Eygpt

Egypt Day one. Nov 28 2010.


I write this as we sail hugging the coast of Libya.

We awoke to the sound of ships horns as we pulled into the port of Alexander. Very strange as we had never heard this at any other port on any other cruise. I now know why….. more on this later.

This blog is not only to update you on a travels, but to serve as a diary for us of our travels. So this portion will be lengthy. But wow what an adventure.

Our trip was delayed starting by about 2 hours due the dense sand fog and road closures. We meet our guide Abir who teaches at the Cairo University with a PhD in Egyptology, Our Driver Mohammad and our armed guard. We left in a large caravan with police in front and behind. It was a 3.5 hour ride to Cairo with the unbelievable traffic. NYC traffic it a tame country drive compared to what we experienced. Imaging going 60 miles an hour and a donkey pulled cart of carrot pulls out in front of you and the bus just swerves around it without breaking. Women in Burkas stepping in front of the bus with children in tow. Pregnant women running across 12 lanes of traffic jumping the concrete barriers in the middle. This is not a once or twice event but a common sight for 2 full days. The whole trip went by fast as Abir kept us engaged in history, culture and info on Egypt. What an incredible guide. She taught us so much as we drove from site to site.

Once we arrived in Cairo our first stop was the National museum. Abir showed us her favorite pieces as well as the most important items. I must say that his was one of the most enjoyable visits to a museum I have ever had. Do to some of the education of the bus, including photos and books, with the guides help we were able to actually read some of the hieroglyphics including a page of the “book of the dead”

Next we checked into our hotel and had lunch. We stayed at the Fairmont Four seasons Nile city. This was the fanciest hotel that we have ever stayed in. We hated to head back out for the eve.

We headed out to the Giza plateau to see the English version of the light show narrated by the Sphinx. It was an amazing night in the Sahara dessert. Warm breeze, stars in the sky very dark. Then out of the total darkness. The great pyramid and sphinx appeared. A very moving moment indeed. ( the next day we actually heard someone in our group say that he thought it was a fake stage production and not the real thing??????? AGHHHH!)

Next we were off to the pipers museum for a demonstration on how the ancient paper is made and why it holds up so well. There was store to buy some and do some other shopping as well.

The final event of the night was dinner cruise on the River Nile. We boarded our river boat and set sail. We had a nice mix for dinner of tradition mid eastern foods as well as the American like staples. We were entertained by belly dancer as well as a whirling dervish dancer. Of course you cannot forget the wonder views of the Nile.

We got to are Hotel about midnight and awaited our 6am wake up call.