Blogs from Giza, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 6

0639 (GMT +2) Giza, Egypt A small addendum to my previous post. I forgot to mention that I was happily awakened from a dead sleep at about midnight on Sunday night, by a telephone call from the front desk, letting me know that my checked bag had arrived from the airport. So, I am complete once again. -MG ... read more

1306 (GMT +2) Giza, Egypt To pay off something I said before, technically I am in Giza, not Cairo. What we think of as Cairo is actually two different cities separated by the Nile. Cairo proper occupies the east bank of the river, and Giza the west. Though they are both considered part of Greater Cairo, from what I understand they each have their own city government and different governors. Think of Los Angeles, and the many different individual municipalities that make up what we consider to be one big city. You may also note that the Giza Pyramids are located on the west bank, in Giza. To be even more specific, I am currently located in the northern area of Giza, a neighborhood (if you can call it that) called Mohandeseen. Nevertheless, I will probably ... read more

Its a horrible cliché but I confess that the tune of the eighties girl group hit was running throughout my head on numerous occasions in the days ahead. All I can say in my defence is that I was not alone, and reference to Walk like an Egyptian, either in tune or action, did come to the fore at various moments of our travels. Setting out with our Oasis crew for the first time, our day began in grand fashion with a visit to the Antiquities Museum with local guide Wasim. Understanding more about Egypt in the Ancient World was the main aim as we wandered about this museum rich with treasures from the Ancient, Middle and New Kingdoms. It was my first introduction to the history of this civilisation, having only vague recall of a ... read more

My first word is Tired! Very tired.. The first couple of days in Egypt now racked up and with it a mixture of feelings.. Its incredibly dry and a continuous haze looms above hiding the sky. Almost everything is covered in a film of sandy dust distorting the view of anything colourful. The first big test of courage came about yesterday. Taking an afternoon stroll down the Pyramids from my hotel which was around 30 minutes walk. Locals everywhere recognising that I am a tourist, in fact I think mostly I was the only foreigner amongst the bustle of the main street leading down to the Giza Plateau. Constantly being stopped to buy something or offers of directions or to get a taxi for me. All ploys to gain gratuity. Some often lying tome saying that ... read more

We are having a great time here. We arrived in Cairo 3 hours late because of a sandstorm at the airport. We waited it out on the tarmac in Sharm el sheikh, which is on the red sea across from Saudi Arabia. When we finally got to Cairo we spent day 1 in Islamic Cairo, then onto a small island in the Nile which is where the American and British embassies are and some nice pubs and restaurants. On day 2 we woke up and saw the pyramids, sphinx and Egyptian museum. We took care to relax in their comfortable cafes, drinking hot peppermint tea, coffee and smoking sheeshah. We then took the overnight sleeper train to Aswan, which is in the far south. The 12 hour trip went by comfortably sleeping in our little cabin, ... read more