Alexandria

Day 3: Went to Alexandria by road. It took about 3 hours to get there. I think our driver may have been speeding, and it was slightly scary.

Alexandria has a lot of potential. Mum says it looks a bit like the south of France. The water looks nice, despite all the garbage floating in it. The buildings are cramped and dirty. Disturbingly, a lot of them are half-constructed or abandoned. I think if they cleaned the place up, it'd be very spiffy indeed.

There was a man making pictures out of sand. Behold his coolness below. Click to enlarge! I sort of wish I'd bought something from him.

We had good lunch at a place called Athineos, though I'd minus points because the waiters were slow, didn't set enough places, ignored us when we tried to get their attention, and the tablecloth was really dirty. (I think this happened because they knew we'd never ever be coming back. The service for "real" customers looked good). Had great baklava from the Athineos bakery behind the restaurant.

Took another three hours to drive back to Cairo. At night the guide took us to the papyrus factory, where we were all severely ripped off. I bought only one piece of papyrus, so I was less ripped off than everyone else was.

(One of the aunties [not to name any names], always buys what other people buy. She gets out of control, and sometimes for everything you buy, she gets TWO of the same thing. She got ripped off the most, but I don't think she really cares, because it's her husband's money anyway. And she's nutty. End gossip.)