I am amazed at the number of apartment blocks! Many of them look quite old and weather-beaten. I am surprised how many of them are under repair, scaffolding everywhere!

Our guide Samar told us that when she bought her unit in Cairo, it was just the shell. No windows, plaster or plumbing included. She has been renovating it slowly for a few years now! Many of the ones in Alexandria look like they have been painted or rendered numerous times!

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, and I think the same is true for these buildings. Our apartment is on the 13th floor. An old lift trundles up and down the odd numbered floors. The other lift stops at the even numbers. There are wires and pipes everywhere outside the building, while inside is very comfortable with good air flow in all the rooms and plenty of sunshine in the bedrooms.

Across the road is the tram, but we had no idea where it was going!

I loved looking at all the old buildings and tried to imagine how glorious they would have been in days gone by.