A Travel to the ruins of an Old Civilization - Alexendria

Recently i have visited Egypt, here is the travalogue by my dear friend Karthik Iyer, his account of the memoirs of the visit which will remain fresh in my mind for so many years to come...

Time Travel
Yes that is how I would describe this journey of mine. Few years ago I had seen an audio visual of the Giza Pyramids, images of which had haunted me all these year. It seems unbelievable to me that one of my dreams is about to be fulfilled. On this journey with me are my colleagues Manoj, Saurabh and Karthik Kalkur. We were individuals of diverse tastes and temperament visiting Alexandria, Cairo and Luxor in Egypt. Well thus began the journey of a lifetime.

Day 0: 13th December 2006 – Sharjah International Airport

It was my 2nd off after 4 days of support shift. I was finishing shopping of remaining items on my checklist. As agreed I left at 5:30 in evening to my colleague’s place as we had decided to share the taxi to the airport.
To cut cost Air Arabia was chosen as travel medium. On reaching the airport we found it to be in a state of complete mayhem. Air Arabia checkin counter was queued up with travelers busy jumping the line and haggling with half bored and tired executives regarding the excess baggage. To my surprise for first time in my short travel history I have seen tourists getting on the conveyer belt and pushing the luggage. It looked like people wanted to travel with the luggage. After a long wait of 45-50 minutes we were able to acquire our boarding pass. It seemed like an ordeal about to begin. My thoughts were confirmed the moment, the immigration officer’s system broke down and the other officer refused to co-operate with us. After standing in the immigration queue for about an hour we were finally able to clear the procedures.

The aircraft took off after a delay of an hour and half. I sent a silent prayer requesting the Almighty to make the rest of the journey smooth and pleasant.

Day 1: 14th December 2006 – Alexanderia

We reached Alexandria, Egypt’s 2nd largest metropolis at 5:30 in the morning. Mohammed our travel assistant from Travco Travel Company of Egypt came to escort us to Renascence Hotel. On reaching the hotel we crashed in the bed. A spectacular view of Mediterranean Sea wished us good morning as we woke up to sound of waves crashing against the shores. After a sumptuous breakfast we were all anxious to greet the city Alexandria named after Alexander The Great.

Our city tour was scheduled to begin at 12:00 in the afternoon, so we decided to pay a visit to the Mediterranean Sea. The sea greeted us with its transparent green color. We walked the long stretch against the sea, the Mediterranean wind whispering in our ears and the morning sunlight caressing our skin.
Along the coast we saw buildings with their colors off and crumbling plaster which somewhere reflected on the economy of the country. The sea provided us with ample opportunity to try of photography skills. The glimpses of men with the fishing hooks and young couples whispering nothings into each other ears reflected on the social culture of the city. Alexandria is similar to any Indian city but carrying a 60’s look.
The city life is of course modern, but there is this other side that you see, a normal day to day life of people which is laid back unlike ours which is hurried or rushed.
Most the roads are made of cobble stones, and side by side the cars (trust me the newest car in Alex is a 1970s Lada or a Datsun or Fiat, including the taxis!), there are horse carts going clickety clackity while the sweet smell of sheesha (Arabic smoke pipe) envelopes the air. It was just too good. No doubt the city had captured a piece of my mind with its once seductive glance.

On returning to the hotel we found our guide to the city Medath waiting for us in the hotel foyer. He was ready to start the day which had following highlights

National Museum of Alexandria
The CataComb
The Pompey Pillar
The Roman Amphitheater
The National Library
The Citadel

We reached our first point of visit at 12:45 in the afternoon which was the National Museum.

National Museum of Alexandria

The museum of Alexandria narrates history of the Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic era. The museum has 4 stories each telling a story of the bygone era. We saw various artifacts from past now in resorted form. The Pharonic section depicts journey of the ancient Egyptians to their eternal after life. The museum displays statues of the many famous rulers of the ancient Egypt. A section gives us an insight into the mummification process and various items used in the process like the Canopic jars. The museum also displays an amazing collection of busts, paintings and items of the Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic time.

After spending about 2 hours and a half in the museum we head to second highlight, the Catacomb.

The Catacombs in Alexandria

The Catacombs (meaning underground tunnels) are located in the middle of the city and are now surrounded by residential localities. Medath our guide told us that they were discovered by a pure chance when a donkey fell into the trench in the early 19th century. The underground cemetery starts with a spiral staircase which leads to three levels for the funeral ritual. The catacomb has tombs of the king, the queen and her children and the bodyguards, noble people. This monument represents an amalgamation of the cultures of Egyptians, Greek and Romans. The funeral customs are of ancient pheronics while the architecture speaks of Greco-Roman style. The catacombs provided such elaborate view and setting which refuses to go off my mind and leaves me speechless. This philosophy of an elaborate and magnificent after death setting simply amazes me

On a short distance from the Catacombs is the Pompey pillar. A visit to the pillar was not part of the original plan, but we requested our guide to gives some time to visit it which he gracefully allowed.

The Pompey Pillar

Medath told us that the Pompey Pillar is the biggest memorial column in Egypt. It is made from red granite which has height of 28 meter. The column looks almost gray from a distance, but up close it is the same fine, red Aswan granite that is so common in Egyptian monuments.
The red granite was brought via the Nile River from Aswan. The pillar was erected during the times of Alexander the Great.

A staircase beneath the Pompey Pillar took us the Royal Library of Alexandria.

The Royal Library of Alexandria

Today the royal library is in ruins. I feel numb on seeing this once largest library of the world a seat of knowledge. Our guide informed us of the concept of indexing followed in the library. We saw grooves made in the walls to keep the recordz. The collection consisted of papyrus rolls. It seemed that the ancient society was aware of the collecting ideas and documenting them, the gist of each such meeting were kept in the grooves in the library. Indeed a novel way of knowledge management. There are several blocks made in the walls were the literary wonders must have been kept.
Our guide told us about an interesting anecdote. Alexander the great used to send pigeons to his nobles to inform about a meeting. The nobles arrived to library with the pigeons. When pigeons rested on the column of the Pompey pillar, the whole town knew that a meeting was in progress.

What would be it like to see the roman gladiators fight in presence of the royal family and large audience? The question was answered when we visited the Roman Amphitheatre unearthed in the middle of the city. The theater stands a testimony to bygone Roman era.
The Roman Amphitheatre

Am I in Rome? That is the question I ask myself on seeing this majestic piece of history from the Roman period in Alexandria. Amphitheater means double theater. To know the meaning of the word “Grand” one has to see this Amphitheatre in Alexandria. It is damn grand and impressive shaped as a semicircle. The amphitheater has no stage but a stone. The stone is so placed that the voice of the speaker resonates. Believe me the resonance theory works, we tried it out and it did work. I imagined myself to be standing on this round stone speaking to a good number of people in front of the royal family overlooking the clear blue sky and it sure felt “GREAT.” Our guide told us that the theater was used for artistic purpose rather than fights. UNESCO has been doing restoration of the theater so it is hard to know what’s correctly rebuilt and what is restored.

The next attraction of the city is the citadel. On the way to citadel we captured the yellow color trams running on the tracks laid on the city. The trams have one coach or two. Amazing mode of transportation of the time gone by which is not seen in many cities. It feels good to look at this mode of transportation. One another rare sight is carriage drawn by horse or man on a horse back, which is commonly seen in Alexandria. We are enjoying the sights of the city as we arrive at the citadel by the sea. It is 4:30 in the evening as we reach the citadel.

The Citadel

This beautiful monument is situated on the shores of the sea. It sure is an impressive thing still standing high and mighty braving the waves which lash against it. The citadel is built on same place where once stood the famous lighthouse of Alexandria.
The citadel today provides a place to hawkers, couples watching the sunset, people fishing and few practicing snorkeling. We take photos against this impressive monument as the sun sets in the sea giving a rosy tinge to sky and which makes the picture perfect.
We walk by the citadel soaking our minds with the beauty. This postcard image will linger forever in my memory.

It is 5:45 in the evening as our stomach start to rebel. At the restaurant as we ask for a vegetarian meal, the waiter and manager draw blank stares. Well we somehow get them to prepare something for us consisting of Spaghetti, Tomato Gravy, Kabus (Egyptian bread), French fries, filafil and vegetables. We did not know then that this was the lunch and dinner we are going to have during our stay in Egypt.
We debate on whether to visit the Alexandria Library or head back to the railway station. On majority vote we decide to visit it and the sight which the library presents leaves us spell bound.

The New Library of Alexandria

The new library of Alexandria was funded by UNESCO. The design was chosen after a fierce competition among chosen architects of the world. When we saw the architectural masterpiece our mouth fell open on seeing the beauty of the library. The library has 10 stories consisting of 4 basement floors and 6 floors under slopping circular roof. It is open to general public at a nominal fee following the tradition of the ancient library. The outer walls have amazing carvings on the wall. A beautiful water fountain welcomes the visitors at the foot of the library. The library is surrounded by amazing light works which makes it a sight to eyes in the night. The Alexandria library is 2nd largest in the world and has more than 5 million books.

It is 7:30 in the evening and the climate has turned chilly now. We now start for the railway station where to our amazement found that the local people want to be tipped (baksish) even for turning a seat around. We sit back in our comfortable seating chairs as we start towards Cairo. Our minds are filled with events and sights of the day. The train starts as discussion pours out and post mortem of the day begins.

As I write about my travel, one realization struck was that four of us had blended so well. Lot of anecdotes, jokes, one-liners flow from time to time which made the journey enjoyable. It was like chance pe dance. At the start of the journey we were skeptical regarding the rechargeable batteries and memory card we had, but by end of the first day we were able to make judicious use of both the cameras. Surprisingly we were able to achieve a good balance between enjoying the sights of the city, soaking in the history and in taking photos.