Egypt - A legacy to an ancient civilization

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Egypt - a legacy to ancient civilisation

My Egyptian adventure commenced in Giza/Cairo, a city of over 20 million people by booking into the Cataract hotel where the tour was to begin, and end in two weeks. Having arrived at midnight, after a good nights sleep (avoiding most of the mosquitoes in Cairo) I took a look around resort of palm tree lined pathways and the oasis swimming pool. Mid-day I booked a taxi from the hotel and headed into Cairo city centre having struck a deal with the driver who was to wait for two hours before our return, for 140 Egyptian Pounds (About £12.50). The city centre reminded me of many of the clothes shops around North London and having navigated myself across heavy laden traffic, I took my first glimpse of the Nile.

On the way back to the Hotel back at Giza, my driver El Fayed told me about his family who he was putting through private school and a little about the Egyptian culture and ….about his other business interest?! Yes, on the way back I was to call on his Egyptian Perfume shop passing the silhouette of the Pyramids in the background. (So I was to experience the Egyptian business culture on my very first day!) He introduced me to his partner Mohamed whose family had been in the Egyptian flower essence farming business for centuries, who gave me the history of flower essence and sampled some of his products. Although I found myself down the back streets of less salubrious parts of Giza I didn’t feel threaten and was quite happy to make a purchase which a number of my female family members would benefit from on my return.

Back at the hotel having driven though noisy and dusty market back streets, passing a number of Islamic prayer rooms, I arrived back in time to join the Travel Talk tour induction group to hear about the itinerary for the two weeks ahead. Sam was to lead the Nile River Cruise group, Yuki the Felucca and there was to be a small road group, 52 people in total. There was an optional dinner cruise night on the Nile that evening to include an Egyptian buffet, belly and Sufi dancing. After a juggling of the seats, I ended up on a small table with the youngsters who I remained friends with through the tour. They are Lillianne from Columbia, Quiy from East China, Kira from the US all studying English in the UK and Jade an attress from Bristol. The night was good fun and it wasn’t long before I was led on the dance floor by the belly dancer to do my best John Travolta!

That night I met my room buddy Grant from South Island New Zealand who I was to share with me on and off throughout the tour. Most of the others from the group were young couples, mainly from Australia and New Zealand and a brother and sister from South Africa. Most living and working in London or returning from London to their native countries having spent a number of years in the UK such as Toni a primary school teacher working in Mile End London from Brisban. For me Australasian people are the greatest modern day traveller's of the world.

Our first full day was to set the scene for the rest of the trip, heading for tombs and temples of Sakkara and the Great Pyramids of Giza. Where ever we went we seemed to be bombarded with local Egyptians wanting to sell there wears or offered their services. This took a little getting used to but once understood could be navigated through without much of a problem…although I was hauled off to have my picture taken on a camel with the Bedouins and shown around the Ancient Pyramids Ship by someone professing to be a government representative?!

That night we all had to endure an overnight rail trip to Aswan, where I sat with Ted from Perth who at 65 was traveling alone leaving his wife at home. Ted was good fun and had the secret ingredient for a good nights entertainment a bottle of Vodka…which seemed to keep the train stewards happy?!

On arriving we were taken to the Cataract Hotel of Aswan where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile. We all enjoyed a swim in the pool before heading for the Great Dam and Philae Temple. During the evening we went by boat to a Nubian village home, where the North African people who live in the south of Egypt cooked local food, showed off their baby pet crocodile and where on the return boat journey entertained us with drumming and singing by the townsmen….’O’Leary!’.

The following morning I stepped aboard the ATON river Nile cruise ship which was to be our home for the next three nights. The first night I shared with Ted, after which we were given a large suite each. As expected on any sort of cruise the main focus seemed to be around food and the great Egyptian buffet was never far from our sights. During the cruise we made periodical stops to see the many great Temples such as Kom Ombo which we saw at night, Luxor and Karnack Temples and an early morning coach trip to Abu Simbel - Ramses 11, one of the most impressive temples, where on our return I was lucky to see a giant lake mirage which really helped to make my trip! Other highlights of our first week included a balloon flight over the Valley of the Kings and Queens which we were later to visit underground where the Tombs of Tutankhamen and the Ramses Dynasties can be found, finishing the day with a relaxing two hours sailing the Nile by Felucca.

The next part of the adventure was to take us to Dahab, for most a 15 hour overnight bus ride. Fortunately I had booked myself onto the Ultimately Egyptian tour which meant that a planned speed ferry which had broken down had been replaced by a nights hotel stay at Hurghada followed by half an hour flight to Sharm-El-Sheikh and an hours bus ride to Dahab for 8 of us. This was really lucky for this was the first night I was to experience the dreaded travelers tummy…

On arrival in Dahab it took me about a day to recover and the following day I had lunch with Grant and Ted at the Tree and during the evening joined the Felucca group to enjoy a fresh Red Snapper dinner…my appetite was slowly coming back to life.

Having gone to bed on Sunday evening relatively early we were awakened dramatically at seven o’clock with shouts, running and banging from both the Egyptian staff and guests. Only a few metres from our apartment rooms the restaurant which took up the whole of the central top floor of the main building looking over the pool and seafront had caught fire. There was mild panic as the locals tried their best to get the fire under control using water from the pool hoses and fire extinguishers…I think their main objective was to keep the fire from spreading to the accommodation which eventually after the fire service had arrived they achieved. Thankfully no one was hurt and all accounted for although Ted had slept through the whole incident.

Later that morning once everything had calmed down, I headed off for a intro dive which I was to share with Lillianne, Jade and, Nico. We were given the drill on the apparatus and signaling and soon we were kitted up and diving around the corals at the lighthouse. Our Egyptian diving instructor Mosa took Nico and I and we were soon enjoying our first drive which was recorded on digital camera. In the evening we headed into the mountains for a Bedouin BBQ under the stars ending an eventful and exhausting day.

The following day I rested reading my book on Napoleon and had a few beers at the Tota Ship Bar while starting my Travel diary notes. I ended the evening joining the Cruise crew for a Kebab at a local bar before ending my evening watching an Egyptian dance show at the Tota bar featuring six dancers and a small boy who preformed the Sufi dance with his dad amongst other dances.

On the final Wednesday five of us joined Sam and his wife Marion on an all day Camel Safari which took us to Moray Gardens for some spectacular snorking, where we spotted around a hundred different tropical fish species; enjoyed an Egyptian beach lunch and returning late afternoon by Jeep Safari over the Dunes back to Dahab.

Our final day in Dahab was spent navigating the many seaside market stalls in search of a few appropriate home coming/Christmas gifts for love ones. Some hard negotiation was called for to ensure that everyone got something special from this amazing journey to Egypt. A Shish a Pipe, T-shirts, Ornate Perfume bottles and Silk Pashmina amongst the spoils. After a fresh fish supper at Al Capone’s we all caught the overnight coach back to Cairo via several night-time security stop checks.

Our last day in Cairo took us to see Egypt’s oldest and largest Mosque where we learnt about the five Pillars of Islam, followed by the Hanging Church of old Babylon an Egyptian Coptic Orthodox church. We ended the trip with a visit to the Egyptian Museum, where we saw Tutankhamun treasures, finishing our day at Cairo’s hectic and chaotic market, where my last glass of Egyptian tea was taken.

See below a number of my photo's taken from my Egypt travels. I hope that you enjoy them.

Have a great Christmas...best wishes SteveW

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Photos

Cataract Hotel Cairo
Palm Tree Lined Pathways

Comments

[SteveW]

Ello Dad
Hey it's only on your account ha! Hope your having a great time in India by the time you read this, make sure you keep updating and I'll keep you updated with what's going on here. Ollie x