Tom in Egypt // توم في مصر

Today, after many weeks of making little effort to see the few sights Alexandria has to offer, a few of us ventured out to Kom Ashuqafa to see the Roman catacombs (discovered, incidentally, by a donkey which fell through the land above into them) which were built in the second century AD. The landmark is located in one of the poorest areas of Alexandria, and perhaps the poorest area of Egypt I have seen thus far. A glance up any of the side streets running off the main roads shows the Egypt most tourists would not see, an Egypt a world away from that of Sharm or Zamalek or Luxor. The people, however, are extremely friendly. Literally every child I saw on the street gave me a grin and a welcoming "Ha-lo" and the men sat in the ahwas (cafes) smoking waved and gave us an ever comforting "Welcome in Egypt". We arrived and having paid the Egyptian Student entry price (25 times less than the full adult tourist fare) we descended into the catacombs, which were pleasantly fairly free of tourists, and worked our way through the chambers in true Indiana Jones style. Sadly no pictures were allowed but if you click here you should see some along with more info. The main tomb featured in the picture is really spectacular and has a weird mix of Greco-Roman and Pharonic Egyptian decoration that I think you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere.


After our underground adventure we thought we'd head to Pompey's Pillar, another touristy monumenty style site close by. Buoyed by our earlier success at getting Egyptian prices, we asked to be charged the same rate to see the pillar, at which the woman behind the desk balked and pointed out that we weren't Egyptian and would therefore have to pay 15LE as oppose to 1LE. Angrily we left, knowing that there must be another vantage point to see said pillar, which really is just a bloody tall, well, pillar. We wondered up the hill to see what we could find, unaware of the adventure awaiting us. In order to protect there precious pillar the authorities have built fairly high walls around it, making seeing it without paying annoyingly difficult, however after our encounter with unfriendly Coptic lady we were fairly determined. As we reached the top of the hill a kind group of locals offered us the roof of their one room house as a vantage point, which we happily agreed to. Sadly, as you can see from the photo below, the view of the pillar was still fairly obscured by the annoyingly high wall probably built by the hands of the annoyingly stubborn woman who tried to charge the extortionate tourist price.

Tomayn (2 Toms) on aforementioned roof

After our brief and unsuccessful excursion onto the roof we descended to find something of a small crowd gathered around the house. Various people had understood what we were trying to do and pointed us in the direction of a nearby apartment building so we, determined as ever, made our way to the bottom of the stairs being followed by an ever growing crowd of locals. As we went up the stairs and through the building, women and children seemed to be coming out of the walls and forming a hive surrounding us laughing and shouting.

One of the smaller children showing us their building

The situation was both terrifying and fascinating - the people were curious and delighted to see us in their building and were so proud that we were going to see the pillar from their building. By the time we reached the second floor of the most colourful and social housing building I've seen in Egypt, everyone in the building was either in the crowd surrounding us or looking on from their doorways.

Tom with his new best friends

My words cannot really do the ensuing 10 mins of chanting and singing and dancing justice, I hope the video gives a glimpse of the wonderful and yet ridiculous scene!




Tom led the crowd in the chanting and dancing and even at one stage had his name chanted by the hundred or so children surrounding and amongst us. For just that short time everyone seemed so happy. I can't think of a time when I've laughed so much for such a long time, it was just one of those moments that no-one can plan nor predict nor expect, and more than once on our way leaving the building we were thankful for the stubborn lady at Pompey's Pillar. How often things turn out to be blessings in disguise. We did get a look at the pillar - a view far better than any from the ground - but the day was no longer about sightseeing; what we had experienced in the poorest of buildings will for a long time be the richest of memories.