Day 4, Sunday, Alexandria, Egypt.
After a leisurely transit of the Suez Canal, we arrived at Alexandria around 6am and we will leave today at 1pm. Amanda and I were up early and after a quick breakfast, we headed into town.
For those of you who have never been to Egypt, let me explain that many Egyptians have difficulty in understanding the word “NO”, in fact they often disregard it totally. As soon as you leave the secure area around the ship you are instantly bombarded with the calls from the stall holders, calls like “Have a Shufty”, “Luverly Jubberley” and “Cheaper than Asda Price”
What you need to understand is the hassle you get from these people is simply the way they live their lives, you need never feel intimidated by it, just keep saying no and eventually they will move on to the next tourist.
When we eventually got out of the port, we were then presented with 20-30 taxi drivers and buggy drivers all offering us a city tour for “Very Cheap Price” in the end we plumped for a horse and buggy tour for £5 for 1 hour. We even checked and double checked with the guy and each time he confirmed £5 fro 1 hour. Hmmm… I smelt a rat but said nothing at this point.
We were introduced to our buggy driver “Abdul” and his son, neither of whom could speak any English, so we settled back for a peaceful ride through the streets of Alexandria.
Little did we know that Alexandria has a 6 lane coastal highway, open to horses and they even have right of way, so joining in the fast lane and heading across six lanes of traffic to the “Horse” lane was a hair raising experience.
After viewing several monuments and taking in the sea air, around an hour after we started we arrived back at the port. I was ready with my £5 note and thust it into Abduls hand as we got out of the buggy. Then here it came, he suddenly spoke some English. “No, No…”, he said, “£5 Each”. I said that was all he was getting and we walked back to the ship. He didn’t follow.
I don’t understand why taxi drivers (and horse and buggy) drivers do this to tourists, it just makes us less likely to use their services or recommend them to others.
Anyway, back on board, we go ready for the afternoon sailaway, a few drinks in the bar and a nap before another hectic nights entertainment and socialising on the ship.
By now we had started to make lots of new friends. – Tomorrow will be a relaxing day at sea before we arrive in Messina in Sicily on Tuesday.
