Broken

There's a lot run down or broken about Alexandria but it still lifts the spirits like few other places. We switched hotels from the Hilton Corniche (ridiculously far out from the centre with every public area blasting live pop music) to The Cecil (an old 'lady' of a hotel). Checking in there was, for me, 36 years overdue as I had wanted to stay in 1981 but when told the price for a night across the reception desk I had to confess I couldn't afford it on my back packers budget.

It's a fine place to stay and the guest and patron list includes Churchill, Durrell, Eve Cohen, Glyn Williams (father of Chaiselongue) and Field Marshal Montgomery, after whom the bar on the first floor is named.

There's an extra of the view from our room and also one of the market area we walked through later as well as one of an old Corniche facade, so typical of the Alexandria that lives in our imaginations.