A Double Decker! We literally had only minutes to make the next plane, so they got us a bus from one side of the airport to the other side.Day 1 In a plane for 30 hours from Corpus Christi to Houston to Frankfurt Germany, then off to Cairo
A Double Decker! We literally had only minutes to make the next plane, so they got us a bus from one side of the airport to the other side.
Day 2 Cairo & transfer to GizaWe saw a guard every 300 feet or so for the 10 miles the bus was on from the airport to the hotel because the Egyptian president was supposed to make an appearance.
Got to the Nile Hotel, they said our hotel with the view of the Pyramids was under construction and a little loud, so we stayed at a Hotel on an Island with a nice wrap around view of the Nile
We went on the Ring Highway around Cairo. No one is supposed to build on it, so they built along the highway without getting building permits. Also there is a law saying any building that is 6 stories or more has to have an elevator, and any building that is not finished doesn't have to pay taxes. So there are thousands of unfinished 4-5 story buildings littering the Cairo landscape.
Saw the Imhotep Museum, he was the guy that designed the pyramids. Saw some of the smaller pyramids first. Went to the Pyramids in Giza, the Chinese president was coming to look at the pyramids today, so they were going to close them early. The Sphinx was pretty cool.
Took 2 hours to drive to Alexandria, there were fields all along the way, but I only saw exactly one cotton patch in the entire trip, (unless it was soybeans). The government will give a person some land and 3 years to turn the desert into farmland. He gets to keep the land if he is successful, loses the land for someone else to try if it doesn't work.
One Neighborhood had all new 15 story buildings, ready for people to move into, but nobody lived there. The tour guide said the government built them, and yet nobody's home..
Alexandria reminded me a little of Corpus Christi, it has refineries, a beach, and some touristy things. The Catacombs were really cool, and the Roman amphitheater was neat, the seafood lunch was really good, they seem to know how to make seafood in Egypt.
One of the many many days we had to get up at 3 in the morning. Took the bus to the airport, flew to Luxor, and had time to see the Temples of Karnak with the avenue of Sphinxes. The Temples of Karnak was one of the big highlights of the trip for me. It had over a hundred columns in one room! Got on the boat that afternoon.
Got up at 3 in the morning again, we took a small boat to cross the Nile to take a van to get to the Balloon. The Balloon ride was fantastic, it went over the colossi of Memnon, and the valley of the Kings. if I went to Egypt. and only had 3 days, I would do the balloon ride, and see Luxor, see the museum in Cairo, and then fly home.... The Temple of Hatsheput was cool, she was the only female pharaoh, so it was a little different and in really good shape. We saw 4 tombs in the Valley of the Kings, King Tut's tomb only had the mummy and one of the golden coffins.
The temple of Horus is in Edfu, they must have a hellacious tax on vehicles because you have to take a horse drawn buggy to the temple, which makes it about a 20 minute trip. The temple is in fantastic condition.
The boat leaves and goes to Kom Ombo, that temple has Sobek and the crocodile museum which was interesting. When the boat set sail we could see a Crocodile cloud in the sky, it was like Sobek was saying goodbye. The boat then set sail for Aswan.
We flew to Abu Simbel today, another 3 in the morning start. The temple there has the 3 monster statues of Ramus II .The boat ride was in the afternoon, it was really nice to sail around Aswan. We went shopping in Aswan that night, which was much more pleasant that shopping anywhere else in Egypt. because the shop keepers seem a little nicer.
Saw the Quarry where the unfinished obelisk is for Queen Hatsheput is. It was going to be the largest obelisk ever built, and it broke before they ever got it out of the ground, so they left it there unfinished for us to find thousands of years later. After that we went to the temple of Philae which was on an island created by the first dam built in 1900.
Then went to the high dam which was built by the Russians in 1970.
Stayed in the Movenpick hotel on Elephintine Island near Aswan, it had the comfiest beds...
Went to the Animalia Museum, (which is also on air B&B if you want to stay there!) It was in the Nubian village that was on the same island as the Movenpick. The Nubians were displaced when they made the dam in 1970 and created a 300 mile lake along the nile river.
Then we flew to Cairo and drove past at least 4 miles of shops to get to the Steinberger hotel.
That night we drove an hour outside of Cairo to El Haram to the Abu Shakra Restaurant. It was delicious.
Until then, I had thought all of Egypt. must be a third world looking dump that had half finished buildings and trash everywhere. El Haram looked like an upscale suburb of Dallas with small boutique shopping centers, and nice gated housing communities.
Boatride to Movenpick Small Movie
Went to the Museum, which was one of the highlights of the trip. The Picture is Horus protecting the king, this was the only statue the Crusaders didn't lop off the head because even though they were Crusaders, they didn't want to piss off Horus by cutting him in two. The museum feels like a warehouse more than a museum until you get to King Tut's section, and that is fantastic. It would be really something if the Valley of the Kings was not robbed over the years if each tomb had more stuff in it than Tut had. That afternoon we went to the Mosque of Mohammed Ali (not the boxer). It was impressive.
Went to Madaba to see the church with the mosaic map in the floor, the map is the reason they know where some of the things in the bible took place
Went to Mount Nebo to see the mountain Moses went up to see the promised land.
Took the bus to a mosaic factory that had people making mosaics, it takes months to make one piece. Stopped by an overlook that had a huge canyon and a view of the lake where they get most of their water.
The canyon you get to walk through in Petra is really amazing, I am sure the pictures do not do it justice.
The donkey ride was pretty neat, and dinner was really good that night. The restaurant was called "My Mom's Recipe"
Went to Aqaba to see 60 acres of ruins that have a hippodrome and a huge amphitheater. What was strange was the fence around it was built to keep things in the 60 acres...
Passed by Jericho and Bethlehem to get to a hotel on the Dead Sea so we could float around.
Went back to Amman to see the Palace that has the largest flagpole in the world, an amphitheater that is in the middle of town, and went through a farmers market with all the fruit and vegetables for sale.
