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

Once again, trying to avoid the brutal heat, we had another ridiculously early morning for our much anticipated visit to the Valley of the Kings in the West Bank of the Nile. Because of the early wake up call, I managed to catch a glimpse of the hot air balloons over the West Bank at sunrise. We had made a reservation to participate that same morning, but it had been unexpectedly cancelled by the company a couple of weeks before the trip. We found out after we got to Egypt that there had been an accident, apparently bad enough for TripAdvisor to feel obligated to cancel it. We were thinking of rescheduling there, but our Tour Director, Amr Hassan, was definitely opposed to it saying it was dangerous, plus the early time might have conflicted with ... read more

For once, our morning call was not at some hair raising time in what seems like the middle of the night. We had time for a nice breakfast enjoying the view from the terrace, and then it was time to check out of the resort in preparation to boarding our cruise ship, The Queen of Hansa. But before we did that, it was time to board the motorboat that would take us to the Nubian Village, Gharb Sohail. The saga of the Nubians in the area is a sad one. This minority non-Arab society was displaced from their ancestral homes by the construction of the High Dam. To make matters worse, the lands given to them to relocate were on the barren desert of the West Bank of the Nile, not amongst the rest of the ... read more

I wasn't as enthusiastic about our visit to Coptic Cairo as other portions of our trip. Let's face it, I'm an ancient Egypt fanatic, but I'm not as knowledgeable about more "modern" times there, and I hold a huge grudge against early Christians and their depredations against those incredible ancient monuments. However, there are some very meaningful locations that are worth a visit. Coptic Cairo was the stronghold of Christianity in Egypt until the Islamic era and encompasses many Coptic churches and historical sites, and the drive there crosses many interesting parts of the city. Our first stop, walking past the Greek Church of St. George and the Babylon Fortress ruins was the Hanging Church, so called because it was built above a gatehouse of the Babylon Fortress. The land surface has risen since the Roman ... 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