Personal Musings from the Mediterranean(Mar 25-28)
March 25, 2006 The Suez Canal
Again, another place that isn’t what I expected. The Canal is wider than I thought, and the scenery is so populated. I thought it would be total desert. The Egypt side is first crawling with armed military men – didn’t seen any women. Then, beyond that are green fields and row after row of apartment buildings. After a while, the cities seemed to become less frequent, while the armed guards never varied. The Sinai side was as I had expected – one sand dune after another. Occasionally there would be a war memorial, or a park which looked very new, but the population there was almost non-existent. It is mind-boggling that wars have been fought over this land…..One of the passengers is Israeli and he explained what it was like when he was fighting here.
March 26, 2006 Alexandria, Egypt
I was so worried that we would over-sleep today. Alemitu was to be on the bus for the Pyramids by 6:45am. Well, never fear. We arrived in Alexandria at 5:30am and the band, which was standing directly out from our porthole, struck up a racket at 5:45am. Carter’s comment thru his sleep was, “What they don’t have in quality, they made up in loudness.”
So, Alemitu was off to the Pyramids with stories upon her return.
Carter stayed on the ship for the day, so I was sad at breakfast that I would miss the Alexandria Library until another passenger said he wanted to go there too, but his wife wouldn’t let him go alone. I offered to accompany him and we both started laughing. What protection would I offer? I know I have been working out…..So that afternoon we took off on foot for the 6 mile round trip trek. It was a down and dirty vision of Alexandria, as well as an adventure in money changing and then the astounding finish of seeing the library. Words are inadequate to describe the magnitude of the library. It is built on the site of the original library built there in ancient times, with ancient and modern artwork, a gorgeous setting, multiple accompanying museums, and a library that has so much room to grow. The students who were studying there were so interesting. Most of the women wore headscarves, and those also wore long skirts and long-sleeved blouses. Some wore the highest of heels and others wore tennis shoes. Many of the outfits were made of denim. There was even one young woman covered completely except for her eyes. She even wore heave gloves – even tho it was warm (70 degrees). It was such a wonderful, exhausting experience – and I didn’t have to shop for a minute!!
March 28, 2006 Antalya, Turkey
Kit wrote yesterday that the water department contacted him saying that our house was using an inordinate amount of water. He assured us that he wasn’t taking too long showers. Oh, my. We are worried!!
March 28, 2006
Antalya, Turkey is by far one of my most favorite places on this trip so far. I loved the people they were so kind and nice. When I was shopping they weren’t really pushy like most of the places we have been to. The people here were more inviting than forcing the things in your face. I loved all the things they had in their little shops. I bought a lot of things like a Indian/ Turkish bedspread, wall hanging, pillowcases, and a really cute bag and a bracelet that has a ring connected to it with a cool chain connecting it; it was such a good price that I could not pass it by.
I really liked this city because of how clean it looked than most of the places we have been to on this trip. Most of the people here in this city live in apartment buildings I did not see one house. It was huge nice looking apartment building with beautiful mountains and the sea to look out. I really loved this place and I am really sad we are leaving tonight. But I am still glad that I got to spend the whole day here. I hope I will return here someday.
Always, Alemitu
(p.s. One man offered dad 1,000 camels for me as a bride price. He told me he loves me, he says his heart goes boom, boom near me.)
posted by Hills @ 9:59 PM
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