Today we arrived into the port of Alexandria, Egypt.  900 people from our ship are visiting the pyramids in Cairo today.  They are taking a 13.5 hour excursion as Cairo is a long way from Alexandria.  If you haven’t seen the pyramids which most of these 900 people have not then it is worth it.  Nana and Papa took a river cruise up the Nile river for almost 2 weeks and we saw it all….. except we did not see Alexandria, as it ai a long way from Cairo.  So we opted to stay in Alexandria and explore this city.  More on that soon !  We had an excursion planned which I detail below but the highlight was a tour of the Jewish Synagogue that we did on our own.  Keep reading to hear about it.

Last night we celebrated the 50th birthday with the Environmental officer on the ship.  We got to know the previous officer, and the new officer joined us in Cape Town.  Nana has gotten to know him well as he came to our dinner table earlier….. at the request of Nana.  She also asks him a lot of ship questions when she seems him around the ship.  Like why is our basketball court dirty one morning and other issues.  That is your Nana always inquisitive but very friendly. We found out he was going to be 50 years old last night and invited him to our table.  It was a grand birthday.  We also had a fantastic sunset during dinner.

We arrived into the port today, which is very close to the center of the city.  The buses were lined up early as Nana and I saw when we were playing basketball this morning.  (Papa won in case you were wondering).  We had a 5 hour tour visiting places around Alexandria.  It is interesting to note that every tour bus had a police car following it as well as an armed guard on the bus.  We saw the same thing during our Nile cruising 3 years ago.  Egypt’s top industry is tourism and they want to make sure that there are no issues with tourists.  We did feel very safe going around Alexandria but Egypt is different that most countries we have visited so far.  Alexandria is a very dense city with 5 million people living in a small area.  The traffic is crazy with people walking in the roads, horses, cars, and buses.  A lot of horn honking and close calls.  Crossing the street for us, we felt that we were taking our lives in our hands. It also interesting how they park cars here. Notice the row closest to the sea….. how do they get out,

Our first stop on the excursion today was Fort Qait Bay, whose medieval fortress guards Alexandria’s eastern harbor and was built on the ruins of Faros Lighthouse — one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The fort was still being restored while we there but it is mostly done.  It is stunning and the history of the fort was unbelievable.  We also saw a lot of school childeren and Nana was a favorite for selfies and the school children wanting to talk to her.

Next we visited the Roman Amphitheatre with its 13 tiers of seats in European marble, columns of green marble from Asia Minor, and mosaic paving. With seating for 800 spectators, the theater was possibly an ancient concert or athletic venue.  The amphitheater was only recently discovered as the city was built over time on the ruins of many ancient structures.  This area was fortunate to not have an apartment building built on top of it.  The area also features one of the old Roman Baths.

At the end of our tour, we headed to the Library of Alexandria, a beautiful, modern library that is also a complex of museums, exhibition areas and conference centers.   The library was stunning.  Nana has had this on her bucket list for a while.  Almost every table was filled with students and people.  Lots of room on the book shelves for more books but who is reading books now….. apparently a lot of people.

Then back to the ship for some lunch and then we headed off the ship to visit the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue.  Earlier on the cruise, we met a wonderful person named Edna.  As we got to know her we found out that she was forced to leave Alexandria when she was 8 years old with her family.  The story of the jews is sad as they have been forced out of many homes and have been persecuted a lot.

The history of Jews in Egypt during the 1960s is marked by dramatic upheaval, mass emigration, and the virtual end of a once-thriving Jewish community that had existed for centuries. Egypt had been home to a significant Jewish population for millennia, including both Sephardic and Karaite Jews. By the early 20th century, especially in cities like Cairo and Alexandria, Jews played prominent roles in business, culture, and politics. However, the rise of nationalism and the establishment of Israel in 1948 marked the beginning of increasing hostility toward Egyptian Jews. The aftermath of the 1956 Suez crisis was significant.  Although this technically began in the late 1950s, its consequences extended into the 1960s. During and after the Suez Crisis, the Egyptian government, under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, expelled many Jews, confiscated their property, and stripped them of citizenship. Hundreds were imprisoned, and foreign Jews (particularly those with French or British passports) were forced out. Throughout the 1960s, Egypt’s remaining Jewish population faced surveillance, discrimination, and societal hostility. Many Jews emigrated during this decade, especially to France, Israel, the United States, and South America. The community, once estimated at around 80,000 in the 1940s, shrank to only a few hundred by the end of the 1960s.

This war between Israel and several Arab states had profound effects on Egyptian Jews. In the wake of Israel’s victory, Egyptian authorities detained many Jewish men, accusing them of being Israeli sympathizers or spies. Synagogues were closed, community institutions disbanded, and further waves of emigration followed. This war essentially marked the final blow to Jewish communal life in Egypt. By the end of the 1960s only a small number of Jews remained in Egypt. Many of those left were elderly or unable to emigrate. Jewish communal life had nearly disappeared, and public Jewish identity was effectively erased from Egyptian society.

Edna’s family was a part of the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue (Alexandria). This historic synagogue, originally built in 1354 and reconstructed in 1850, was restored and reopened in 2020 after a major renovation funded by the Egyptian government. It can accommodate up to 700 worshippers but is now primarily a heritage site due to the dwindling Jewish population in Alexandria.  Edna asked us to visit the synagogue and say some prayers for her and her family.   You know Nana can’t resist a request like that.  Our first challenge was to figure out to get there after our excursion.  Papa found out that we could walk to the synagogue and back (1.5 miles each way).   So we head off the ship and there is a golf cart waiting there, we ask if he can take us to the end of the port road, which is about .4 miles.  He was happy to do that. As we exited the port we were barraged by taxi drivers and horse carriage drivers.  Papa took a leap and talked to one the horse carriage drivers and struck a deal for them to take us to the synagogue.  We weren’t sure how well they understood us but I had the route up on apple maps so I felt sure we would get there.  The carriage ride was fantastic and we found the synagogue.  We ended up at a closed gate at the synagogue with an armed guard behind it.  We asked if we could visit the synagogue.  The guard called over another person who asked for our passports.  This is usual in Egypt as we know from prior visits.  Well this person took our passports and walked away into the synagogue but was gone for about 15 minutes.  Nana wasn’t worried but Papa was wondering if we had made a mistake.  Well he cam back with our passports after 15 minutes and said we could come in.  He unlocked the door to the synagogue and we had a private tour.  This synagogue was just gorgeous.  Nana and I went in and sat down and said some prayers for Edna and her family.  Nana was crying because of what it took to get here and what we saw.  Papa did not have the faith that it would happen but Nana had the faith it would happen.

Our horse carriage even waited for us and took us back to our ship.  We stopped for some pictures of the harbor, the horses, and of course Nana and Papa.  We saw many many vendors along the streets and we especially liked the fruit stores where they hang the fruit in sleeves high above the store.

Tomorrow is another sea day and then on Good Friday, we are in Ephesus, Turkey and then on Saturday we are in Athens, Greece.  On Easter Sunday we have a sea day and Nana has been practicing with the Protestant choir non stop for the past 3 weeks and they will be singing at a special sunrise service at 6am for Easter then Easter Mass at 8am.