So what’s a palimpsest? It’s a manuscript on which the original writing has been erased to make way for other writing. In spite of the over-writing, however, you can, often, with a little bit of effort, still discover what lies underneath. As we did in Egypt’s beautiful Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
We drove in to Alexandria from Cairo on a superb expressway that arrowed through the lush delta lands of the Nile. Fellahin with their cattle and asses worked in the fields; sugar-cane grew tall and luscious; valuable olive trees spread as road dividers; vineyards thrived in this pragmatic Islamic country. And white, conical, towers rose like perforated and spiked boundary pillars, some of them stained brown. These attracted wild pigeons to nest in the holes, perch on the spikes, discolour them with their droppings, and contribute eggs, fat squabs and, possibly, fertiliser to enrich their ‘landlords’.
Such intelligent exploitation of natural resources seems to be an inherited talent of the people of this area. That administrative and military genius, Alexander, must have sensed this when he founded Alexandria in 332 BC.
Massed on a narrow strip of land between the sea and a shallow lake, Alexandria bears a surprisingly close resemblance to Bombay. Its broad, curving, sea-front road, the Grand Corniche, has the sweep of Marine Drive, with high-rises looking our over the white surf that washes over its popular beaches. At its far end once rose one of the Seven Wonder of the Ancient World: The 122 meter-high Pharos Lighthouse.
See the above page for more.
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