Alexandria

Alexandria is Egypt’s second largest city, founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, located on the north coast on the Mediterranean Sea and Etienne’s birthplace and her home until she was 9. So our visit to this port city was a “going home” experience for Etienne and a time to catch up with her relatives. And for us this was a time to see how a true Egyptian family lives in this country and as Etienne’s mother had gone before us we also reconnected with her.

View of Alexandria

The city of Alexandria is beautifully located along the coastline, and the prosperity it experienced in the 1950s is still evident in the wonderful architecture along the Corniche (road along the sea). However since its peak in the 1950s this city has been on a decline and what was once an amazing cosmopolitan city now suffers from neglect and lack of funds. But there is still a city to explore and great things to see, if you can just get across the road, the traffic here is absolute mayhem. Driving in this city is the most chaotic scene I have ever witnessed, as they create lanes, do not use signal lights and drive with their horns always a blaring.

New Bibliotheca Alexandria  Library

We visited the New Bibliotheca Alexandria a striking new building that contains a library, Planetarium and many museums. The circular design of the main structure is made of grey granite engraved with hieroglyphics and is angled toward the sea containing a 7 tier 2000 seat reading room, a truly remarkable building. Inside there are many museums with ancient Egyptian ruins, Greek statues and an amazing rare book collection.

The Roman Theatre

We also toured the semi-circular Roman Amphitheatre, the National Museum of Alexandria, the Royal Jewellery Museum and discovered the Citadel, located at the site of the original Pharaohs Lighthouse of Alexandria.

The Citadel

Inside the Citadel

But the highlight of our visit to Alexandria without a doubt was the wonderful family Bishara that welcomed us with open arms. As Etienne has several uncles, aunt and cousins still living in Alexandria we had lots of company and truly got to hang out with the locals. They were most gracious with us all and were constantly trying to feed us with the great Egyptian food. We had “molekhia”(slimy green soup), “teenshoky” (cactus fruit), “foul medames” ( beans with eggs for breakfast), “belila” (warm milk with grains), “basbosa” (cake with real cream) and “fayrouz” (malt pineapple drink)”. And the food just kept on coming, the Egyptian tradition of constantly eating was hard to keep up with. We also explored a bit if Etienne’s past visiting her old school, church and graveyard of her Grandmother.

Angel at Graveyard

We spent several evenings surrounded with family and listening to them reminisce about Etienne as a little girl, or as they all call her “titi”. The strong bond of this family was felt instantly as both Laurence and I were made to feel like family members immediately. We had the pleasure of a night on the town with the family at a restaurant called “The Jungle” where we drank, ate too much, laughed and of course enjoyed some great sheesha. And on our final evening it seemed like half of the city came to say goodbye as we all crammed into the small non-air-conditioned apartment to enjoy the love of a wonderful family.

A huge toast to the “FAMILY" .

I want to thank the Bishara family for such a warm and welcoming time in Alexandria, we will always remember the food, the laughs and the love. To all the aunts who were constantly preparing great Egyptian cuisine and the uncles who made sure our needs were always met. And I want to particularly thank Nader (or as his family call him doodoo) and Nancy who took on the role of tour guide and chauffeur and gave us insight to their life as Coptic Christians living in an Islamic country. They are a wonderful couple and thankyou for everything.

How Many Egyptian's can u squeeze in one room?

PS. Also a thank you to Yahyia the bellboy at the apartment we were staying at, who would get anything you need and helped us with everything. Everyone needs a Yahia (prounced YaggghhhYaaaa).

Henry, Mom Bishara, Etienne, and Laurence would like to say

Thank you to the Family

Egypt has been a great adventure the amazing ancient civilization, the unique food, the breath taking Nile, the shear chaos that is everything Egyptian and the warmth of the Bisharas are with us for a life time.