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Blogs from Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 8
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January 11th 2012
I have long been fascinated by Egypt- ever since I was 13 and learnt about hieroglyphics and the Rosetta stone. I therefore made sure we got to visit this history rich country while we were in the UK, with the Xmas/ New Year break seeming a good time to go. The trip started well with an upgrade to premium economy on our British Airways flight on Christmas Eve. Once we cleared customs and located our driver, we were all keen to hit the road. However, our driver really wanted some ‘top quality’ vodka from duty free, so nominated one of our fellow travelers to head back into customs, and gave him a hand full of Egyptian pounds. Okay, take two: Passengers check, Bags check, Vodka double check. The trip to the hotel gave us our first ... read more
January 11th 2012
So it's time to hit the road again after a short break from travelling. I have been to Slovenia, Serbia and Greece just to stop by some of my good friends. After a little over a month, it was time to get into my travel shoes. My next destination was Egypt. Completely foreign land to me, and for the first time, I would be setting foot on the African continent. That makes five continents in total that I have been to. Egypt was going to be one of a kind. As soon as I landed, I knew I was already in a different world. I flew in from Athens today, and first things first, I had to buy my entry visa from the checkpoint before passport control. The visa and the stamp made a very good ... read more
Off to see Big Ben, the Acropolis and the Pyramids.
Published: January 26th 2012Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Giza » Mohandessin
January 10th 2012
Sorry for the delay, but the interent is not a accessible as I would have thought. Well better late than never. I'll try and keep the entries as brief as possible so as not to bore the pants off anyone. As always if you do not want to get update for the blog just remove your name from the list, I won't be offended. The flight to London went off without a hitch. Since it was a one day layover we didn't even leave to airport to find a hotel, we stayed at the capsule hotel in Gatwick. Twenty meters square and cute as a button. I did decide to go out for a swift pint and ended up on a pub crawl of Westminster. The next day was Athens and sightseening on the Acropolis. It ... read more
January 8th 2012
This is my entry right after the travel : Cairo is huge, dirty, loud, unfriendly, often rip-off and complicated city. After taking bus and metro twice I decided to stick to cabs and bargain about the price. For me it all went well but almost all my friends got ripped off by taxi drivers. To keep it short : Cairo sucked. The city itself at the moment is only interesting because of its people and the aftermath or ongoing (subject for discussion) of revolution but not as a city itself. Yeah pyramides and markets are worth seeing but once u've seen them you're bored. Unless you know Egyptians..And here we come to the important part : I never met so many interesting and cool people who wanted to be my friends as in Egypt, they welcomed ... read more
Barack Obama, Mohammed Ali, Regis Philbin, and me
Published: January 8th 2012Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo
January 5th 2012
My final day. I’m sort of sad about it. I really loved Egypt. The elections were amazing to witness and I was able to experience so much all over the country. But my day has come. The last thing on my ‘to do’ travel list was to explore more of Islamic Cairo. Regis Philbin and I (see Alex post if you don’t get it) set off again. Our first stop is the Mohammed Ali Mosque (no, not the boxer). The mosque itself is in the Citadel which was built in 1176 to protect the city from Crusaders. So basically, think of the Citadel as a big fort. Back to the mosque – it has alabaster on the outside which is unique and contains Mohammed Ali’s tomb on the inside. And it’s field with beautiful lights, as ... read more
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January 4th 2012
Cairo is obviously a very religious city. Both its Coptic Christian area and Islamic area are famous for beautiful (and crazy old) churches and mosques. Sasha, Amy and I set off with a guide to explore a little bit of everything, and we threw in a synagogue for good measure. We started at Ibn Tulun Mosque. It was built between AD 876 and 879 (like I said, old). It's beautiful and unique because it's one of only 2 mosques in the world with stairs on the outside of the minaret. We climbed to the very top of the minaret, which I was shocked they let us do, and were rewarded with a beautiful view of Cairo and the mosque below. Then we switched religions and visited the Hanging Church. I had heard this name several times ... read more
January 3rd 2012
I didn’t tell any of you about this because I didn’t want you to worry, but I had a little run in with black henna here in Egypt. I’m fine now. No harm done so don’t freak out as you read this. On my last day in Aswan on December 20th when I visited the Nubian village, I had a Nubian woman henna my hand. As many of you know I love henna and regularly have henna on my hands or feet during the summer. After getting it done and returning to my mini cruise ship, I opened my trusty Lonely Planet guidebook to see what other fun things I could do in Aswan. Much to my surprise I saw a large pullout box in the Aswan section of the book called ‘henna tattoos’. I naturally ... read more
my favorite TV show is 'locked up abroad' but I've never wanted to be featured in the show
Published: December 31st 2011Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » CairoDecember 31st 2011
Writing this, I'm back at Beano's cafe -- my favorite cafe in Cairo. Not known for its Egyptian feel and cultural food unfortunately, but for the undeniable atmosphere and food that is clearly catering to expats. It's a short walk from my apartment and has delicious espresso drinks and frothy milk that makes me happy. Beano's is the same site I was possibly tear gased out of less than 2 days ago. The same site I have not been back to since the day of the raid. For those of you not watching the news in the last few days, what you will read here will sound utterly crazy, but it's true. This really happened. It all started at Beano's 2 days ago. Sasha, Josh and I were having a late leisurely breakfast and cup after ... read more
December 30th 2011
Sufi dancing, or whirling dervish as it's often called, is a customary dance performed where the person, a Sufi, spins in small repetitive circles, while listening to music, and focusing on God to get to a sort of trance like state. It's amazing to watch because these men are able to spin in small circles for 30 minutes or more at a time. And when they stop after 30 minutes, they are perfectly still. In some countries this is done wearing white, but luckily, here in Egypt, the Sufis wear bring colors which makes the spinning men even more beautiful to watch. They put on free shows at Khan al-Khalili. You have to fight for a seat as it's packed, but it's worth it. On another night, Amy, Josh, Sasha, and I went to the pyramids ... read more
2 very different places in cairo - mogomma and the four seasons
Published: December 28th 2011Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » CairoDecember 28th 2011
Yesterday morning I had the longest shower in Egyptian history to wash 4 days of desert sand and filth off of me. I did laundry, brushed my teeth several times, and felt like a new woman. Then I headed to the Mogomma government building to finally renew my visa. I would say it's a task I had been putting off, but I really wasn't. It just wasn't safe for me to go before because the mammoth Mogomma building is in Tahrir Square where the protests have been happening since I arrived. The protests spike and then die down. There are always some protesters, but when there's a surge there are thousand or tens of thousands and sometimes violence. Hence the reason I have to avoid Tahrir at certain times. I had heard that Mogomma is crazy ... read more
