Tzarina

So how much can you pack in in one day? Budapest has certainly got alot to offer. I visited Heroes square which has many statues of historical Hungarian leaders and is rich in political and historical connotations. The thing which most grabbed my attention was the beautiful horse statues, each figure had a different expression and looked at you as though they were alive.... I also visited the Mometo Park which took me almost an hour and a half to get to. The bus proceeded to go to the outskirts of Buda and the road was literally at a 40 degree angle. Each single house that we went past had 20 foot high walls, fences edged with glass, barbed wire fences and goodness knows what else, the vandalism was copious! I reached the top of the ... read more

On the 13th of January I flew to Hungary to visit my brother Oliver and his girlfriend Juli. Flying over Hungary was an amazing site, glorious flat planes consumed by woodland and then rolling hills in the background. We flew along the Danube for some time, watching the way made its way towards Budapest, cutting the city in two to make Buda and Pest. It was 30 degrees on arrival and extremely muggy, making an investment in some shorts was certainly on the cards. Making my way around the city was easy and cheap. The city offers 24 hour buses, trams until 12pm, an efficient underground and trains for those longer routes. I had a map and was able to quickly navigate my way around using both the trams and the underground and never once did ... read more

In the afternoon at 4pm went left the town of Huargada and started the long drove to Mt. Sinai. We were in a small mini bus that lept about two feet in the air every time we went over the smallest of bumps. Sleeping was impossible and so when we arrived at Mt. Sinai at 02:20am, most of us were like zombies. Mt. Sinia is where Moses went to get the ten commandments from God for the villagers. It is the highest mountain in Egypt and stands at 2285m. There are two paths you can take, the camel path with is a gradual ascent and takes two and a half hours and then there is the more punishing route 'the steps of penitence' which has 3750 steps. St. Catherines Monastry lies at the foot of the ... read more

By midday we had reached Luxor and after stocking up on fruit and water I raced to the top floor of where we were staying where the hotel not only boasted magnificant views but also a pool and deck chairs. I became a tourist for the day and lay in the sun, sometimes it is nice to do these things :) Quote from my journal: 17th April 2009 'I feel really happy and content at the moment. From where I am standing on the 7th Floor, the city of Luxor is so beautiful. A huge expanse of life with scattered palm trees, pushing their lush colours through the haze of yellow brick houses, the colour of the desert. In the background the mountains and sand dunes dwarf the city, only just visable in the hazy heat. ... read more

No time yet for a decent nights sleep, it was time to pack our bags with a wake up call at 02:20am. We were on our way to Abu Simbel, a three hour drive south (290km), finishing up only 15km away from the Sudan border. I did ask if we could 'just pop over' to the border to get our passports stamped but I retreated with some of the looks they gave me. Anyway, Abu Simbel consists of two archeological sites that were once moved when the Aswan Dam threatened the original sites with total submersion. It is unbelievable to think that these two temples were actually shifted, piece by piece to the site where they stand today! These temples where built in the reign of Pharoh Ramesses ll and his Queen Nefetari in 1244BC, to ... read more