The Turkish Town

This weekend went by quickly, though somewhat boring. As I did not yet have a cell phone (I repurchased one finally), I wasn’t really in contact with anyone, and so I didn’t have much ability to get in touch with anyone else and run around the country. So I hung around my apartment, relaxing and doing homework. I bought a nice book about the history of Alexandria, and went exploring and photographing in Anfoushi, which is a pretty unique neighborhood. When the island of Pharos was built, there used to be a dike/bridge that connected it to the mainland, but when the city started to decline it silted up, so now there is this giant peninsula separating (what is now) the East from the West Harbor – and everything was built on the peninsula was the old Arab/Turkish town, Anfoushi. It used to be a fishing village, so now it’s home of a large fish market, lots of fish-grills and probably the coolest thing, the shipyards. It’s kind of sketchy (no, it’s plain sketchy) in some parts, because the neighborhood is so poor, but it’s definitely a change from the rest of Alex, which is either 19th century European or 20th century developments. Then I wandered over to the Citadel, which was surprisingly not very crowded for such a lovely weekend afternoon, and sat on the water. A pretty tranquil experience, I must say.

Next on my plans in Alexandria is to visit the Orthodox cemetery, and the old Greek Necropolis. Also, I missed Kom ash-Shoqafa (which is apparently a Medieval Wonder of the World) when the program went because I was still tripping off of drugs, so that needs to be done as well. Speaking of tripping on drugs, I saw a kid on my street passed out on the sidewalk (or sort of the sidewalk, anyway) clutching a cough-syrup bottle in his hand. Kind of a weird sight.

Shopping needs to be done soon…or we will simply starve in the morning. We have no gas for the stove or shower at the moment, because of an issue with the new bellboy (in Egypt the two are connected, seriously) not being present. Hopefully soon, because I miss my daily regiment of tea in the morning.

Finally, you may notice some new photos on my blog. Most are from Alex (various parts), though the more obviously desert pictures are from Siwa, and the pictures of actually gorgeous beaches are from outside of Marsa Matrouh. Then there are a few of ancient/important things from Cairo. Just to give you all a vague summary.