On the way to Alexandria

Today we continue to Alexandria, a 4.5-hour drive from Cairo. Time for some thoughts about the country and its people.

I am grateful for Hoda, our guide. She brings the people and the country closer, makes them more understandable. During many interactions with Egyptians, I am uncertain if and what someone wants to sell, so I usually keep my distance at first. However, on the day I was alone in Cairo, I had always had pleasant encounters. For example, with Amr, who waited for an Uber with me and during that time he told me that he is happy about every visitor from abroad. Firstly, because he cannot travel himself, and secondly, because people from other countries are interested in his country. Or with some students in the museum who were eager to know where exactly Switzerland is located and what it looks like there, and they also found Egypt to be beautiful. Of course, there was also the older gentleman who had lived in Frankfurt and spoke excellent German - he really wanted to show me the best shops where "only locals" shop. All of them completely touristy with items made in China. But after a friendly "No, thank you," the conversation was still pleasant and interesting.

Now we leave Cairo behind for a few days and go to Alexandria. I am looking forward to that. I have the perhaps wrong assumption that there are more points of connection for me historically in Alexandria, since the city belonged to the Roman and Greek empires. Let's see if that is confirmed - I think not. Judging by the city planning and traffic management, the city is clearly Egyptian.

On the way to Alexandria, we visit the Al-Alamein Museum, a war museum that focuses on the Battle of Al Alamein in World War II and the circumstances that led to it. I could have done without this visit. The museum is moderately exciting, except perhaps for people with an interest in military history. But it is not bad to remind ourselves that World War II did not only take place in Europe.

Afterwards, a visit to the military cemetery. Very beautiful, peaceful, but sad to see what is written on the tombstones: died at 23 years old, died at 20 years old, died at 24 years old...

It starts to rain fittingly. According to Hoda, this is supposed to be a blessing - it makes sense in a country where it almost never rains and water mainly comes from the Nile.

By the way, we are accompanied by a police officer on our journey from Cairo to Alexandria, who sits on our bus. He has to inform the police in Alexandria about what exactly we are visiting and where we will be when. The travel plans for the next few days also have to be communicated. Hoda does not want to discuss too many political questions in front of him. After a late, late, late lunch (6:00 p.m.), we were even picked up by a police car at the restaurant and escorted to the hotel with flashing lights. Not that this made us get through the traffic much faster.