Blogs from Mediterranean, Egypt, Africa - page 2

Geo: 31.2603, 32.2965Today, we transited the Suez Canal from north to south, from Port Said to the town of Suez. The ship entered the canal about 5:30 in the morning while we were still asleep, although the captain had announced yesterday that we had an 8:00 a.m. time slot scheduled for entry. We expected to be anchored outside waiting for our time by 3:00 a.m., and I guess they wanted us to go in early with at least one other ship, a cargo ship I could see behind us. Ships go through the canal in convoys because there are sections that can only accommodate one-way traffic and going together in the same direction more efficiently takes care of the traffic so more ships can go through each day. I had the alarm set for us to ... read more

Tako sam konačno stupio na tlo Afrike… U Alexandriju. Zapravo bilo bi lijepo da je to bila Alexandrija, ali bio je Borg Al Arab udaljen 40-ak kilometara od Alexandrija. Bilo je nekih 3 ujutro, a ja pojma nisam imao ni gdje ni kako želim ići. Pitam gospodina na info pultu kako mogu doći do Alexandrije. Samo taxijem. Izašao van, bila je prohladna noć. Ideja da idem po noći lutati u potrazi za smještajem nepoznatim gradom u zemlji koja je na listi „Travel ban“ zemalja mi se baš nije činila privlačnom. Zapravo sam se poprilično prepao i bio ljut na sebe kako sam uspio zaboraviti zapisati ime i adresu bilo kakvog hostela u Alexandrijni. .Osiguranje me već počelo sumnjičavo gledati, pa naposljetku i pitali zašto ne odem s aerodroma. Naime bio sam sam na cijelom terminalu. Našao ... read more

Thursday May 9th, 2013. Port Said, Egypt Port Said is the main port city at the northern gateway to the Suez Canal. It was established in 1859 during the construction of the canal and has since become a thriving duty-free port and a popular resort destination for Egyptians during the summer. Port Said is twinned with the city of Port Fuad on the eastern bank of the canal and the two cities are connected by ferries that run throughout the day. The Suez Canal, west of the Sinai peninsula, is a 101 mile (163 kilometre) maritime canal in Egypt between Suez on the Red Sea and Port Said on The Mediterranean Sea.The Canal allows north south transits for vessels travelling from Europe to Asia and vice-versa - avoiding the necessity to circumnavigate Africa. Most of the ... read more

ALEXANDRIA (AND CAIRO), EGYPT--Tuesday, April 30, 2013 Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria, was founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. It became the major trade center and a focal point of learning. The ancient library had 500,000 volumes and it was here that Euclid invented geometry. It was also in Alexandria that Julius Caesar met Cleopatra and after her death, it was taken over by the Romans who ruled until 395 B.C. Few of the ancient landmarks remain except for the ancient library and the ruins of the Roman Theater. Our ship made port about 5:30am; we finished breakfast, and were on the bus by 8:00 am. Today, we were driving to Cairo to see the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, take a boat ride and have lunch on the River Nile, and then see the ... read more

I've had a fascination with the history of the Pharoahs for a very long time, so I was very excited that we would have a chance to see the Pyramids on this cruise. We knew the trip from Port Said to Cairo and Giza was a long one (3 hours each way) but we felt it was worth it. Why come this far and wimp out because of too much bus time!! It ended up being an eye-opening day in ways we had not anticipated. Just as background, Egypt is currently at a major crossroads. Ever since the revolt against Mubarak, which began on January 28, 2011, this country has been trying to pull itself up by the bootstraps. Their economy is in terrible shape: 50% of the country are considered poor; another 20% barely above ... read more