Alexandria, Egypt

Jack and I took a three day road trip to Alexandria at the western edge of the delta. We took the train up and back. The trip takes about 2&1/2 hours from Cairo. Alexander-The-Great is credited with being the founder of Alexandria, Egypt.

The city is the second largest city on the African continent, with a population of about 7 million people. It sits along the Mediterranean coastline at the western edge of the Nile Delta, and is the summer playground of Cairenes escaping the heat of the city.

The new library is probably the most prominent landmark along the lengthy Corniche highway that runs next to the Mediterranean.

It was completed in 2000 with a capacity of over 8,000,000 volumes. It is a major research library, housing a super-computer that can handle most any research need. The library is proud of its ability to archive internet work as well digitizing some of the ancient Egyptian scrolls from the original library dating from before 74 BC.,and other major works of Egyptian antiquity, all available to anyone with an internet connection from anywhere in the world. It does all the other library stuff as well, like discussion groups, literary presentations and discussions, as well as movies and planetarium shows in the planetarium, to mention a few of things on the calendar.


The interior space is over 11 stories tall, but deceiving from the outside, as it is built into the side of a hill. There are solar shades that follow the sun and control the amount of sunlight coming into the building. There is exhibit space, a rare book museum, calligraphy exhibits, printing presses used in Egypt from early times, as well as the ordinary stacks for books and periodicals one usually finds in libraries. There are internet connections and headphones at all the study carrols, as well a viewing rooms for micofiches and digitized materials.

Besides being available to students it is quite a tourist attraction, with tours given in various foreign languages throughout the day.

The original library at Alexandria was the respoitory of all known scientific and literary work in the world at the time. It burned down around 74 BC. Only a few or the original scrolls were saved and they are now housed here.

This is an artistic rendering of the original Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was built in the 800's, destroyed in an earthquake in the early 1300's and never rebuilt. Historians are fairly certain of the looks and dimensions of the building because it was so well known at the time it was built. Drawings of it appeared in many deocuments that have survived.

Today on the site of the old Pharos lighthouse stands this fort, built out of most of the block from the lighthouse and standing in approximately the same location.

We stayed close to the water in a little pension on the 7th floor of an old building. Our room had a sea view, for which we paid extra, but the view was from between other tall buildings. Oh well. Live and learn. The place was what I would describe as cheap and cheerful. AND it came complete with breakfast. It served our needs quite nicely.

We had a great time discovering this city. The fresh air and sea breezes were a pleasant change from Cairo.

More about the Roman ruins in my next post.

Israel -- Golan Heights

We went on a four-wheel drive expedition up onto the Golan Heights. Until one of Israel's wars, the Golan Heights area was controled by Syria. There are no roads other than farm and four-wheel access roads, into the area. Much is rock-strewn and of not much use other than grazing, and even that is slim picking for the animals. We did see some wild pheasants and ibex, as well as cattle grazing. You can see the Land Cruiser mired down in the muddy road.

This is a broad view down from the hills. You can see remains of old Syrian army installations that were destroyed in the war when Israel recovered the Golan Heights.

There is a story about an Israeli spy in the confidence of the Syrians who convinced the Syrians to plant fast growing eucalyptus trees around the gun installations and armaments to provide shade for the poor Syrian soldiers who must be on duty in the harsh, hot and open Golan Heights. Of course it also provided targets for the Israeli Air Force as well. The spy was discovered and killed in the main square in Damascus and a book written about him called Our Man In Damascus . His exploits are legendary in Israel.

The area has not been entirely cleared so these signs appear all over. There are large tracts of fenced areas off limits to man and animal alike. Our Land Rover driver told us they lose a few animals to unexploded land mines every year.

Israel is now at Peace with Syria. The Golan Heights provided Israel with a more secure border, as well as a great four-wheeled experience for us tourists.

Israel -- Caesarea National Park

This little fellow is the mascot of the National Park System in Israel. He is an ibex, with a little bird on his shoulder. Ibex are native to this area and wander wild on the deserts. This little fellow greets you as you enter the National Park at Caesarea.

Caesarea is a huge archeological site, now a National Park and completely protected and partially restored. It was a large city from the Roman period, of particular interest to us because of its large harbor--large for the time--created by the Romans to service their troops stationed in this area of the empire.

The remnants of this harbor still remain to be seen today.

The city was a phenomenal find, because it was in remarkable shape after so many years buried in the sands of the Mediterranean, as well yielding immense amounts of information about the Roman occupation, life, and historical documentation of the military presence of the Romans in this part of the world.

It now is completely uncovered, somewhat restored and open to the public. People are free to wander the entire site, scramble around and even ride a chariott around the hipodrome--well they can imagine themselves doing it.

We spent several hours here wandering the ruins of store rooms, homes with beautiful mosaic floors, riding the chariott, and inspecting the harbor.

Trip to Israel

We returned to Cairo, from our Christmas trip to Israel. It was a trip full of insight into the interaction of religion, politics, geography, culture and the simple vagarities of life all mixed together. This picture is probably the most photographed in all of Jerusalem. It shows the Temple Mount, a mosque with a golden dome, along with the many Christian churches that dot the Jerusalem landscape.

The curent day Mosque is built on the site of an ancient Jewish Temple. This Temple was the holiest of holy places for the Jewish people because it housed the Arc of the Covenant--the tablets given to Moses containing the word of God. The Temple was destroyed by the Romans and the tablets scattered or destroyed--no one knows what became of them. They are lost. All that remains of the Temple is the foundation--the famous west wall, affectionately called the Wailing Wall. It now is the a most holy place and designated as a synagogue with its own rabbi. At all hours of day and night people come to the wall to pray.

The most famous church is probably the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site of the Cruxification. It is at one end of the Via Dolarosa, which was the road Christ walked from his imprisionment to his cruxification. Along this street and in the church are the 14 Stations-of-the-Cross; those places where something significant occurred along the way.

More about our trip in future posts.

Women Only

This sign designates where women wait for the Women Only cars on the train. There are several cars on each subway train allocated for women only and some for women and families. Men, husbands and young male children, of women passengers are allowed on these cars. The Women Only cars have a red designation over the entryway of each car, and the family cars have a green designation.

On many of the subway platforms there are special police that patrol the women-only area preventing men from getting on these cars. Up until last night I was only aware of them standing guard over the women-only area on the platform. But last night I saw these police in action.

A woman friend and I were coming home from a dinner party on Zamalek. We got on the women's-only car and were astounded by the number of men on the car. Somehow these men had gotten by those platform police.

(Here I must interject that the women's car is always cleaner and smells nicer than the other cars, so it is no wonder that some men might prefer them, not to mention the opportunity to pick-up an interesting conversation, and perhaps, make a new friend. )

Older women were arguing with some of the younger men aboard, and things were getting heated and loud. We couldn't understand their conversation, but figured out the gist of it from the body language and tone of voice. Those women wanted the men out of the car. The men didn't want to leave.

Several stops later, police boarded the train, banging their nightsticks, yelling and making lots of noise. It was a raid! We just sat there wondering how this was going to play out and impact on us. We had no idea what was going on.

The police never came more than a foot into the car and then jumped off. Whatever they yelled, the message was clear. The women sat tight and the men scattered, tripping over themselves as they ran to make a fast exit from the train.

After things died down, you could sense that the women on board were thankful for the raid. My friend and I speculated that perhaps someone called the police to alert them to all the men aboard our train. We will never know.

The rest of the trip home, was in a true women-only car, with nary a hint of testosterone.

A Visit to Masaraa Monastery

Today one of our teachers arranged to use our school busses to take us to the Masaraa Monestery in a poor section of Cairo south of Maadi on the way to Helwan. This monastery is the seat of the Bishop of the Coptic Church for the area. On the grounds are various buildings dating from the 11th century. Once upon a time the Monastery owned land all the way to the Nile River. Much was approriated for public use after the revolution in 1952, when Nasser took control.

Our teachers have supported this monastery over the years with donations earmarked for their kindergarten/daycare program. We have donated money to purchase a bus, playground equipment, repair and repainting of the kindergarten rooms, and most recently the purchase of a microbus or mini-van, as we would call it. This is Sister Christine. She seems to be in charge of much of the goings-on here. This is a view of Sister showing the teachers the new construction for housing for orphans and the blind that the school supports. I never did find out the name of the religious order these Sisters are affiliated with.


Here is the bishop with Santa Claus and some AIS teachers. Today was the Christmas Bazaar hence the Santa. In the background is the mini-van bought with the charitable contributions of the AIS teachers, the monastery just took delivery of. Unfortunately the bishop turned just as I snapped this picture

The Monastery is founded on the site of a miracle attributed to this saint. It is told that this man, Abba Barsoum, referred to as St Barsoum, El Erian (the naked) because he shunned earthly things and wore only a goat skin for a covering, was praying on the roof of a church. People came from all around to pray with him and the Bishop feared there was not enough food to go around. So Abba asked that a bit of the soup being prepared be brought to him. He prayed over the soup and then instructed the monk who brought the soup to mix this small bit of soup with the rest of the soup being prepared. Miraculously there was enough soup to go around.

The picture most often seen of the Saint is of him scantily clothed with a snake wound around his feet. The story goes that this man shunned his earthly possessions and went to live in a cave that would now be in old Cairo. In this cave was a snake that Abba Barsoum prayed over and 'tamed', so that it would not bite and kill him. One of his many miracles.

This is the current Bishop of the Masaraa Monastery.

Rug Repair

While wandering around Zamalek one evening last week after school, I came across this little shop that repairs oriental rugs.

The were three men working there. This one graciously allowed me to take his picture. They were busy repairing and reweaving what looked like serious problems with rugs. Some of them they had waiting to be picked up looked like nothing had ever happened to them. Others were obviously repaired, but still had lots of life left in them. Much depended on the tear and what was needed to repair the rug.



This is a closer view of the little man working on the rug. He used a variety of common tools to do the job, but mostly he matched colored wool yarn to the rug colors and worked the stitches in, retying them as in the original. He had to make a new foundation and weave that in and then format the repair. He did a wonderful job, but it looked like tedious work.

The shop was just a teeny-weeny little place; couldn't have been more that aobut 15 feet wide by about 25 feet deep. Inside it was stacked with work waiting, and as well as work that was taken apart for materials to be used to repair other rugs.

Zamalek is a large island in the Nile. It is fairly upscale. There are embassies there as well as dignitary housing. The American University of Cairo also has a dormitory there as well as one of their marvelous bookstores. The new Cairo Opera House is also on Zamalek as well as wonderful waterside restaurants, as well as lots of shopping. It is a fun place to wander.