alexandria what happened to you?

alexandria in july is nothing like it ought to be
the once great city is to me has become the biggest dissapoinment


i used to come here as a little girl
it used to be so much fun here in alexandria
but now it is a memory of beauty and the majority of the the minds have taken it so far back


a city that has the potential of being as fun as beirut is now the opposite of what beirut stands for
alexandria wins in one point, thank GOD no war stains there, but dear Lord what has happened to alexandria?


i realise that the four seasons is no way to judge a place
but it is a way of comparing a segment of society in every place

the four seasons has not failed to create another architectural beauty and ofcourse good service
but the people have killed it, they killed the experience, with their ways, with their attitiudes, and as shallow as it sounds with their choice of clothes too.

the pool is wonderful ofcourse and sitting by it and seeing the beach too, what more would you want sipping your fruit cocktail? sounds dreamy until the residence of the hotel start to occupy the place and make you feel uncomfortable for all that you are it becomes not dreamy and more nightmarish.

it seemed to me that there is some kind of hidden alexandrian laws that everyone knows of except me: only men and children can swim or wear a swim suit
a saudi feel to the place spreads and you could smell the borrowed tradtions fill the place
the once alexandrian man has adapted the saudi customs and his wife has sided with a towel in her hand in the shade covered and sheltered in a way that seems to be so borrowed and not originally hers.

were they teachers working in saudi and coming with money to spend in their home country?
they must be because all the signs point there.


the sand and beach experience was such a disapointment too
thinking that my contact with the alexandrian beach will be a reunion from a childhood memory
all i see in the waves is empty bags of chips
and waste everywhere
i could smell the sewage too dropped in the sea
and the sand
what happened to the sand of alex?
it lost its softness and its bright yellowness
the almost black waves with the brown sands are the reason the alexandrians who care for beauty left alex in the summer and went to the north coast.

i felt like i am in a petrooleum field, nothing about the beach said vacation or fun.
on the beach of the fourseasons you will not find one female in swim wear or even just sitiing there
all you could find is men and children.
no sound of music or any efforts to entertain.
all i could feel was uncomfortable.
the only people on the beach are loud repulsive spoiled children who are not one bit cute, and their hairy fathers who think they are the heroes of their time. where have the women gone? why are they all men and children?

thats when i realized that it does not matter how amazing the hotel is that you stay at, what matters is the people around you.
we walked through the same underground tunnel to reach the beach like in beirut and the beach was so similar to beirut's beach it even had sand and in beirut it was mostly rocks, but in beirut you want to live life smelling the waves, the people around you, and their choices of clothes and ways of speech make you enjoy the place.

in alex all i could think of was how every life comes to an end, that is how we are as egyptians obssessed with death and the after life like we used to be as pharoes, it is all for the after life. in beirut it seems like they beleive it is just this life they got and they turned their beaches to heavenly dreams of fun, their clothes to art pieces, their features to what they wished for them to be, and they make you want to have fun.

i used to come to alexandria as a little girl and in montaza it used to be so wonderful spending summers by the beach, girls were free, men were not the only people you see on the beach, and people dressed up with taste, and you could not see maids dressed in repulsive clothes filling the place.

the four seasons is trying to be the fourseasons in alex but the alexandrians barely inhibit the restaurants and changed the scene to conservative macho macho town.

two things you will love about four seasons alex: the food and rooms that is about it!

the four seasons stands lonely in alexandria and it is beautiful in everyway, but if you stay there remember your room number because each step of the way you will be asked: "rakam el ghorfa?" or " room number please?" because they do not trust that you have a room, no matter how your efforts of looking representable are ,they will always suspect that you are a crasher! i thought of writing my room number on my forehead but held myself from embarrassing my friends. if you decide to spoil yourself in the alex fourseasons, remember to stay in the room and order room service! that is really the best part of the experience unless you do not mind loud children and men taking up all the place.