Road Trip - Reaching Alexandria

The Alexandria Desert Road from Cairo has become a delightful drive compared to its earlier incarnation that a tourist might have traveled five or more years ago.  But the end of the 120 mile drive does not immediately place you on the city's beautiful Corniche.  Instead, it leaves you about ten miles east of town in an area of heavy industry and warehouses.

Now, those few among us who appreciate a view of refinery piping will be delighted to pass both the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (they have a great photo montage on the Internet here) and the large Alexandria National Refining & Petrchemical Chemical refinery on the way into town.







There is even a facility with a large billboard belonging to our Bloomington-based Donaldson company company close to the Coca Cola and Pepsi bottling plants.





We were headed for the Alexandria Catacombs so we headed out along the street-car tracks rather than into the heart of the modern city.  It is easy to picture yourself in a 1900-era major American city as you roll along the tracks beneath the high-voltage line supplying crackling electric power to these vintage cars.