Library at the Sea

[Note: To my great frustration, I cannot get all the photos posted just yet, so here's the text alone.] For me, I can understand why one of the most beautiful harbors in the world (as declared by yours truely and, to name a few icons of world fame, Alexander the Great and Cleopatra) also has one of the most beautiful modern libraries in the world. The harbor I mention is the eastern harbor of Alexandria, the one with two arms that hook in to form a semi-complete hug around the bay. This harbor you see in TV programs which attempt to recreate one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, the gigantic welcome statue called Pharos from the time of ancient Greece. The photo attached here is the view from our balcony at sunset where we arrived, fortunately, with two beers in hand. This view even stunned my friend, Kate, who is no stranger to this harbor.

Kate and I decided to go to Alexandria (Eskendrya, in Arabic) for a night this past weekend--it being only 3 hours by train from Cairo. Even before the train departed the station, Kate declared she was taking Sunday off of work and I declared my interest in going to Port Said, being that it is a short bus trip from Alex. Thus our 3 day weekend begins. Alexandria is a popular summer town for many Cairenes; the city was bustling, though there still exists a calmness maintained by the proximity of the water. For dinner we wandered back into a residential neighborhood off the harbor to a seafood restaurant of note. With the Lebanese salads and a variety of grilled and fried seafood that we picked off the ice-packed display, our lives were complete. 'Mmmm,' she said, all the way home.

And the library, the recently opened Bibliotheca! Once again, Egypt has succeeded in appropriately folding the historic into the present. How else? Through architecture and books. I have provided a link to the Bibliotheca (on the right of this page), and if you scroll down that website, you will find the photo gallery. Check out the photos of the odd yet fascinating exterior as well as the beautiful, quite, cool and peaceful interior of the library.

One of the best parts of the library is the Rare Books and Manuscripts collection. On display are some of the oldest texts from Medeival Islam~gorgeous specimines of the Koran and Arabic calligraphy, written in perfectly justified text blocks or with additional notes going up the margin of the page. Some terrorized by bookworms, some restored, the collection, for lack of a better description, rocked my world. For practically a thousand years--roughly 200 years after the death of the prophet Mohammed to the 19th century--Islamic society copied all of their books by hand. There are many reasons for this, but mainly because of a common distrust in a written text not associated with a hand of holy-royal lineage, and because written Arabic did not conform well to the block letters of the printing press until the 19th century. Not just texts with religious significance, but treaties on mathematics, astronomy, architecture, medicine and geography--they wrote the book, so to speak.

The Bibliotheca also has a very simple but rich Antiquities museum that displays Ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Byzantine and Islamic art and artifacts--together. One can just begin to comprehend how this edge of the Middle East (also known to some as the northeast corner of Africa--shhh, don't tell anyone), remains, to this day, an active part of the history of some of the most well-known empires and civilizations. Here one must take into account the whole, not just the history of the East, to find the links between humanity, today and yesterday. Whatever you want to call it: a crossroads, overlap, nerve center, link, junction. Take your pick. I venture to say, knowing full well this reveals my ultimate goal of writing the corniest metaphors ever written, that this region provides a mantlepiece for civilization above the fireplace of history. (Thank goodness for weblogs--you can publish anything!).

Onward to Port Said from where I said I would send many a post card but failed in that plan. I have crossed the Suez Canal in two places, and now seen where the Mediterranean meets the Canal. I couldn't actually see the locks of the Canal at work, but plenty of tankers went by. Attached you'll find a picture of the famous Suez Canal House and the famous Kate. Our friend in the photo is our adopted Port Said-ie brother who graciously helped us find our hotel at 2am, toured us around town in an airconditioned car, fed us fine grilled fish at his restaurant, and would not accept a dime in return. Unbelievable hosts these folks around here. Port Said is smaller than Alex--cars drive slower and though you can get lost, you are never far from where you want to be. Just as well, some of the late 19th century buildings give the city a French Quarter feel. The attached picture (lifted from another website) can give you an idea.

More to come later from my walk-about during the brief spell of cool weather we had last week. My best to everyone and hope you can beat the August heat! xoj