As the country has plunged into a downward spiral, Alexandria is even more diminished. Once Egypt’s exuberant gateway to Europe, the city has been neglected for decades. The nationalist generals who ran Egypt after overthrowing King Farouk in 1952 eyed the city with suspicion. Alexandria was seen as too loyal to the monarchy, too European. Only under the waning years of the rule of President Hosni Mubarak did the city seem to perk up: A library was built. A seaside boulevard was paved.

But the changes were not enough. Alexandrians dug deeper into provincialism and their faith. In a city once famed for its European-style liberalism, the Muslim Brotherhood became a powerful force. The ultraconservative Salafi movement built its base. And on New Year’s Day in 2011, the city became the scene of some of Egypt’s worst sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in modern history. The seeds of the Egyptian revolution were also planted here when, in June 2010, the police beat to death a 28-year-old, Khaled Said.

But shabby Alexandria, like the rest of Egypt, has seen little benefit from the revolution. The country is reeling under its latest repressive president and a tanking economy. The currency has lost half its value, and Alexandria has never felt so grim.

“I miss the old Alexandria,” Mahmoud Ghamrawi, 68 and a retiree, said as he sat at the coast and watched the sea with his 2-year-old granddaughter. “People feel like strangers in the city.”