Blogs from Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa - page 9

Groan, yet another early start this morning for our flight back to Cairo. Wake up call at 6.00am, breakfast at 6.45am and ready to go by 7.15am. Ahmed accompanied us to Aswan Airport and facilitated our check-in. In fact he printed our boarding passes yesterday so we were all seated together for our flight back to Cairo. I can't remember if I recorded that we were seated all over the plane for our flight from Cairo to Luxor? Ahmed asked us if we had enjoyed our trip to Upper Egypt. When we said that we had had a great time he asked us to encourage our friends and acquaintances to travel to Egypt. We have been so well looked after here in Egypt that we wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone who has been thinking about visiting ... read more

Yalçin met us at 9.00am this morning for our last half day of sight-seeing in Turkey before we fly to Cairo this afternoon. Because the Hagia Sophia is closed on Mondays it was not included in our city tour last Monday so our driver took us back to Sultanahmet so that Meredith and Alex could see the Hagia Sophia and we could revisit with the benefit of Yalçin's commentary. We stayed with the group while we explored the ground floor and, as expected, Yalçin shared a wealth of information with us; who knew that the crosses on the floor aren't just random tool marks, but markers that reflect the circumference of the dome overhead?!Rather than re-visiting the galleries we teed it up with Yalçin to go across the road to visit the Basilica Cistern while he ... read more

I've yet to meet a traveler, or vacationer for that matter, who doesn't have a trip to the Pyramids on their 'must see in this lifetime' list. By the time you get there, chances are you've coughed up a serious amount of cash and your parents are worried sick they'll be stuck raising your children. So make the most of it. I'm always a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to traveling. I want no part of the pre-packaged, shrink wrapped, "watch your step and stay with the group" trips. But Egypt humbled me. Egypt is the exception. Jeremy and I took a taxi from our hotel in Cairo to Giza feeling self-assured that our travel savviness would be sufficient. The taxi driver hadn't put the car in park before the vultures descended upon us. The guide that ... read more

Jeremy left me safely planted at the entrance of the Cairo Museum in Tahrir Square. "I'm going to drop the camera off and I'll be back in ten minutes," he informed me. "Do NOT wander off, got it?" I sat obediently on the wooden bench watching the influx of locals streaming into the museum getting their bags x-rayed by security guards. One guard turned to me. "Miss, are you alone?" he asked. "Oh, no. I'm waiting on my husband. He'll be back in a few minutes," I said. "So do you like Cairo?" he asked. Good! Somebody to talk to! Things had seemingly calmed down in Egypt while we were there in September. The Tahrir Square I'd seen on CNN in 2011 with burning cars, flame engulfed buildings and rioters with bleeding and bludgeoned faces was ... read more

EGYPT Well Cairo was certainly an eye opener. It is the most filthy place - it is hard to believe its residents have such little regard for the place they live. In some of the canals around the city so much rubbish has been thrown in them there is no longer any water. In others they haven't quite got that far but there are dead horses in them among other things. They city is shrouded in a cloud of dust and pollution. This along with the constant cigarette smoke everywhere (including through the hotels) meant we came out of Cairo feeling pretty grotty. But despite it's downfalls Cairo is still a place to experience. It is teeming with people - 25 million - and there is such a mix of old and new. You drive along ... read more