Shower

And no, it was not the one I took earlier to freshen up. I was walking along the port and there in the middle of a stretch of palm trees that line along the pavement overlooking the activity area in the port the rain started to pour. I had been walking in a light drizzle for a while, and had no worries that this would change to something major. Now, when I was in the middle of this stretch with no potential shelter it started to hammer down. I was not really equipped to this and for some reason I even didn’t pack a raincoat with me coming from Egypt (I am really getting rusty in my travel skills). So suddenly, the area notorious for being alive all day and all night was now empty other than me. No one was willing to venture into this, but I was already wet so what difference does it make. My only major problem was my glasses, which would start to be covered with water hindering visibility. The wind also picked up adding to my situation another element of excitement. Nonetheless I kept on going, and it was actually pleasant to walk. I was recalling Frank Sinatra and the rain in Cairo, which someone mentioned he was surprised we have brown rain. Another image came to mind, Adel Imam acting in one of the famous plays where he was describing having dinner and spilling the soup all over him. He mentioned having his “socks” wet, and here I am feeling the same. I have been there before, probably even worse, back in Canada, on my bike and in the middle of nowhere it started to pour and I was on a high speed stretch. There water came from everywhere, the skies, the bike, and the cars. This time around it was only the water pouring from above that was worrying.

This was nice, cool, refreshing and you could almost feel you own the world just walking there. At the end of this stretch, I came on to the plaza where the old port, a narrow strip right into the sea is accessed. I stopped to look back and the water was still pouring and all reasonable people were taking cover from the rain, guess I was not that reasonable. I walked up to the Gothic Town and weaved through roads. The rain started to calm down a little and more people started to stand the light drizzle and walk the streets. I was wet, but still got to walk in the midst of the old town and see some of the old heritage sites, the part of the fortress wall, the cathedral and other things here and there. I also found a Carrefour and made it in to buy some water, and chips (ended up buying freshly baked bread). I walked back to the hotel, soaked inside out after this walk for a change of cloth.