Taramasalata in Alex

It has been a month since I last posted and not surprisingly, it has been a busy few weeks, the highlight of which was a trip to Alexandria, Egypt's northern city. It is a beautiful and faded city, and definitely deserving of a return trip or two.

Some highlights:

Eating at the Greek Club - a little expensive, but lovely terrace overlooking the harbour, and wonderfully tasty taramasalata. And, oh, the jumbo prawns... deliciously coated in a lemon butter sauce..


Breakfast at Delices - excellent patisserie founded in 1922 on Saad Zaghloul square. Very good scrambled egg on toast for breakfast. Sadly, some of the other old patisseries have either shut down, or were closed during our visit.

A walk round the Antoniadis Gardens (and villa, undergoing renovation) - very run-down, and a reflection of the deteriorating situation that guards stopped us from going into the beautiful (and overgrown) lower portion of the garden, suggesting that thieves were lying in wait. But we enjoyed the statues (see picture of Nelson, right, missing not one but two arms!), but sadly didn't get to see (or hear) the macaws that are said to have a fruity command of the English language, taught by British soldiers. The language apparently has been passed down from generation to generation of macaws! Extraordinary..

Another reflection of the worsening security situation was our attempt to have tea on the terrace of the Cecil Hotel, another of Egypt's lovely old colonial-era hotels. We were told that we could no longer sit on the terrace because of the political situation. "It's better to be inside," the front of house people told us.

Somewhat ironic as we returned to Cairo the day that football fans burned down the Egypt football association and police officers club in Zamalek. By contrast, Alexandria appeared something of a haven.