the lighthouse, a tantalizing suggestion of what once was there.
Fishing where the Lighthouse of Alexandria Used to Be
