vango

The Ramsis get the best impersonation award from appearing to the outside world to be a 4 star hotel while barely managing to retain a 1 star status. We were surprised at the sad state of the place. We did have a balcony room overlooking the bay and the street filled with cars honking horns 24 hours a day. We measured the traffic by the number of horn beeps; It was in beeps per minute during the day and beeps by hour in the early morning,.






The sign says they offer an “Authentic Alexandrian Experience.” It certainly worried our driver who hoped that there would be another grand entrance that he somehow missed but he reluctantly dropped us off and we went in the entrance hall. A marble stair lead to a small desk beside an ancient elevator. I think Mr. Shindler crafted this one himself. It took us to reception on the fifth floor where Joe checked us in and escorted us to the room.



There were three single beds in a neat row. The bellman removed the bedspreads and took them with him. He plugged in the refrigerator and television while a woman rushed in and folded our towels leaving them on the bed.

It had an ensuite bath in a room whose former life was a closet. The shower was in the middle of the room with the toilet on one side and the sink on the other. But the most interesting and unique feature was the homemade bidet fashioned from a copper tubing that snaked under the toilet seat and stood in the center of the bowl like an awaiting asp. Cleo never had it so good.



There were lots of good points about our room. It is just that those didn't include the beds or pillows. There were decorative moldings on the walls and headboards. There was an interesting piece of gingerbread molding over the arch leading to the terrace. There is a spectacular view of the bay.

We slept the afternoon recovering from the time changes and jet lag. We ordered a sandwich from room service. That was five grilled lamb sausages in a long narrow roll. Around nine pm I went to find more to eat. I located a bakery selling cookies, and sidewalk vendor selling coca cola and a Pizza Hut. We ate our treats in the room and settled in for the night.