高速路休息区
路边的房子上很多有这种造型奇特的鸽子笼（塔）
司机说穆巴拉克当政的时候政府开发力度比较大。像这一路两边的很多房子都是那时政府免费送地开发商负责花钱带动起来的。听司机的意思是有些怀念穆巴拉克同学时代，尽管小穆同学也不是啥好鸟，好歹还能干事儿。现在的总统执行力有限，旅游业一落千丈也木有神马高招儿把游人给忽悠来。他的观点是穆兄会使靠骗术上台的，所以尽管是民选的，上台后干的事情和竞选的口号对不上。听着咋跟美国一样呢？！呵呵。。。
这就到了亚历山大边上了，从此地进城又盘桓了不少时候。
街上的行人和出租车，全部是雷诺
很有特色的突突车
据说这是英国佬百年前修的有轨电车，还在运行，貌似都是原装车，破旧不堪
穆斯塔法带俺们在庞贝柱街对面的个咖啡馆坐下，建议俺们在外面看看西洋景就行了，不值得花那个门票。俺们看看也的确是这个情况。埃及的咖啡很浓，而且煮出来跟糊糊一样，里面还后咖啡豆渣子，味道挺浓。不过俺平常基本不喝咖啡所以无所谓。
这里的人很悠闲，还不到中午早就有很多人在咖啡店里抽水烟喝咖啡愣神。
围墙里面的那个柱子就是庞贝柱了。该柱子有18m高，加上底座有25m高。底部直径有一米五。整个柱子是一块红色花岗岩做的。也算得上是世界上有名儿的整根石柱了。很多石柱是石料层层垒起来的。此石柱来自阿斯旺，重约285吨。虽然名叫庞贝柱可是事实上跟庞贝同学一点关系也没有。罗马的庞培大帝是公元前一世纪人物，平民出生的他通过自己的努力因英勇善战而受到党中央的赏识，后又被卡撒大帝招了胥，那家伙噌噌往上去啊！后来他媳妇先过去了，他在两条路线的斗争中站错了队，成了凯撒大帝追杀的对象，随即远走埃及避风头。后在埃及被暗杀。那就叫雪琳琳的阶级斗争啊！那么后来的革命群众不明真相，觉得庞同学那么功高盖世，怎么着也得有个大石柱啥的纪念他老人家吧？于是就怎么看怎么像的把这根300年后建的柱子死乞白赖的叫做庞贝柱。这名字也就以讹传讹到现在。其实当时立这个柱子是为了纪念一个罗马皇帝平定亚历山大暴乱。
周围的街景，有时间背着相机四周溜达溜达一定会有不少收获。很可惜俺今天木有这个可能。
导游说下图中的高楼是违章建筑，估计盖成这样了怕是不会拆
这地方是个地下墓穴群博物馆。里面的墓穴按死者家庭的高低贵贱分大中小规模，高中低档次，精装简装，不一而足。里面的雕刻已经是埃及风和希腊风的混合体了。此墓穴被埋在地下多年，要不是个偶然的机会一头驴子掉到地洞里还发现不了。现在的亚历山大城就在老城上面，所以考古工作木法开展，成本太高。
俺还是更喜欢看人们悠闲地坐在咖啡馆里的景象
博物馆的院子，这个也不让拍照
奔驰突突车
商业街
华丽丽的路灯
电车汽车行人
烤红薯的流动摊点，这个看着有些卫生堪忧
这个门儿大老远的挥手让俺给他拍照。亚历山大的人们貌似根本不鸟旅游这么一回事儿，街上根本没有人问你买不买着那的。
靠着地中海边的海滨大道上有很多气派不凡的建筑
这就来到了地中海边，海水也很清澈湛蓝美腻！这地点就是原来那个古世界七大奇迹之一的灯塔所在地。可是呢，灯塔到了公元九世纪就给震倒了，取而代之的是十五世纪马姆鲁克人建的一座防御堡垒。看了那么些四五千年的古董俺们还真的对这个几百年的物件感不起兴趣来。在堡垒附近溜达了一会儿，看看人来人往就去下一站了。
勇敢的钓鱼人！
小朋友的游乐设施，貌似是要钱的
城堡在西边，皇宫在东边，俺们得顺着海滨大道跟稠密的车流作殊死的斗争。好在还有路边的建筑和行人可以看着解闷儿。
这便是皇宫和花园了，挺美挺好，只是没啥特别的
看完了皇宫也差不多该回开锣了。这就是亚历山大的“千年”图书馆了，是个全新的建筑。那还进去干哈？！
回程的路上。棕榈树很有风情。
收费站
赶上了日落。
回到开锣，市内堵车一塌糊涂，穆斯塔法带着俺们去了一个新城区，本地人夜市一样的地方，晚饭吃的是烤鸡，也许是饿了，这平常俺不爱吃的东西都吃着很香。据说烤鸡店是一家叙利亚难民开的，生意很火爆。导游说埃及接受了32万叙利亚难民媒体连提都不提，欧洲为个几万难民的接收问题铺天盖地。吃完了饭已经六点了。俺们踏上了去机场的艰难历程，平常40分钟的路走了三个小时，要不是俺陪着司机踊跃的讨论着天下大事这时间可怎么混哪！她们娘俩已经彻底晕菜了在后面睡着了。到了机场之后就是各种顺利，开锣法兰克福华盛顿dc一路通畅。离开了真主的辖区俺恶补了几天酒精饮料。在东边过完了节回到了俺们穷乡僻壤过俺们平凡的苦日子。。。（完）
Travel diary day 11 12/21
by 7 am we checked out of the hotel and had our stuff ready at the hotel door waiting for our guide for we were going to take a day trip to Alexandria. we debated between spending more time digging deep in cairo or taking a day trip to Alexandria for a little while last night, the curiosity won out. I guess we were not extremely happy with taking the long trip, but we didn't know either if were would be happier by spending the day in cairo. maybe it was just because of our level of interest was dropping by the end of our trip after seeing so many sites.
our guide showed up a few minutes late because of the congested traffic. have to say that we spent quite some time on the roads in cairo, traffic in the city seemed packed almost 24/7. going to Alexandria was pretty smooth between the two cities it was the getting in and out parts that took quite some time.
our first stop in Alexandria was a café right across the street from the Pompeii pillar. had a cup of coffee while watching people having their coffee and smoking shisha and taking photos of the old tram cars passing by, said to be more than one hundred years built by the British, the tram cars looked beat up but seemed working just fine. very interesting. we didn't bother to pay admission to get inside the walls to look at the Pompeii pillar. next stop was the catacombs, this wasn't very impressive after other monuments we saw in the last few days. I thought it was very interesting to see so many cafes everywhere and people were generally taking a laid back pace by sipping their café, smoking shisha, and watching the world going by leisurely. it would be more fun to have time to just stroll around on foot.
then we drove across the city to the castle by the seaside, the traffic in Alexandria was no better than that of cairo. the castle, again, was nothing special. had a nice time walking around and people watching though. after this we had to drive clear through to the other side of the town to see a royal palace. it was not open, so didn't have much to do there, either. that, pretty much, wrapped up our tour in Alexandria. then it was the fight to get out of the city and back to cairo. upon getting back to cairo our guide took us to a new part of the town at a street night market, we had fried chicken for dinner at a busy eatery said to be run by a Syrian refugee family. it was a busy place full of locals young and old.
after we were done with dinner it was around 6 pm. we then set out for the airport, a normally 40 minute ride took us almost three hours, thanks to the packed traffic. our flight was 2:40 am and the security check people would only allow three hours prior to the departure time. so we resorted to spend a couple of hours at the berger king upstairs. no free wifi. after the two girls took a little nap we went into the security area. the Egyptair lounge was very basic, but it did have free wifi, water and soda. our flight to Frankfurt took off right on time and the connections back home went smoothly.
we all agree that we had a wonderful time in Egypt! hope one of these days we will run out of new places of interest to go and come back for an encore!
猴年大吉 