A bit of this and that!!

I have been re-reading what I've written to date and feel that I've not gone anywhere near doing justice to the wonders and glories of this ancient world. I haven't touched on the fact that a lot of the pillars in the temples are carved in the shape of papyrus stalks - all with either closed buds or open flowers. Or that a lot of the temples were built over the time period of many Pharaoh's lives. Or that some of the cartouches in the temples were left blank because the workers got tired of carving the ruling Pharaoh's hieroglyphic name in the cartouch only to have to chip it away and put in a new Pharaoh's hieroglyphic name. Or that each Pharaoh tried to out do the preceding Pharaoh by having his paintings and carvings more lifelike and elaborate than the Pharaoh before. I haven't told you the story that our Habibi told us of the protector of a Pharaoh's concubines who did such a good job of protecting the women during the Pharaoh's absence that they were all pregnant on the return of the Pharaoh. As a punishment, the Pharaoh cut off one arm of this man. Perhaps, the Pharaoh cut off the wrong body part!!!! There are so many things that we learned as we went through the temples and the sites that I remember as I look at pictures and think back on our tours, but are so hard to put to paper. I hope that as you read my account of our adventures you will forgive me for not giving you more actual information. I truly wish I had taped all of what our Habibi said to us during our tour - I truly wish he would write a book!!!

I hope that all of you know that as the blog gets bigger, some of the posts are "hidden". To get these back to read - or to see just what we've put on, look under Sarah's post "Why we are doing this". Beneath the picture of Les and I is the title "Blog Archive" - the number beside each month indicates the number of posts from that month. Just click on the name of the month and all of the posts from that month will appear. You can go back and forth, month to month to read about our adventures.

I have failed to mention one of our Habibi's favorite sayings - "mashi mashi habibi" - which means "okey dokey my love"! When he explained, gave us directions, told us to be careful, laughing with us about something, he ended with - "mashi mashi habibi". I will always remember this phrase when I think of our Habibi. When he told us about options for activities he would say something like - and for those Habibi's who want to shop...or...those Habibi's who want a sheesha...or...watch your step Habibi...or...or...or... - can you tell that we came to love our Habibi!!!

Our Habibi also informed us that in Egypt things like - traffic lights, traffic lanes, taxi meters, cross walks - all are for decoration ONLY and mean nothing to an Egyptian!!

Day 6 - Sunday, February 25th

We moored in Edfu during the night and were woken to the call to Mosque! We were the first boat to moor and so we were closest to shore. The view was great! The mosque, shops, horses and carriages, some birds on the shore. The day is sunny and bright, whatever was in the air yesterday is gone.

Our first temple visit of the day is to the Temple of Horus. Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis who were the children of Geb (earth) and Nut (sky). Horus is one of the most famous gods of Ancient Egypt - he was the god of the sky, a symbol of divine kingship, and the protector of the ruling king. Every pharaoh was an incarnation of the falcon-headed Horus, who according to legend conquered Seth, the evil god of Upper Egypt. Seth, the god of turmoil and confusion, murdered Osiris, Horus' father. Horus avenged his father's death and so became the god of order and justice. Therefore the pharaoh in Ancient Egypt became Horus on earth, the ruler of the two lands - Upper and Lower Egypt. During one of the many fights that Horus fought against Seth, he lost an eye. This "Eye of Horus" has become the symbol of victory over evil. Now I'm sure you are asking yourself why I've gone into such detail about Horus...well...the reason is...Les has decided that Horus is his favorite god and I'm sure all of you will hear and see a lot of Horus in the years to come! (Think new tattoo!!)

The Temple of Horus is a relatively new temple - construction started only about 2100 years ago - in 237 BC and continued to about 51 BC. The pylons (front walls) of this temple are so impressive with the sunken reliefs still so very clear. The statue of Horus (which is inside the temple walls) as a falcon, is the picture that I've put on the blog announcing our return to the UAE from Egypt.

We had time to "shop" after leaving the temple. Lots of vendors in this area - they know where to go for optimum exposure to us bargain hunting tourists! At the beginning of our tour I was a bit saddened by the fact that we weren't getting a lot of shopping time. But as the days have gone by, I have come to understand and to thank our Habibi for the the very short amounts of time he allows us to be "harassed" by the vendors! It is so very overwhelming to be constantly pushed and prodded and, for lack of a better word, harassed, by the vendors that short spurts of time in their vicinity is more than enough. As you walk by their booths, you can't even slow down without being harangued. And don't touch anything - you might just as well buy it then - "no" does not mean "no" to these guys! But if you keep a sense of humour and are firm and just walk away sometimes they got the hint! A half hour of shopping was always more than enough, after that amount of time, we were tired out and losing our hold on that sense of humour!! One thing I noticed all over Egypt is that Les' tattoos got a lot of notice and a lot of fearful respect. I think they made some people afraid of him and always when he said "no" they got it!

Our afternoon was spent cruising to Kom Ombo. We sat on deck, listened to classical music and watched Egypt float by. (Edvard Grieg's, "Peer Gynt" played at one point!!)

On arrival in Kom Ombo, we visited the Temple of Kom Ombo. This temple building is totally symmetrical with 2 entrances, 2 halls, & 2 sanctuaries because it is dedicated to 2 gods - the left side to the falcon god "Horus the Elder" & the right side to the local crocodile god "Sobek". It is a lovely sight in the evening and the shadows and lighting made the story our Habibi told us of how the High Priest at the time used "smoke and mirrors" to get more money from the Pharaoh much more interesting!!

This was the evening for our traditional Egyptian food, entertainment and fun! We all changed into galabeas (Egyptian clothing). Our robes and headdresses made us feel very Egyptian and we all had a great time! The food was fabulous, as always, but it was all Egyptian - lamb, rice, kofta, and much more, with the famous "om ali" for dessert. The crew entertained us with Egyptian singing and music, we played a few games, conga danced our way around the lounge, laughed lots and had a great evening.

Tidbits for the day

• again Walid (our Habibi) explained the differences in the temples we saw today compared to other temples we've seen - and what makes these ones important - and what are the most important things to notice
• life on the Nile south of Luxor is different than north - here in the south more vehicles, houses, factories & garbage can be seen
• we mostly have to pay to use the toilets - always a woman at the door with the toilet paper in one hand and the other out for an Egyptian pound (really only about 20 cents)

Day 5 - Saturday, February 24th

Today will be a big day - The Valley of the Kings Day!!! We were off the Giselle and on the road by 7 a.m. Today is less sunny than we've had, not smoggy, not windy, not hazy, just different. We drove through the town where the carvers of the tombs lived and it is still very populated and life here seems to have not changed a bit in the centuries that have passed.

Habibi spoke at length to us on the way to the Valley of the Kings and continued on once we arrived. He will not be allowed to lecture us while we are in the tombs and we can go into any 3 that we wish. Of course he told us the 4 best to tour and also explained that even though we could go into Tutankhamun's tomb (for an additional charge) there really wasn't much left and that the treasures are in the Museum in Cairo. The entrances to the tombs all seem to lead off a trail that weaves its way through the valley and not all tombs are open either because of danger of cave in or current archaeological work occurring.

Between Les and I we went to all 4 of the best tombs. Together we went to Tomb #2 for Ramses IV and Tomb #11 for Ramses III. Les went to Tomb #6 for Ramses IX and I went to Tomb #8 for Merneptah. Because these tombs have been closed for centuries and they are protected from light, wind and the elements, the preservation in them is outstanding. You can clearly see the painted surfaces (the paints are from natural dye sources - plants, ground up minerals, etc and that lasts much longer than our dyes today!) - in some places the walls aren't carved, they are painted and in other places they are carved and painted. But the images are so clear. It was very warm in the tombs, and some of them were a long way down, I really thought it would be cooler in them. The trails used by the tomb carvers to get from the small town to the work sites are still noticeable in the hills. This was a very magical area (I know, I seem to say that about everywhere we go, but... ) you can feel the power and the energy here still.

From the Valley we drove to the Temple of Hatshepsut. This temple from first sight looks like just a front wall carved onto the face of the cliff. But...once you climb all of those steps you can go inside the temple. Very different!! There is much excavation going on here and a lot of re-construction has occurred. It is thought that Hatshepsut is the Egyptian Queen who found Moses floating in the basket in the Nile.

Next we went to the Colossi of Memnon. These 2 statues of Amenhotep III originally guarded Amenhotep's mortuary temple and are all that remain. They are very impressive in height and are currently being worked on - there is a lot of archaeological digging going on in this area as a lot of tombs have been discovered under the roadway here.

Alabaster is found in this area and so it stands to reason that there will be a lot of "Alabaster Stores" here! Habibi took us to one. Whenever Habibi takes us to these "stores" we can be sure that they are the best quality, cleanest, and most reasonably priced. We get an education on the production of whatever art form is displayed and special offers if we purchase. Free soft drinks, tea and very clean bathrooms are available for our use. Habibi corrects the vendors if they try to over charge us and is always available to help us differentiate between the phony and the good quality. After our visit, Habibi presented us each with a lucky scarab made at this store.

Now...back to walk the gang plank onto the Giselle! From Luxor we cruise toward Edfu, going through the Esne Locks. Now here we begin an adventure that I will NEVER forget!! As we approached Esne we knew that we would have a wait before going through the locks - there were other cruise boats ahead of us and of course first come first served. And in this case, lots of fun would be ours during this time of waiting!! Habibi told us today about this experience but words did not even come close to describing this event. The vendors of Esne are very ingenious. They don't wait for us tourists to come to them, they can come to us, no matter where we might happen to be - even if it's in the middle of the Nile River!! We could see in the distance lots of little boats rowing like mad toward us. Here was the approach of the "Floating Market" - this market could be 20 or 30 boats that will attach themselves onto our boat. Small 2 man boats - 1 rower and 1 hawker hooked themselves onto our boat. The rower keeps the boat as steady as he can, and the hawker stands on the prow of the boat and shows shawls, galabeas (Egyptian robes), rugs, scarves, whatever he might have for sale. He engages you in interest for his goods. And don't forget, we are up on the sun deck and they are 4 stories below on the Nile. He yells, "Hey lady", "hey my friend", "what's your name", etc., etc., etc. Whether you are interested or not (and let's face it, we were interested in anything he might be selling) he wraps up tightly, in a plastic bag the goods and then tosses it up into the air. Watching this, you think it will fall right back down to him but in some strange way, as the package gets to our height it just magically swings over, sometimes almost into our hands, but most certainly lands on the floor. This is truly the funniest thing!! My new friend Helen and I were together on deck when all this excitement and noise started. When the first package "arrived" we laughed so hard we could hardly open it. But we soon became expert in negotiating for what we wanted. By this time Les and Ian joined us and assisted in the bargaining. The price began at 750 Egyptian pounds for a shawl/blanket type article - but if you want more the price could go down! And so it went up and down - our offer - the counter offer. The seller didn't want anything to come back to him but money and he kept sending up shawls of different colours (but he knew exactly what he had thrown up to us) and the bartering was vicious! When we offered a low price the seller would put his hands on his hips, shake his finger at us , shake his head and yell "you come up and I'll come down". We'd offer a bit more and he'd shake his finger and laugh - it was such a good show! We finally got the price down to 150 Egyptian pounds for 3 shawls and our little salesman sent us up another plastic wrapped package that we were to put our money into and throw back down to him. This fun was going on all over the sun deck of the Giselle! Some of the packages both with just goods and with money in them were missed by the sellers, but there were a couple of boats behind that were catching all the "missed" bags and returning them to the rightful owner. All of this lasted right up until the moment we were approaching the lock and then we could see them all rowing like mad to the next boat waiting their turn. We did laugh about this spectacle and talk about it for days to come!

We enjoyed a lovely candle light seafood sit down dinner this evening. We all dressed up a bit and enjoyed not having to line up at the buffet.

Tidbits from the day:

• saw a lot of hot air balloons taking off from an area very close to the Valley of the Kings - apparently a morning ride over the Valley is very popular
• today Walid told us about the education system, compulsory military service and the method they use to encourage young people to further their education by finishing school and going on to university, our Habibi certainly always does give us way more than just the facts
• Habibi told us we should have paid 30 pounds each for our shawls. We paid 50 Egyptian pounds a piece and were happy to pay the additional 20 each for entertainment!!! (At 50 pounds we paid $10 Canadian dollars for each shawl - worth it to us!)

Day 4 - Friday, February 23rd

We were up and off the boat by 7 a.m. today - sleeping in isn't an option on this trip if you want to see EVERYTHING. We seem to leave earlier than the other tour groups on the boat and it's fine with us. When we get to the Temples and sights there aren't a lot of other people around and we get a great look at things and we get a lot done before the heat of the day is unbearable.

Our first visit today is to the Temple of Hathor. This temple is fabulous. The roof is intact and every surface is either raised or sunken relief, lots of painted surfaces that can still be seen especially in the ceilings. The Christians who lived in the temple centuries ago caused a great deal of damage - their cook fires caused smoke damage to the ceilings, they carved out the faces of Hathor in the carvings on the walls. A huge relief on an exterior wall shows Cleopatra making offerings to Hathor. Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar is clearly shown as well. It is mind-boggling to understand that these carvings made about 3000 years ago are still clear enough for us to see easily.

We cruise back to Luxor after all tour groups have returned to the boat. A number of us sat up on the sun deck watching life on the Nile flow by, getting to know each other, comparing traditions and life experiences between Canada and Australia. Watching how the Nile people live is in itself is a constant education and source of incredibility - we watched a man reach down, clear the oil slick off the top of the water, scoop up a cup full and DRINK the Nile water! Now, this would kill us with our queasy, clean living stomachs but the Nile living Egyptians can handle it!

We arrived in Luxor in the very early evening and our armed guards left us. We enjoyed a horse and carriage ride to the Luxor Temple that is dedicated to the Theban triad of Amuc, Mut and Khonsu. What an amazing temple this is. By the way...every temple we see seems to be even better and more inspiring than the last! But this temple is beautiful! The avenue of sphinxes (which once stretched almost 2 km. from Luxor to Karnak) but now is not that long is still incredible; the huge pink granite obelisk; the two enormous seated colossi of Ramses II, the enormous front wall...all leave you breathless. This temple is very special in many ways (according to our Habibi!) Not only is it a temple dedicated to Egyptian gods but there is a Mosque and one of the antechambers was converted into a church by the Romans in the 4th century AD. There is a belief that many treasures are still buried under the Mosque but because it is holy ground it will not be desecrated. We were still at this temple as the sun set and the lighting within it really brought out the magic - so lovely!!

On our way back to the Giselle, we stopped at a place where they make Papyrus paper pictures. One of the makers showed us how the papyrus paper is made and how to tell the difference between the authentic papyrus paper and the banana leaf paper that many street vendors try to pass off as papyrus. The paper is then painted on by art students and these pictures sold from this shop. Most of the pictures were scenes taken from actual reliefs in temples throughout Egypt. Les and I found quite a few that we liked and our Habibi looked at them and told us that most we had chosen were scenes from the Temples at Abu Simbel (this will be an important fact on day 8 of our tour-remember it!!!).

Back to the Giselle for a relaxing dinner and an evening of Egyptian entertainment. Egyptian musicians, a belly-dancer (not the dancer of many veils as we see at home - this young lady didn't move with quite the same vigor and had more of an evening dress on), and a "Whirling Dervish". We'd never seen such a dancer. Constant circular movement with clothing that flipped and moved as if watching a multi-coloured spinning top. It was dizzying!!

Tidbits from today:

• on the way to the Temple of Hathor in Dendara we travelled by farms and saw no vehicles (except for the armed guard that stayed with us until our return to the boat) - the farmers use donkey carts
• houses have no roofs because there is no rain - the animal shelters do have long grasses on top to protect the animals from the sun - all people are in traditional dress - homes are made of mud/straw bricks - lots of lush crops of banana, date, sugar cane, wheat
• Habibi explained the way of life, history, culture, economy of today and in the time of growth of the temple
• today was the first time I've ever "walked the gang-plank" - as we left the Giselle
• houses and apartments in urban areas are left unfinished (you can see the re-bar coming through the concrete at the top of buildings) so that the owners don't have to pay the construction tax
• Habibi constantly tells us when we should tip, what we should pay for goods for sale at any site, and he warns us of any scams that might occur
• the staff on the Giselle are talented, funny and helpful - the head chef-Medhat; the waiters - Mohammed, Mohammed, & Sabry; matre d' - Saady; the bartender - Magdy; and the many whose names we didn't discover all took such good care of us

Day 3 - Thursday, February 22nd

Today we fly to Luxor to begin the "cruise" part of our trip. We left the hotel at 6 a.m. for our 8 a.m. flight. But, as Walid says,"Egyptian time" which meant we really took off at 8:45 a.m.!! During the 50 minute flight we could watch the Eastern and Western Deserts and the very lush Nile Valley below. Lots of crops are grown in the Nile Valley - sugar cane, banana trees, date palms, grains. Very beautiful!

Before going to our boat, we bussed to the Temple of Karnak. Now you have to understand that this is our first look at a temple and oh my goodness, NOTHING can prepare you for the sight. The oldest parts of this temple were built almost 2000 years before Christ. The pillars, stones, carvings, painting (that is still visible!), row of sphinx's. Can you imagine why we were stunned and speechless? In the Great Hypostyle Hall you could almost hear and feel the Pharaohs, their Queens and servants. When we were in the museum yesterday we saw statues & coffins & artifacts but this has brought it all to life. I don't think anyone could see this and not be affected 3500 - 4000 years after construction. Walid spoke to us at length on the way to the temple and as we progressed through explaining the politics of the time; construction methods; meaning of the papyrus shaped pillars, statues, painting, carvings...nothing was missed by him. Our Habibi does his very best to help us understand what we see and he makes sure we get the most of each site. By the Sacred Lake at the side of the Temple is a statue of a scarab beetle. The superstition is that if you walk around the scarab statue counter-clock wise 3 times and think of your heart's wish it will come true! So, of course we did just that and time will tell if the superstition works!

When we left the Temple we experienced our first real "shopping" opportunity. (Outside of the Citadel we did have a small taste of this.) The Egyptian vendors are VERY forceful! They toss or push into your arms their goods and start at a very high price for them. If you aren't interested to purchase you almost have to throw the items back at them. They are very adept at avoiding taking back their stuff. If you want to purchase you start countering with a very low price and so the bickering goes back and forth - "lady, lady, you break my heart" "lady, lady, just looking" "lady, lady, no hassle" "lady, lady, where you from - Canada Dry" "you come up - I'll come down" and so it goes... If you walk away after giving your final price they will follow you and say "ok, ok", and name the last price they said, as if you would forget what you offered. Often you will get the item for what you want to pay but they make it seem like you are stealing from them!

Now, off to our boat the MS Giselle! The Giselle is owned by Insight Travel and is very old world in look - lots of wood and charm. There are only 60 staterooms (maximum of 120 passengers) and all have a huge window. Central curving staircase goes from bottom level (dining room) up to 1st level (lobby and rooms) to 2nd and 3rd levels of rooms (our room is on the 2nd level). The 3rd level also has the lounge area and 2 small stores (jewellery and t-shirt/souvenir). From the 3rd level you can use a different small staircase to go to the outdoor sun deck which has covered and open lounging area, bar, and swimming pool. Our group is joined by 2 groups from other tour companies. Ok, so there is one thing about the boat I personally am not crazy about...I can't have an iron...now those of you who know me well, know that I am the ironing queen...I'm not sure how I will survive!!!

And so we cruise to Dendara today. Apparently the area between Luxor and Dendara is not overly safe (I can say this now because obviously we are back from Egypt safe and sound!!). This is an area of radical Coptic Christian and Shiite Muslim people and not all cruise boats come up this way. We have armed guards on board and they will stay with us until we sail back to Luxor tomorrow. During the night another cruise boat docked right next to us and we could see their armed guard on duty all night with his machine gun pointed out toward the river. A police boat came by regularly too during the night.

We had dinner on board and scrumptious it was! There is a very large kitchen staff who do a beautiful, yummy job! We got to know our group and of course, as always, it's easy to find kindred spirits. We had lots of fun getting to know Ian & Helen from Adelaide, Australia and 3 very wild and wacky ladies from Ontario - Sandra, Carol and Brenda! I can tell we are going to have loads of fun with these 5.

Tidbits from today:

• the area around Luxor is green; lots of people working in the fields; cattle, donkeys, goats, sheep - all very skinny; use donkeys to pull carts - not very many vehicles seen; lots of "rubbley" looking places
• view of the Nile Valley from the boat - homes along the banks look like they are right out of the Old Testament and are built right on the banks; families bath in...wash clothes and dishes in...play in...drink from...the Nile; cattle graze right alongside; lots of farm land; houses; herons; other birds; small towns; Mosques; Coptic churches; palm trees; banana trees
• At the end of the day, I sat by the huge window of our room and listened to the Nile flow by. This is a trip of a lifetime that words can't describe. It is very like being closer God and IN the bible - at least pictorially! This area is definitely centuries behind the 21st.

Day 2 - Wednesday, February 21st

Our 26 member tour group met in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel and settled in to meet our guide and get started on our adventures. Walid is our guide and little did we know at this time just how special he would make this exploration of Egypt! Walid informed us that we would be called "Habibi" group. Habibi means "beloved" and we came to love our own Habibi, Walid!!

Walid has degrees in Archeology, Politics, and Commerce and is passionate about the history of his country, the culture of the Egyptians and the politics. Every explanation and description of what we were seeing was colored with every ounce of knowledge Habibi could impart to us.

Our first stop of the day was the Citadel of Salah El Din and Mohammed Ali's Mosque. The Citadel was home to Egypt's rulers for almost 700 years - originally founded in 1176. The upper terraces of the Citadel offer spectacular views of the city. Mohammed Ali's Alabaster Mosque is enclosed in the Citadel is was built in the mid-19th century (he was regarded as the founder of modern Egypt). Walid had given us a lesson on Islam before we arrived and so had a very respectful tour with a little more understanding of the Muslim faith than we had before. The size and beauty of the Mosque was just a teaser for the size and beauty of the temples we would see in the next days.

The Egyptian Museum was next. We saw the originals of statues, coffins, jewellery, linen cloths, furniture, effigies, a war chariot, all items that we've seen copies and pictures of. And then...the Tutankhamun Galleries...life sized statues, clothing, hunting implements, jewellery, couches and beds...and...Tutankhamun's fabulous death mask. For Les seeing the death mask was worth the price of the whole trip!! The Museum is very old and considering the priceless treasures that it houses, not at all secure or particularly safe for the artifacts. For instance the glass cases that contain fabrics, some as old as 3500 years are cracked and in sunny areas of the museum. (We discovered later in the tour that a new Museum is being built near the Pyramids of Giza - thank goodness!) One piece that we saw only a copy of (the original is in the British Museum) was the "Rosetta Stone". This piece was found in 1799 and had a text in 3 scripts: hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek. In 1822 Thomas Young translated the demotic text and identified the cartouches of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. At the same time, Jean-Francois Champollion also deciphered these names and others, compiling an extensive list of symbols. He realized that there were separate types of hieroglyphics with different functions and so discovered the basis of the writing system used in hieroglyphic texts.

In the evening we drove to Giza for the Pyramid Sound and Light Show. The Pyramids are not outside of Cairo anymore. The growth of this huge city (the current metropolitan population is 16.1 million) has encroached on the area surrounding the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Our first glimpse of the Pyramids was awesome - really...who gets to actually see the pyramids in their lifetime?? We are so lucky!! Up close you can feel the magic and mystery of them. It helped immensely that the crescent moon was clear and present (and the crescent was on it's back - something we never see in Canada!). The light show was beautiful, it incorporated history and facts with dialogue and lights. Next week we get to come back in the daylight to explore some more.

Tidbits from today:

• Habibi tells us about everything we pass (you will read lots of "Habibi says..." in my descriptions of our tour!)
• Went passed the area where leather is tanned - beside an ancient aqua-duct - horse or donkey carts are used to move the goods throughout the area - leather drying on roof-top racks - fur & "stuff" thrown and left on the streets, dogs & cats rummage through this - people live here too
• Passed the Northern Cemetery "City of the Dead" - homeless people inhabit some of the tombs and now the living and the dead coexist side by side
• Armed soldiers are everywhere - either hand guns or AK47 Russian semi-automatic or machine guns - we go through security machines everywhere (including the hotel) - most times the machines just beep and beep and no one stops to check the reason why
• The area around the Pyramids of Giza is at least 1000 years behind the rest of the world - donkeys & horses are used for transportation, with or without a cart - aqua-ducts full of garbage - trash everywhere - shops line the streets to the pyramids - alleyways (imagine a picture from the time of Christ; robed people, donkeys, horses) - derelict buildings & rubble - merchants & food sellers; bakeries, meat shops - slow moving people - Hard Rock Cafe beside t-shirt, sheesha pipe, book, souvenir & jewellery shops
• Our tour group consists of new friends from: Australia (Adelaide & Brisbane), South Africa, U.S.A. (Washington & Oregon) & Canada (N. Saanich, B.C.; Picture Butte & Edmonton, Alberta; Oshawa, Guelph, & Belleville, Ontario; & Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Day 1 - Tuesday, February 20th - Arrival in Egypt and First Impressions

I am still very overwhelmed by our tour of Egypt and want to go justice to all that we experienced and saw. I want our family and friends to know that words and photographs will never do justice to; the magnitude of size, grandeur, comprehension of age of the temples, pyramids, statues and artifacts; the beauty of the fertile fields along the Nile River, the amazement of seeing people live still as I would imagine life looked during the time of Christ, the beauty of the Mosques and the Coptic Churches, the noise, traffic, pollution of Cairo. We spent 12 days in a completely different world and enjoyed every second soaking up as much as we could.

We arrived in Cairo and were met by the Insight Travel agent who led us through the maze of passport/visa control, helped us gather our luggage and through one more passport control. As we drove from the airport to the hotel he regaled us with a running commentary of what we were seeing, facts, interesting tidbits of life in Cairo, laughter while watching our amazement of traffic in Cairo. On arrival at the Cairo Marriott he handed our bags to the porter, produced our room key, gave us our instructions for meeting with the entire group the next day and wished us well. I wish I had gotten his name. We knew that if he was an indication of our Insight Travel experience of Cairo we were definitely in for a good time!

Our first impressions of Cairo are of unbelievable traffic, horns, pollution, people, Mosques and Churches everywhere, apartment buildings that look like they were bombed out but are definitely inhabited and have scads of satellite dishes on the roofs, garbage, motor cycles (some with 3 or 4 people on them, some with a woman passenger in her robes sitting side-saddle), bicycle riders weaving in and out (some with baskets of goods on their heads). We couldn't look fast enough to take it all in!

The Cairo Marriott Hotel was built around the palace created for Empress Eugenie of France when she attended the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. It's a beautiful hotel right by the Nile River, with a large out door cafe, lovely decor inside and out, and a casino!! How happy was Les to make his contribution to whatever Egyptian charity the slot machine money goes to!!!

Being the brave soul that he is, Les suggested that we go for a walk in the evening. We walked over the 26 of July St. Bridge to a street that had lots of activity. We passed by shops, sheesha(water pipe)/tea cafes, bakeries, meat markets and hundreds of people. It was exciting and just a bit unnerving. Crossing the street is insanity! Many drivers do not put on their headlights at night, no one stops for pedestrians, 2 lanes of traffic often hold 4 or 5 lanes of cars, traffic lights are never obeyed. But, we did make it back to the hotel safely!

Back at the hotel we enjoyed a mid-eastern dinner at the outdoor restaurant. A couple of old women sit and hand make the best pita bread you've ever tasted, cooking them in an open fire oven right there. Les enjoyed his sheesha after dinner and I must admit that I tried it too. The apple flavoured tobacco goes through the water reservoir at the bottom of the pipe before coming out the pipe. It's very smooth and aromatic!

And so went our first day in Cairo, Egypt!!