At some point in time, while still in Egypt, I got back with Pan and went with him on another bus ride. In Egypt you can ride for miles and miles until you come to a city where millions of people are condensed into a small area. Between cities there is nothing but hot, dry desert. This trip by bus took about two hours. It was again through the seemingly endless Sahara desert, from Cairo to Alexandria, a large city named after Alexander the Great. Historically, it's been a major port city over the centuries, situated on the Mediterranean at the west end of the Nile River. When I was there in 1987, its population was somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million people.
Pan had made arrangements prior to coming to Egypt to stay a couple days here at an apartment belonging to his aunt. It was in an old, large building similar to several other ones on the edge of the city. Looking through a narrow opening between buildings you could get a glimpse of the Mediterranean from the living room window. The inside of the apartment looked as though it had maintained its original design down through the years. The decor resembled something from back in the forties or fifties. The doorways however, were of almost Gothic proportions, rising to at least eight or nine feet from the floor. Either somebody was awfully tall, or the place was made for a giant. Of course, almost everything in Egypt was bigger than things back in the states. It reminded me of places in Athens and Rome where many of the ancient churches and important buildings were unbelievably tall. Even the curbs along the streets back in Cairo were about two feet tall. If someone accidentally hit one with a car it would do a lot more than just ruin a tire! Since walking the streets of Cairo, I've nicknamed big curbs everywhere else as 'Cairo curbs.'
On one of the days in Alexandria, Pan introduced me to a male person he knew from Sudan who gave us a tour of the city. I can't remember how they happened to know each other. We walked most of the day through crowded streets, learning about the different areas of the city from his friend. It looked like the majority of the people in Alexandria were poor. I don't remember seeing any expensive new cars, or people clad in extravagant clothing. In Cairo, however, there seemed to be a little more cultural diversity as far as peoples interests are concerned. Together, Cairo and Alexandria make up the majority of the country's population. It appeared that in both cities, the levels of social stratification consisted of just two classes of people, the rich and the poor.
The only part of Alexandria that appealed to me was along the waters edge. There are about five miles along the beach where small fishing boats were anchored, and an area that was designated for swimming. The water wasn't very clean looking, but at least there was the ocean and a beach where people could enjoy themselves. The sun in the city streets was scorching hot, well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. It was in late August and you didn't have to walk much to become dehydrated unless you were constantly drinking something. A horse and carriage was available for tourists, and others who wanted a scenic ride along the beach where it was a little cooler.
Alexandria also has a passenger train that passes through the heart of the city and onward to Cairo. The train is beneficial to thousands of people who can't afford to travel by car or bus. Even if they all did use cars and buses, I don't think there'd be enough room on the streets to accommodate every one's vehicles.
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