The Magic of the Alleys

I mentioned briefly in a previous post the odd feeling that I get when I walk down the small side streets in Alexandria because of the towering apartment buildings that inevitably rise on both sides. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am not used to being shorter than everything around me. But although (or maybe because) I feel like I am in the middle of a deep canyon I find myself constantly drawn to these alleys whenever I walk through the city. For one thing, there is so much more life in them than on the big boulevards that run through the city. Whereas a walk on the boulevard will yield nothing but car fumes and constant honking, a walk in the alleys always leads to new discoveries or sights that I would never see in the US.

Sidewalks technically exist here, but in the alleys they are generally dirt or jagged concrete, and you are apt to receive a free (and unexpected) shower if you walk on them from someone's dripping air conditioner, drying clothes on their balconies, and God knows what else. Thus, everyone walks in the streets. In addition to the constant foot traffic, there is also the constant hum of conversation. From within shops, between people on the street, the calls of the milk or fruit seller hawking his wares, or jabber back and forth between people on different balconies of the apartment buildings on both sides of the street. I periodically stop and just lean on the wall of a building or stand in front of a shop to drink it all in.

The whole life of the alleys is particularly interesting to me because I am currently reading Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" in which she pinpoints sidewalk conversation, spontaneous interaction between customers and shopkeepers or passers-by on the street, and constant involvement by residents and visitors alike in the life of the street as critical for a neighborhood's vibrancy, safety, and overall quality of life for its residents. Jacobs assails housing projects and wide, sweeping streets through the city for their complete disregard for the importance of this street life and the negative consequences that result. I can say with absolute certainty that were Jane Jacobs still around today and were she to visit Alexandria she would be absolutely charmed by all of these alleys.

I might have felt some hesitance at first to get off the main streets and explore the alleys, but after a few weeks here and many amazing sights in the alleys that I now avidly seek them out whenever I walk anywhere. As a matter of fact, I think I feel even more safe in them than I do on the big streets (namely because of Egyptian drivers' general lack of sanity and propensity not acknowledging the existence of pedestrians). This sidewalk life in the alleys and total mixing of residents, businesses, and passers-through is largely missing in the United States (places like Chestnut Street, Fillmore Street, or Clement Street and Chinatown in San Francisco come close to approximating it but lack the residential aspect). So with that in mind I am going to relish every opportunity I have here to get off the beaten, smoggy paths on the main streets and work my way through the thousands of alleys that are hidden - but by no means undiscoverable - in this city.