Candiace Goes to Egypt

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Alexandria

A post - finally!

A little over a week ago I went to the wonderful, wonderful city of Alexandria located off of the Mediterranean coast. It was a 2 1/2 hour trip by car (we could have taken a bus) driven by our wonderful friend Amr. I'll write about him later!

Before we left we stopped and had some Egyptian pizzas...(mmmm) Here is our fellow pizza maker getting the dough ready for us:




We each had one sweet one with honey, sugar, nuts and raisins, and another with egg, bell pepper, onion and mushrooms. YUM-MY.

We talked for a bit, but since most of us only had 2-3 hours of sleep the night before, we slept mot of the way there. <3


Right when we got to the Mediterranean, what's the first thing we see? ...A regular car with fresh fish in the trunk. Those shrimp were still MOVING. The man reached down, grabbed one and tried scarring us with it... I didnt get scared off though, I just took a rad picture.


The waves at one point were HUGE. Right after this pic, A. and I got soaked.

It was cold, too. :(



In this area we had tips of land stretching around and in front of us on both sides. You can see the tip of the other stretch of land on my right. It was awesome.



Here is D. in front of the docks. I do not know how people get on their boats way out there...



My head is over a small tunnel that went underneath and into a room in the Citadel of Qaitbay. The air didn't smell so nice, but I was willing to sacrifice breathing for a bit to get a good picture.


The place had the most AMAZING lighting. We took a series of photos in one particular area because we repeatedly got amazing results.






Here is A., H. and me doing 'see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil' on the wall of the Citadel and in front of the Medertarrian. We're dorks...



Did I say we're dorks? Oh, my goodness. D. is also in this picture. Hahahahaha....



This pillar might not look that big, but it's HUGE. I wasn't that impressed when I took this picture, but when I got close to it.. I was in complete awe. I can't begin to express how intense the feeling was to look at this 2,000 year old GIGANTIC pillar standing.



Along with the pillar, two small Sphinxes were dug up as well.



Here is a small fish stand, one of the many seen on the streets.



This is NOT sand. This is broken shells and dead coral, with not a PINCH of sand. It was one of the most amazing things I've seen here. I forgot the name, but this stuff makes up the entire beach we were on at the time.



We originally went to this beach to see the sight of an old lighthouse that was used in ancient times. Only the original base stands... Below is a picture of me climbing around on a dead coral reef, most likely the home of the broken shells that constituted as 'sand'.



I did, in fact, eat fish that night. It is not possible for me to be vegan here, so I'm not. I have been known to eat fish for special occasions, and that day was one of them. Who gets to eat fresh fish caught in the Mediterranean? Not anyone I know..

The restaurant was AMAZING. They brought us out 13 PLATES of sauces (you can see some in the pic) and two baskets of bread. OMG. We got to pick the fish we wanted them to cook (they were already dead) and rice or pasta. I have some wonderful pictures of one of the staff de-boning my fish... pretty interesting/gruesome stuff. >_<


Of the many things we did that day, some of which aren't pictured, we ended our trip at the 'Women's Market'. All they sold here were fabrics and hijabs. I bought 8 beautiful hijabs which I'll post pictures of later.




Eventually, I will post all of the pictures on flickr. I just have to wait for a good internet connection!!


So, when are you going to visit Alexandria?


Love,
Candiace

5 Comments:

Blogger LOST said...

it's my first time to visit ur blog. i really loved the pics and everything.. and hope u r enjoying ur time here in egypt =)

February 24, 2008 at 9:37 PM  
Blogger Federica said...

I miss Egypt so much =(

They sell live flopping fish in markets in Italy too. It's very common in Mediterranean countries. It's to show freshness.

<3 Freddie

February 24, 2008 at 10:06 PM  
Blogger Skew said...

i have 20 live shrimp, and a crawfish! oh yeah, and plenty of fish :D hahaha...i'm fattening them up for when i deveganize! ;P

how big was the pillar? i mean, looking at either of those pictures, how high up on its base would a person stand? or maybe better yet, if the pillar were 10 feet tall how tall would a person be compared to it? it looks titanic in those pictures, but there's nothing there, like a car or a building or a person, to really get a sense of it.

you rock, rock!

February 25, 2008 at 4:48 AM  
Blogger Cherrie said...

Hi Honey...I just visited your blog very cool. I loved seein gyou and your friends. Egypt looks beautiful and so do you. I can see you are having a wounderful time. I love you...Cherrie

February 25, 2008 at 4:49 AM  
Blogger Megan Trotter said...

Beautiful! I so would have been afraid of the shrimp. You are a brave woman!

February 25, 2008 at 7:55 AM  

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