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When the alarm went off this morning it seemed to early to be real and I actually dozed off again before it went off for a second time. With everything packed the night before, it wasn't much to get ready, but when you are really tired it is easy to leave things behind so we were doubly careful.
Our ride turned out not to be Hani's brother, but someone else instead. We had one more scary Egyptian drive to the airport (I thought the car was going to bottom out on the speed bump) before pulling up. I think the timing of our departure is perfectly coinciding with a sort of cultural fatigue that we are feeling after a month in Egypt. Would it be that hard to have seat belts in some cars and to try to limit one car to one road
lane ?
At the airport, we had one final taste of Egyptian organization with no real clarity as to what to do or what line up to be in. After asking official looking people and getting two different answers, we finally found out all Air Egypt flights, regardless of destination, could be processed at any
one of about 12 lineups. Despite the clearly marked lines, we were experiencing the usual line cutters that seem to happen here. The trick seems to be to stay close to the people in front of you so there is not even the slightest chance of anyone parking themselves between you and them.
At the check in counter, my heart sank when the agent asked about “onward travel” as we do not have our tickets out of Europe bought yet. They didn't seem to have a problem though, with this answer, and waived us quickly through. In the next line up, for Egyptian departure, there is the usual yellow line which everyone is expected to stay behind while waiting, cued up for individual booths. Even here, a burkha clad woman cut across several lines and took our turn while we waited. We moved up a bit to make sure it didn't happen again and were asked by the security to move back behind the yellow line. You can't win.
Once inside the departure area, you would never guess that you were in Egypt based on either the kinds of stores or the prices. We shamelessly ate a MacDonald's
breakfast on the second floor and used up the last of our Egyptian Pounds. Despite being a brand new airport though, it has already taken on the dirty dinginess that seems common to Egyptian public places.
After breakfast we passed through some of the lightest security we have come across in our travels (a bit strange given the obsession within the Egypt and the recent bombings in Cairo).
To get to the plane in Cairo, you first board a bus which then takes you to the plane waiting on the tarmac. On the plane, we had two window seats, behind each other and the seats beside them. As the plane was not very full, there turned out to be an extra seat in each row which is always nice for extra space. As we taxied off toward the runways, we passed a sort of junk yard of old and partially disassembled jet liners. It was a strange kind of time capsule of older aircraft and somewhat fitting in the land of tombs and eternal time capsules.
After takeoff, I strained to see the pyramids from the air. I had all but given up, convinced they were on
the other side of the plane or we had taken off in the wrong direction when all of a sudden, there they were below us - three prisms in a neat row in the morning sun. From the air, you really see how surrounded they are by city. They are a short little preserve of desert next to a sprawling suburb. I managed to take a few quick photos as the plane banked slightly.
Airplane food generally does not get a good rap, and Egypt
Air does nothing to improve this reputation. That aside, we had some great views of the Nile River Delta and finally the ocean as we sipped our final Nescafes and tried to eat the stale buns and dried out cheese that passed for an in fight meal.
This is one of our shortest international flights at just over two and a half hours. It seemed we were just settling in about 11:45 when we started to see islands and snow capped mountains below us. By about 12:00 we had begun our descent and could now see ships on the ocean below and tufts of cloud hanging over volcanic peaks.
After Egypt, Greece seemed
so green. If we had arrived here from Toronto, I think we might have found it looked a bit dry, but after a month in the desert we were seeing grass everywhere.
Immigration and customs in Greece were so easy, we weren't even quite sure we had passed through them. Everything seemed remarkably organized and serene after all the usual shouting taxi drivers in Egypt. We needed to call our new landlord here and arrange to get the keys, so we had the usual first time issues buying a pay phone calling card and figuring out which parts, of the international number given, were need for phoning locally. We made contact quickly though, and took a cab (the metro is under construction) to our new neighbourhood, Daphne.
We quickly found a taxi at the taxi stand, with a meter no less, something we never saw in Egypt. The taxi stayed in one lane, signalled turns, and stopped for pedestrians - none of which would have seemed remarkable 6 months ago but now held us in awe. In a deja vu of Egypt though, our taxi driver had considerable trouble finding the street (written in Greek and with a
map showing the location) but after stopping several times to ask for directions, he found the place. Kostas, the manager of the apartment, was there to meet us.
The building turned out to be spanking new and the apartment felt like we were walking into an Ikea showroom model suite. Solar heaters on the roof provide auxiliary hot water and cool, electric shutters, like something out of a James Bond movie, come down at the touch of a button. At 55 Euro a night, it is far cheaper than any hotel and a great deal.
After settling in to the apartment, Evy and I went off to look for a supermarket. A main square turns out only about a block away. Here you find a large shop area, comparable to our own neighbourhood of Eglinton and Yonge, with many stores, restaurants, movie theatres, and the Daphne Metro station. After walking around the square and not finding a supermarket, we took one of the streets leading off it and found one about a block away.
After months with no supermarkets and eating in restaurants, it was a bit strange to be in such familiar territory. It is hard
to describe our excitement at something so common place. Despite the unfamiliar brand and Greek text, we ended up able to function well enough and were soon at home enjoying a simple meal of pasta and salad, watching pirated Vietnam DVDs on the television.
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