I recently visited the North Coast for a few days with my family after several years of not going on summer vacations together. Though the trip was fun, and we all enjoyed spending time together by the beach, the first words my father said as soon as we were back were “Nothing can compete with our unforgettable summer trips to Alexandria!” Ehab Adib is a 67-year-old project manager who works in the construction field in Dubai; he is also my father. Originally from Upper Egypt, moved to Cairo after university, and later to Dubai, my father summarized his summer vacations when he was young as trips to “the most beautiful city in Egypt”: Alexandria. Whenever the topic of summer came up during a family gathering, or a conversation between my dad and me, it was always about Alexandria. Since I had not visited Alexandria until my late teenage years, all I knew about the city was from my father’s stories. He always described the family’s annual trips there as his favorite time of the year. “We used to go either with our relatives or close neighbors. We rented a huge…
“Summers in Alexandria Were Unforgettable!”: A Look Back at Summer Before Sahel was Around
August 18, 2021
