A Tale of Two Cities

This past weekend I visited Alexandria, the also famous, much cleaner, less crowded, Mediterranean sister of Cairo. History buffs will tell you all about the significance of Alex as the place of the great library and the lighthouse (which burned down a whiiiiiile ago) as well as its evident Roman and Greek influence. There are also the its ties to the love story of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony as well as their reign of power. All these things aside, the one thing that I got from Alex is that while its really interesting and on the beautiful Meditteranean, Cairo is definitely where its at. I'm not one for regional beef (Biggie over Pac ANYDAY lol) but Alex just wasn't cutting it for me. I think that its the type of place you go to when you want to be close to the sea or if you don't like crowds. But if you even spend two hours in Cairo and then go to Alexandria I'm pretty sure you would find it less than amusing as well. Now it is not my itention to offend any Alexandrians this is just my experience and the opinions...in list form.
CONS
- Why did I go to like four different Cafe's and was refused to see a menu at ALL of them. One clever man quickly responded "I AM the menu"...umm yeah no thanks.
- The waiters serving my shisha were not nearly as helpful as the ones I've come used to in Cairo
- Not as crowded, more conservative = not as fun!
- The amount of tourists is more noticeable.
- Please take better care of your beaches... its the Mediterranean dammit.
- Slower pace lifestyle
PROS
- BOMB ASS seafood
- The Citadel is a beautiful spot to visit
- Not as hot or polluted as Cairo
- Roman architectural sites...if that floats your boat.

All in all it was still a fun weekend in Alexandria, and at least the hotel will serve you booze even during Ramadan :)