Blogs from Cairo, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa

Ahhh - the ocean (ahem - my tour guide said "Not ocean, the sea") Okay, the Mediterranean Sea. I love the ocean/sea because I live near the ocean/sea. From Wikipedia: Alexandria is the second-largest city in Egypt and a major economic center. With a population of 5,200,000, Alexandria is the largest city on the Mediterranean, the sixth-largest city in the Arab world and the ninth-largest in Africa. The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) at the url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_coast_of_Egyp... read more

Our last day in Egypt started with another early morning call, for another early morning flight. It was our last day in Egypt, and we were duly subdued at the thought. That day we were lucky in one respect. It was a holiday, so the traffic when we got to Cairo was much lighter than it would have been on a normal day. The lack of traffic either aided observing the different parts of town we drove through, or maybe impaired it since we moved quicker than we would have done otherwise. One thing we did not see as much in Cairo as when we were visiting Memphis and Saqqara was unfinished houses and buildings. In Egypt, they have the same situation I saw in Nepal. The housing taxes are sky high, so people do not ... read more

We arrived in Cairo exhausted but excited. It was hotter than we had hoped, hotter than expected for late September. The drive to the hotel was exciting. Cairo is such a mixture of modern and old, western architecture and ancient looking alleyways. It promised tantalizing views of what lay ahead. The hotel, The Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino, is across the Nile in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island so we had our first look at the Nile fairly quickly after landing. The hotel features two towers and a central building called The Palace. The name became apparent once we looked through some of the luxurious rooms it features. It has several restaurants and, my favorite, an open air promenade café that served several delicious Egyptian wines, as we found out later that evening. ... read more

Addio pace e quiete: sono arrivato al Cairo, che con i suoi piu' di 10 milioni di abitanti si appresta a diventare una delle piu' grandi megalopoli del pianeta. E come non accorgersene? Viali ad otto corsie attraversano il centro e mostruose sopraelevate oscurano il cielo; fiumi di automobili intasano le strade e muri di gente ostruiscono i marciapiedi; rumore di clacson e fumi di gas di scarico appestano l'ambiente, cumuli di rifiuti per la strada e palazzi decrepiti prossimi al crollo: una dannata citta' infernale? Niente affatto, il Cairo non e' poi cosi' male! La gente e' in gamba, simpatica ed affabile, alcuni quartieri sono ovviamente peggiori di altri ma in ognuno di essi e' possibile trovare qualche vicolo tranquillo dove la gente ama sedersi all'aperto gustandosi un caffe' fumando rilassatamente una pipa ad acqua. ... read more

We finally arrived! After a long flight Renata and I finally reached Cairo. At the airport, we were greeted by a representative for Travel Talk Tours who kindly helped us with obtaining our Visa and Luggage (which took forever). We were then on our way to our hotel, the Oasis Hotel Pyramids, which I highly recommend. Today was a day to relax as we slept and swam in the luxurious hotel pool. Later that evening we met up with our tour mates and Egyptologist guide, Sam. Sam went over the itinerary and optional excursions of the Egyptian part of our tour. Afterwards a group of us decided to go on the optional group dinner and cruise. In hindsight, the cruise was unremarkable and the food tasted bland. However, it was great getting to know the other ... read more