I got up early for our trip to Alexandria only to find there was no hot water at the Victoria Hotel…not a good start to the day. Then we wandered down the road to the train station hoping to get a decent train time to Alexandria. Apparently you can’t buy a ticket for a train leaving in 5 mins so we had to get the next one 15mins later. Scored a 2nd class ticket on a slightly slower train. So far have had a bit of trouble getting change for things we buy. 100 LE notes don’t seem to be popular with people here.
Once in Alexandria (3hrs later) I wanted to grab our homeward journey for a decent time. We accidentally wandered into the “locals” line and were quickly ushered away by the security guard towards the 1st and 2nd class window for tourists. Along the way we managed to pick up a taxi driver who helped us buy our ticket though I wondered if he would have handed over the ticket if security hadn’t started to wandered towards us. Then the taxi driver wanted to drive us around town though I was keen to walk to get my bearings for our trip back to the train. Finally agreed to get dropped to the library and had to be very insistent that we didn’t want him waiting for us.
After grabbing our ticket to the library we queued up to check in our bags where we were promptly dragged out of line by one of the local girls and taken to the front of the line. Special treatment for tourists it seems.
The library is HUGE but has a very funky, modern design with very empty shelves for it’s capacity. We wandered around for a bit before finding a cafe for lunch where I had a awesome spaghetti bolognaise.
When we were done we grabbed our bags and went to wander across the street closer to the ocean. This is where we discovered the crazy road crossing techniques of Egypt. Pretty much it’s a cross between a game of Frogger and a leap of Faith. After standing there for ages we decided we’d tag behind a local. Unfortunately we picked a local who had no confidence either and she ended up getting assistance aswell.
After taking a few pics I was approached by a group of girls wanting to have their picture taken with me. I thought it was a bit odd but agreed. We wandered on for a bit and then were approached by two guys for pictures also. Feeling like we were sticking out a bit we decided to head back to our hotel.
That night we went to a local restaurant listed in our guidebook called El Shark. We had a massive meal that only cost 30 LE including drinks. They had some really yummy homus and a pretty decent spaghetti. I feel like a wuss eating spaghetti but am just waiting a few days till my stomach adjusts to the timezone before getting too adventurous.