Alexandria

After landing in Cairo, we joined our first tour to Alexandria.

On the way to Alexandria, we stopped at Wadi Natrun monastery where we had a private tour led by the monk “Mercury”. This is a Coptic Christian monastery and is said to be the origin monastery upon which all other monasteries were modelled.

The monastery was a tremendous surprise, and despite not being religious, this was one of the highlights of the whole trip. And with some of the amazing sights to follow including the Giza pyramids and Petra, that is quite a statement. The whole place was so peaceful, and Mercury had such a calm aura about him. Everyone agreed, and it was definitely a spiritual experience.

The bible in Coptic language on the left and Arabic on the right. Coptic is the latest variation on the original Egyptian language. A bit like latin, it is only read, and not a spoken language anymore.

Mercury sang a song for us accompanied by the cymbals.

This is the room where the monks eat, sitting on the floor. The chief monk sits at the top and then the monks sit around the “table” in order of seniority. The most senior is on the chief monk’s right hand side.

Next stop was the impressive new library at Alexandria. It contains over 2 million books. The natural lighting is wonderful.

There are digital books stored on servers now of course too.

Alexandria is on the Mediterranean Sea.

We visited Fort Qaitbay which is situated on the original site of the lighthouse of Alexandria. It’s a very impressive construction.

In the evening, we managed to find the Nefrtiti bar which served alcohol. They foolishly gave us control of the sound system. For Queen Nefrtiti, Abba “Dancing Queen” seemed quite appropriate.

It was Gill, an Irish girl’s birthday, so G Adventures gave her a cake.

The next day we visited Montazah Summer Palace. It is now a hotel.

Next up was the amazing Catacombs of Kom el Shuqafa where many leaders were buried.

The bodies were lowered down shafts and then transported into the tombs.

There are many Pharonic-style stone carvings.

Next we visited Pompey’s pillar. There are various stone artefacts lying around.

There is also a Roman theatre at the site.

and lots of mosaics…

And now for the traditional Purple Ronnie poem for the final group dinner…

Cairo & Alexandria

At the Pharoah hotel we did meet for our CEO to greet
Manar asked us all to tell, our name and where we’re from as well
The hanging church sits on pillars of stone
But for prayer it’s not alone
The mosque of Mohamed Ali is so glorious
It packs a punch for the religious
On the Felucca they had to tow
Because the wind it did not blow
We took a walk to Tahrir square
Where we tried some different fare
We didn’t havvery long to wait until Koshari carbs hit our plate
At Wadi Natrun all noise did cease
With the monk Mercury we all felt peace
At Alexandria library we had a look
But not enough time for 2 million books
At Fort Qaitbay we were almost alone
With thousands of blocks of solid stone
Montazah Summer Palace is no longer just Royal
Hotels and construction makes rough soil
At Kom El Shoqafa there were many rooms
Deep underground in the Catacombs
At the Roman theatre there are many snakes
Slithering around the beautiful mosaics
At the bar Nefertiti it wasn’t long
Until we played an Abba song

Manar the lighthouse helps us see
All of Egypt’s history
Patrick puts us in a trance
When he does his Egyptian dance
Linda thinks that it is fun
To scare us with an Airsoft gun
Finn never feels very good
Until he’s had a lot of food
Stephanie is so very tall
She peeps like a meerkat above the wall
Ronnie caused a lot of strife
With the xray and his knife
For Michelle it is her will
To sort out the restaurant bill
Monica’s navigation is not too good
If she could drive here on the left she would
On Jill’s birthday she did dream
That she was dancing like an Abba Queen

Now we’re back in Cairo
Unfortunately it’s time to go

Bye!
(Purple) Ronnie