A much more relaxed start to the day was let down by the oppressive musty furnishings and poor breakfast served in our hotel. More people had joined our combined group and 22 of us got on the bus to take us to the Giza. On this occasion the company had outdone itself and we had an excellent guide who was both informative and interesting. He also helpfully advised us how to avoid and get rid of the various peddlers who would inevitably pester us when we arrived. After driving up between the larger two pyramids we walked around the impressive tombs, [View Full Entry]

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We were awoken at 1.15am to start our trek up Mt Sinai, although we didn't begin walking from the monastery until about 2.15. The moon was still very bright so torches were unnecessary apart from when entering occasional patches of deep shadow. The walk was not strenuous, although the elderly members of the group had difficulty keeping up. We had got to within a short distance of the top by 4.30am, which seemed remarkably quick, and we waited in one of five tea houses with some hot chocolate. It was chilly, but not especially cold for the top of a mountain [View Full Entry]

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We had a leisurely start to the day, eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant next to its swimming pool - this was quite a lot more upmarket than previous hotels. A jeep took us along the coast to the "Blue Hole", Dahab's main snorkelling/diving spot. Yet more cafes surrounded the area with a rickety wooden bridge leading out over the coral to deposit people into deeper water. Instead of going in here, we walked further along to another spot where we slipped into the rather cold water and followed a guide along the edge of the coral back to the bridge. [View Full Entry]

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We started the day in grimy Aquba, bid a sad goodbye to those who were leaving us, and got on a grimy hydrofoil to Nuweiba in Egypt. The local passengers did not seem to be familiar with deoderant and the efforts of the crew to improve the atmosphere by spraying air freshener did little to help. After sitting for nearly two hours waiting for the ship to depart we sailed across the narrow gulf (a one and a half hour journey) to Nuweiba and extracted our baggage. I also got the remaining visa I needed, which seemed to be a lot [View Full Entry]

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The morning was quite adventurous and active, commencing with a camel ride around the camp we had stayed in. This was quite enjoyable and my camel appeared to be quite well behaved, although it sometimes decided the course itself and led the Bedouin boy instead of vice versa. After the camel ride we got in some jeeps and went for a fairly rapid tour of the nearby desert, bumping our way across dunes and salt pans. Since it was still quite early the sun was not hot enough to keep us warm in the breeze (the seats were on the back [View Full Entry]

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Today was the "big day" for most people. We began the walking tour early in the morning before all the crowds arrived. We all decided to walk, ignoring the offers for horses. Our guide was a big square-jawed man with a deep voice, a rather rough accent and a leather jacket. However, he seemed to know his stuff and guided us along the Siq (basically a long narrow gorge) to the famous "treasury" (actually a tomb) where he stopped to give us an explanation of the various features of the facade. At some point someone asked him a question about the [View Full Entry]

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We started early (again) to catch a bus to Madaba, a small town that boasted lots of mosaics, including a fairly well preserved map of the Holy Land that dated to the sixth century. Keeping with the Biblical theme we continued to Mount Nebo where Moses had stood to view the surrounding lands. The view was a bit hazy, and we decided that Moses had been quite silly to accept all those lands if they were as barren then as they are now. After this we carried on to the Dead Sea, descending to 400m below sea level to sample the [View Full Entry]

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We started the morning with a walking tour of Amman and the mosque behind our hotel which had woken us at 4.30am. Having seen a fair few mosques already this was nothing new or particularly special. We then walked back into the city centre and up to the citadel, which was more interesting, being a mix of different ruins from various periods. We had an early lunch there before walking back up the long hill to the hotel. After a short break we split up again, half of us heading out to Jerash, a well-preserved Roman city some 45 minutes out [View Full Entry]

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Another early start to catch a bus to Amman. Our tour guide bid us farewell and sent us on our way, minus two people who were not continuing. The journey time was relatively short, but the customs procedures on either side of the border were quite convoluted. A Jordanian man kindly helped us through by translating and pointing us in the right direction. When we arrived in Amman another Jordanian stepped onto the bus and told us to wait for the other passengers to clear off. He was to be our local guide and explained that the group would be split [View Full Entry]

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Today was set aside for a tour of the old city of Damascus. We were due to meet our tour guide at 11am, so we wandered into the walled old city and up the main souk. One of the girls who had not come with us the day before mentioned a shop selling handicrafts so we made our way along the Via Recta (straight street), a Roman road running the length of the old city and had a look around before coming back to the main mosque. The Omayyd Mosque is famous for its age and various shrines and tombs located [View Full Entry]

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