We were up at 4:00 this morning and left at 5:00 to catch our flight back to Cairo. It was a short flight and we were on our way in Cairo by mid-morning. The weather in Cairo has turned warm and sunny since we left so that was nice. The first part of our drive took us on road where President Mubarak resides. He was due to arrive back in Egypt so the street was lined with a police officers on just about every block. He must've arrived later because we saw no sign of Jim.
Our first stop this morning was at what is known as the Hanging church because was built atop fortress. Friday the is the Sabbath day for Muslims and Coptic Christians so there was a service going on when we first arrived and weren't allowed to go in. While were waiting, we visited an area that had originally been a Christian neighborhood started in the 600's that was kept private behind a very thick steel barred door. There were many churches in this area and we were able to go in one during a Coptic service. We also saw a synagogue that had been turned into church and the later back into a synagogue. We went back to the Hanging church when the service was over. We are pretty sure that there was a baptism because there was a beautiful baby girl dressed in a white lace dress with a veil that was lifted after the service as her family came up to congratulate her/her parents.
After our very tasty lunch, we went to Memphis to see the capital of the Old Kingdom (3100 bc). There we saw a 20 meter high statue of Ramses II that the fallen in an earthquake. The legs were broken off so instead of standing, it was lying face-up and we got a whole new perspective on the immenseness of it and how difficult if must have been to sculpt it.
The rest of our afternoon was spent on the road to Alexandria which was a much more interesting drive than the one we took yesterday. Just outside of Cairo there were some very lavish housing developments going up. There were some shopping malls and upscale shopping areas that are like their own little town - think The Shops at Woodbury Lakes.
As we got closer to Alexandria, we saw a lot of large farms. About 20 years ago to encourage people to move outside of Cairo and to develop some of the desert areas, the Egyptian government started selling plots of land for very cheap. Some wealthier Egyptians bought many of these plots and now have large farms and palatial houses to go with them. We saw many varieties of crops: olives, potatoes, wheat, mangos, lemons, oranges, figs and grapes.
For the most part the road we were on is very flat, but it did have some places where it curved. When it did, there were speed bumps ahead of the curves to make sure people don't go too fast around them. So every often we would slow down almost to a stop.
We arrived in Alexandria in the evening and even in the dark it was easy to see that it is different than the other Egyptian cities we have seen. With its Greco-Roman architecture, it looks more European. Our hotel is right on the Mediterranean on the grounds of the Montazoh Gardens and King Farouk Palace. We can see both the palace and the sea from our rooms!
After two very busy days we are all looking forward to being able to sleep in tomorrow and having a relaxed day here in Alexandria.
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