scubish.com: Scuba diving Alexandria - Egypt

Understand

History

Sic transit gloria mundi - Alexandria was the eponymous foundation (in 334 BCE) of the Macedonian conquerer Alexander the Great (Iskander al-Akbar), a rival of Rome in its heyday, and the world's greatest center of learning for millennia... now a dusty seaside Egyptian town with an over-inflated population of 5 million. The French-style parks and the occasional French street sign survive as a legacy of Napoleon, one of Alexandria's many conquerors. But the final blow came when Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized most of Alexandria's Greek-owned businesses, leading to an exodus of 50,000 Greeks from the country - but the few remaining Greek restaurants and cafés still dominate the cultural scene.

Orientation
Alexandria's primary promenade is the seaside Corniche. At the western tip lies the fort of Qait Bey, built near the presumed site of the former Lighthouse (Pharos in Greek), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, while the eastern shore sprawls for miles on end with the slums and tenements of modern Alex.

Eat

Egyptian cuisine is excellent, combining many of the best traditions of Middle Eastern cooking, and there are both large hotel restaurants and smaller specialist ones throughout the main towns. Some of the larger hotels in Cairo and its environs have kitchens serving top quality cosmopolitan dishes. In the center of Cairo, American-style snack bars are also spreading. Restaurants have waiter service. Although Egypt is a Muslim country, alcohol is available in cafe-style bars and good restaurants. The legal drinking age is 21.

National specialties:

• Foul (bean dishes).

• Stuffed vine leaves.

• Roast pigeon.

• Grilled aubergines.

• Kebabs.

• Humus (chickpeas).

National drinks:

• Kahwa (thick, strong coffee).

• Shay bil na'na' (mint tea).

• Karkaday (clear, bright red drink made from hibiscus flowers).

• Aswanli (dark beer made in Aswan).

• Zibib (alcoholic aniseed-flavored drink).

Tipping: 10 to 12 per cent is added to hotel and restaurant bills but an extra tip of 5 per cent is normal. Taxi drivers generally expect 10 per cent.

Elite. 43 Sofia Zaghoul. Once the favorite hangout of Alexandria's intelligentsia including D.H. Lawrence, Laurence Durrell, and Edith Piaf, but now bears a distinct resemblance to an American road diner complete with vinyl seating and chipped white plastic tables. The staff are still French-speaking and appropriately snotty. Try the plat du jour (23 LE).

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