"Iskenderiyya with a Sudanese slant " a Alexandria Travel Page by maykal

Finding myself in Cairo quite by surprise, I was pressured by my Sudanese hosts into staying for a while (to be honest, the other option was a speedy return to the UK, so I didn't take much pressurizing!)...so, once the fumes and crowds of Cairo had begun to get on my nerves, I planned a day trip to Alexandria.

Even though Alexandria is only 2 hours away by train, my plans were scuppered daily by my hosts..."we'll come with you...bukra, tomorrow, inshallah"...every day there was a new reason not to go. In the end, I got frustrated and one day said, "right, I'm off to Alexandria, anyone coming?"...

Once he'd dragged imself from bed and made himself vaguely presentable, my friend Bahr from Omdurman boarded a train from Cairo's busy Ramses Station. For him, it was a trip of many firsts...first time on a train, first time to see the sea (his nickname means "sea", which caused some amusement with the locals), first time to swim...

What had I expected...well, from my university dissertation, I knew the city had a long and eventful past, but from reading guidebooks, i also knew that very little of the ancient city remains...so I was expecting a big industrial port with nothing to see or do other than look at the sea...I couldn't have been more wrong. What started off as a half-day trip turned into a three day jaunt as we were quickly enchanted by Iskenderiyya.

The words of my friend Bahr sums up this city fairly accurately..."semha shadeed wallahi!" ("my God, it's very beautiful")

Photos have been developed, but my brain is not in a writing mode tonight, so this page will be appearing soon...watch this space...