Egypt

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21st June, Port Said, Egypt.

After 7 days at sea due to the tour of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings being cancelled we finally landed at Port Said, Egypt. We got to this port by navigating the world famous Suez Canal. I actually arose from my bed at 4.30am to view this wonderful event but it was pitch dark and I could see nothing so went back to bed. I got up again around 9am and was greeted with my first view of this famous waterway. It is certainly a magic piece of engineering but the views on either bank are extremely drab with only isolated farms, Military Camps and desert/scrub for hundreds of miles. That said, it was very interesting to view a bit of rural Egypt and see at first hand the military might of the ‘Land of the Pharos’. All I can say is that I hope they don’t make the mistake of taking on the Israelis again in the future because they looked like a Mexican rabble and will get their buts kicked again. It was very interesting though to see the desert leading up to the Canal where some of the greatest tank battles were fought in both the 2nd World War and the 6 Day war in the mid 60s.

After a very hot but very interesting day on the Canal we arrived at the world famous Port Said in the afternoon. After 7 boring days at sea we were given an unexpected bonus of being allowed off the ship to explore the city, so off we went with a group of friends and we walked around for two or three hours. Port Said is an ancient Port which was almost flattened by the Israeli tanks and artillery in the 6 day war and all I can say is that it’s a pity they didn’t finish the job off properly. This famous old town is a mixture of very old and damaged buildings and a recently built high rise flats. It’s a mishmash of rubble, rubbish and squalor that is interspersed with Gucci clothes shops, mobile phone shops by the hundreds and clothes shops that sell the most beautiful locally made shoes and garments. It’s surreal though to be standing outside a high class shop that sells Gucci gear that stands in the middle of a row of shops that are either falling down in ruins or selling mangos or cheap souvenirs or still has bomb damage from the war. Once again we experienced a third world economy and a people who seem to have barely emerged from the 19th century in many instances. . A truly amazing place. Local traffic was the craziest I have seen anywhere so far, total chaos, no rules whatsoever, horns blaring, absolute lunatics everywhere. No wonder the ‘Camel Jockey car Drivers’ on Australian roads have such a lousy name, this is where they learn to drive, I thought Kuala Lumpur was bad but nothing so far compares to this madness.

One thing we found though was that the local folk walking the streets that night were extremely friendly and welcoming. It was great to interact with them. Linda couldn’t help herself, she spied a small baby sitting with her family on the sea wall and next thing she is nursing it, cooing away. As usual though the street vendors were a pain, really aggressive but when you realise that this is their main source of income I suppose it’s understandable to a degree. One thing I must talk about though is the fantastic group of friends we have made since we boarded. Ayleen and Harold are Sugar cane farmers from McKay in Qld. Harold is 82 and a great bloke with a great sense of humour, Ayleen is 72 and a laugh a minute, both are laid back and fun to be with, we play cards with them every morning and it’s a hoot. Roy and Marg are farmers from Tasmania (near Richmond), they are in their late 50s and a fantastic couple, we do a few tours with them and have a really good time. George and Di are from Perth, both in their mid 50s and they have a cleaning business. Both are Scots who migrated years ago and again are a fantastic couple to be with and have a great sense of humour. Kay and Brian are business people from Perth in their early 60s and are another fantastic couple. George, Roy and I play domino’s each evening for a while and have a good laugh whilst tonight George, Di, Roy, Marg, Lyn and I played deck quoits in a gale force wind and had a ball. These people have made this holiday something special.

Wednesday, 23rd, Cairo. Egypt.

Well, we set out at 6.30am on our 4 hour drive to Cairo on one of the most looked forward to tours on the cruise and it didn’t disappoint. We started off very early in a convoy of buses with armed Police escort on a very hot and humid day and boarded our air conditioned bus. We had a very young lady Egyptian tour guide who was extremely knowledgeable and she gave us the complete history of the Pharos and Egypt which seemed to last the 4 hour drive into Cairo City centre. Cairo itself is a massive, sprawling city which seems to have more high rise flats than anywhere else in the world. On the outskirts there are hundreds of small farms that eek out a sort of living trying to grow crops in very poor sandy soil. These poor folk live in what can only be described as hovels or shanties and life would be extremely hard. As you get a bit closer to the City there are new houses being built as people move further out and commute due to the exorbitant rents and purchasing prices of homes in the city and the unbelievable pollution.

Lots of Military bases along the road with statues of glorious victories standing proud at the front gates (I can’t recall the Egyptian Army having any victories but I suppose it’s good for morale) and Military checkpoints with armed Police and soldiers. As we get closer to the city we start to get roads with marked lanes which seems to make no difference to things as there seems to be five lines of traffic trying to drive in three lanes with much pushing, threatening, arm waving and horn blowing going on, it’s like Russian roulette on wheels.

We then get our first taste of Cairo City and very interesting it is. Australians are quite fussy about litter in their country and often have a go at local Councils for not doing enough around the place. I would advise them to take a visit here. We have found in a few countries such as Bali, India etc that they don’t care about litter and it’s all over the place in piles. Cairo (and Egypt) seems to be no different. Litter abounds and it seems that when they build something and the earth is dug up they dig up layer upon layer of compacted rubbish accumulated over hundreds of years.

What is most striking is the vast number of flats and apartments. It appears that almost every one of the 19 million inhabitants of Cairo live in high rise flats/units. I have never seen so many in one place, yet they also have some absolutely wonderful old buildings but few, if any, high rise office blocks. Some of the areas around the Nile River are lovely but the majority of the city is drab and dirty.

Our first stop is the Egyptian Museum and I can honestly say that I have never seen such crowds for a Museum. This has to be the finest Museum in the world and I would have loved to spend at least three days there. The treasures inside, plus the amount of pure gold therein is amazing. Tutankhamen’s mask alone weights 11 kilo’s in pure gold and is awesome to behold, together with his personal treasure and jewelry. I could not even begin to detail the other exhibits as they are incredible and unmatched by any other Museum in the world. The craftsmanship of the artisans of this civilization was wonderful to behold. When you consider that most of this work was done 2000 years before Christ you scratch your head and wonder again where this civilization went adrift over the centuries ending up as the third world culture that it now is. A fabulous place to visit. We had a laugh when we came out though. The place was chaotic, thousands of people, dozens of coaches, cars and police everywhere so we met at the designated meeting place in the heat and we then realized that our female tour guide must have been a part time school teacher as she made all us “wrinklies’ stand in file, two by two, holding hands whilst we she did a head count then lead us off to the bus.

Next stop was a very pricy ‘souvenir shop’ where we could purchase a copy of King Tuts mask, or his gold chair/throne etc. Needless to say that the tour operator gets a commission of everything that is sold and in this case his 40 coaches took almost 1800 Aussie visitors (would be mugs) to buy some ‘Ver cheap presents’. Needless to say we only used the place as a ’Pit stop’ and because it was air conditioned as I couldn’t see myself packing King Tuts Throne in my suitcase for the flight back to Oz. Of course this is where we started to have problems. The guide has to stick to a strict schedule so that they can get back to the ship in time to leave port on time. As always, there are some ignorant/stupid/selfish tourists who either can’t tell the time or can’t be bothered sticking to a time table. The guide gives you all a time to return and it’s usually at a ‘shopping stop’ that we had problems. There is nothing worse than standing in the heat waiting for one person to arrive, next worst is sitting on the bus for 15 minutes knowing you have a tight schedule, but sure enough, there is always one idiot that‘s late..

After that we went for lunch at a former Arabian Royal Palace that is now the best Restaurant in Cairo and boy what a sight this was. It was as though we had stepped into the Royal Palace from the times of Ali Baba and the forty thieves. I almost expected to be waited on by Nubian slaves. Absolutely amazing. The dining room sat 500 diners and the food was first class.

Then it was off to the star event, The Pyramids. Our pre conceived illusions were dispelled first up when we drove through the dingy suburbs to the Restaurant where we suddenly saw the Pyramids above the rooftops. We were gob smacked to find that they are right on the edge of the City with a Pizza Hut, KFC, shops and houses within short walking distance. Never the less, this did not diminish the spectacle of the event.

Awe inspiring is the only word that comes to mind. The last one remaining of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Absolutely amazing. We alighted the bus to be blitzed by the Arab hawkers who could get extremely aggressive and are like the Blowflies we have in Aussie but we managed to get around these and take in the view. At this site three of the oldest Pyramids remain and you have to look at them in wonderment as to how they were built in the first place. We then drove a short distance to the Sphynx and again, this was a sight to behold. Much smaller than I had thought, but majestic all the same. To be honest, I would be wasting my time trying to explain this visit as it is something that you would have to experience yourself to fully appreciate. A truly memorable visit.

We are off to visit Athens on Friday instead of next week because they were going to have a General strike on the day we were supposed to get there and no transport or shops available so the itinery was swapped around’ Another stop I am looking forward to immensely.

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