Our Trip to Alexandria and the North Coast

We recently got back from a week in Alexandria and the North Coast of Egypt. To say that this part of Egypt is beautiful is an understatement. I love this part of Egypt, partly because of the air which is fresh, but mostly because of the Mediterranean. I have never seen such beautiful colors of blue in all my life -- the Mediterranean takes my breath away each and everytime I visit Alexandria. It is very tempting to live there but I keep telling Hassan how much he would miss his friends in Cairo. He agrees.

We stayed with Hassan's Aunt Fawzayya who is elderly and who owns a chalet on the beach. It is lovely and yes I keep kicking myself that we didn't buy that chalet because I PASSED IT UP. It's my fault but I believe there is something better out there for us (I have to believe this because my butt is red from kicking it).

Although we were only at the beach one day, we were in the sun all the time and made several trips to Alexandria; driving along the Corniche or visiting with Hassan's mother's side of the family, who by the way are very down to earth and fun to be with -- Mira just loves them to death.

Our food contained a lot of salt and I cannot remember being this bloated except for Mira's birth where I was walking around on balloon feet; yes, we were bloated in Alexandria and it got to a point where we had to leave because we were feeling too uncomfortable. We had the best fish several times, lots of batik (watermelon) and fruit that tasted sweeter than candy. You would swear the tomatoes we ate were picked out of our own garden and at 50 piasters a kilo we ate a lot of them.

The teen (figs) were just coming into season so we didn't buy any; so we will wait and perhaps I will make a special trip back to Alex just to pick up the fresh teen which I can eat til I get sick and then eat them again.

In visiting Hassan's aunt (his mother's sister) Mira had a chance to play with her cousins, Mostafa and Keemo (they are paternal twins) who are 13. They took special care of Mira and all children, as do most Egyptians. I didn't know that Mira remembered any Arabic because she hasn't been speaking it without Hassan being here, but she certainly knows when to whip it out and use it. Alhamdulillah.

Ma'salaam,

~Marian