Blogs from Egypt, Africa
May 23rd 2012
Morning! Yesterday we travelled on a felucca to Philae Temple which is an island which has three temples on it. One roman, greek and egyptian. Its amazing to see how big they are and the detail of the carvings is awesome. Even after thousands of years u can still c the quality of the craftsmanship. The whole site actually needed to be moved piece by piece from its original location due to the danger of flooding from the nile. The whole process took 8 years. The heads of the egyptian kings had been ruined by the french or british i think. They thought that if they destroyed the holy sites of:the local egyptian religous sites that they would become christians. After this we went to a market. We just bought some water n snacks. We have ... read more
May 22nd 2012
OKayyy We are NOT in Kansas, Toto!!! Day 1 - Waking to the soft creamy feel of Egyptian cotton sheets made us want just want to stay there all day but alas, this was a 4 am wake up for a dawn walk into the paws of the Sphinx. Like a dream, silently we floated through the warmth of the Sahara desert feet landing on ancient whispers, exquisite lighting warming the pyramid. Rounding a corner, the Sphinx in full glory - silently sitting, listening to any messages...Horus, Maat, unburdened forgiveness, light as a feather...I thought about you - There were some profound images/insights which I will share with you individually. The camel ride was a complete surprise. I rode on Alibaba who seemed to like to make a lot of noise - not one easily repeatable ... read more
May 22nd 2012
hey hey! Yesterday we went to visit the egyptian museum which has over 100 thousand artefacts. Tutankamen wasnt as famous as some of the other pharaohs however his collection of treasure that was buried with him has been preserved and kept together. He had three massive rooms of treasure. It makes you wonder if the more famous tombs of pharaohs like ramses ll hadnt been piliged how much treasure there must have been. The most fascinatingpiece was Tutankamens famous mask which was solid gold and perfectly hand crafted. Next we were off to see the great pyramids of giza. The sheer size of them is overwhelming, to know that no modern cranes were used during construction. Each block depending on its size was approx 2.5 tonne. Shama got to go into one of the pyramids. The ... read more
May 20th 2012
After a 24 hour flight, we finally arrived at our destination. By the time we got here it was already dark. We had a long drive from the airport to our hotel which we both fell asleep. We had a quick meeting with our tour leader and the hotel letting us know what we were getting up to over the next 8 days. In the morning we woke up and went to our breakfast at the hotel. Not saying it was the worst meal we've ever had but it was definitely up there! lol The mixture of food was interesting to say the least. We went for an early morning walk and got the best surprise when we walked out the front door of the hotel and the Pyramids were RIGHT THERE within walking distance. AJ: ... read more
May 20th 2012
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
May 19th 2012
Greetings dear friends, We are currently pulled up to the shoreline of the Nile. A donkey Eeeaws behind me As awarm breeze Touches my shoulder. Arabic conversation flows amongst the crew. It is HOT! We have had an incredibletrip so far, so amazing anda surprising and touching! We are loving being so fully pampered and cared for! Having delicious food prepared for us as we watch scenes from the ancient pastfloat by. This morning wefewer up at dawn,a about 5:30, and walked along the right inot a group of 3generations of men and boys who were eatingI read likely baked in a clay oven and cheese. They invited us to join them for tea and bread, which did humbly did. I am typing on a borrowed iPad soapologize for mistakes! We were walking along the river ... read more
May 14th 2012
May 8, 2012 Luxor, Egypt Nautica arrived in the Egyptian port of Safaga early May 7. Safaga is an ancient port city on the Red Sea. It is not much to look at but it is the closest port to Luxor and the Nile valley. I boarded one of 15 buses that left in a convoy across the desert. The journey took more than 3 hours. There was a military vehicle at the front and rear of the convoy. The Egyptians are extra cautious ever since a deadly attack on a bus load of Germans about 20 years ago. There were police checkpoints every 20 kilometers, but the officers on duty seemed totally uninterested in our purpose. Most of them were sitting in the shade smoking and hardly even looked up as we slowly lurched over ... read more
May 14th 2012
May 9, 2012 Nautica entered the Suez Canal very early this morning. It took approximately 10 hours for the journey to Port Said and the Mediterranean Sea. There is a constant stream of ships transiting the canal. Some have to anchor in the Great Bitter Lake near the middle, until their turn to continue. Most segments of the canal are too narrow for two way traffic. We were lucky and sailed right through. The east bank of the canal is the Sinai desert. For the most part it is bleak and sand covered. By contrast the west bank is lush and green due to an extensive irrigation system with water diverted from the Nile delta north of Cairo. The “sweet water” canal system was originally designed in the mid 19th century to provide drinking water for ... read more
May 13th 2012
The layer of dust lined my skin, which glistened in the sun against the sheen of sweat; the combination resulted in a gritty exfoliation, a treatment available only in Egypt. We were greeted with a barely manageable heat, seeing as we arrived in the late afternoon we knew we were in store for foreboding temperatures over the next two weeks. After introductions to the rest of the group and tour leaders we had a quick wander in our area of Cairo and promptly returned to the hotel. Cairo is a filthy city, the streets are lined with litter, excrement, stray animals and dare I say... stray men. Doing your best to ignore the pedlars at Giza took self-control, which was easily lost with the almost abusive sales pitch and aggressive upselling. The locals were relentless and ... read more
May 3rd 2012
I will be raiding Egypt in July/August, visiting Sharm El Sheikh. Really excited!! I will try to keep a constant blog going, offering tips and advice as I find it out. This will be my first ever trip to Africa, therefore I am incredibly excited/nervous. If there is anything people could recommend to do while there, this would be hugely appreciated! If this helps, I have booked the trip through www.directline-holidays.co.uk on an all inclusive deal, 5 star hotel for 14 nights. I can't remember the name of the hotel, but it was called something like iberutal (i'm sure I could google it :p) . A number of the hotels had really bad reps on trip adviser, while this one seemed to be good, albeit a bit far out comparitively. The cost was about £880, which ... read more
