We Were Recommended To Rey's, In Which We
Found Every Comfort We Could Desire.
The house is large and handsome,
and well situated, being at the end of a wide street, or rather
place, in which the more wealthy of the Frank inhabitants reside,
and where there are several houses belonging to the consuls of
various nations.
These latter are usually detached mansions, of a
very handsome description, and one especially, facing the top, will be
magnificent when finished.
All the houses in this quarter are very solidly constructed, lofty,
and with flat roofs. The ground-floor seems to be appropriated to
merchandize, or as domestic offices, the habitable apartments being
above. The windows are supplied with outside Venetian blinds, usually
painted green, which, together with the pure white of the walls, gives
them a fresh and new appearance, which I had not expected to see. In
fact, nothing could exceed the surprise with which I viewed a street
that would have excited admiration in many of our European capitals.
It will in a short time be embellished by a fountain, which was
erecting at the period of my visit: could the residents get trees
to grow, nothing more would be wanting to render it one of the
most superb avenues of the kind extant; but, a few inches below the
surface, the earth at Alexandria is so completely impregnated
with briny particles, as to render the progress of vegetation very
difficult at all times, and in some places impossible.
This portion of the city is quite modern; near it there is a more
singular and more ancient series of buildings, called the Okella;
a word, I believe, derived from castle. This consists of one large
quadrangle, or square, entered by gateways at different sides. A
terrace, approached by flights of steps, extends all round, forming
a broad colonnade, supported upon arches. The houses belonging to the
Franks open upon this terrace; they are large and commodious, but the
look-out does not equal that from the newer quarter; the quadrangle
below exhibiting any thing rather than neatness or order. Goods and
utensils of various kinds, donkeys, camels, and horses, give it the
appearance of the court of a native serai, though at the same time
it may be said to be quite as well kept as many places of a similar
description upon the continent of Europe. The Frank shopkeepers have
their establishments in a narrower avenue at the end of the wide
street before-mentioned. Here are several cafes, apparently for the
accommodation of persons to whom the hotels might be too expensive;
some of these are handsomely fitted up in their way: one, especially,
being panelled with shewy French paper, in imitation of the Gobelins
tapestry. I was not sufficiently near to discern the subject, but
when lighted, the colours and figures produced a very gay effect.
I observed a considerable number of druggists' shops; they were
generally entirely open in front, so that the whole economy of the
interior was revealed to view.
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