Egyptian Voyager 2010

About this blog

2010-04-18T23:50:00.004+02:00

This blog is basically a journal of the Trafalgar tour, called Egyptian Voyager, that we did to Egypt in 2010. To navigate to each day, click on the links on the right hand side of this page. For bigger images click on the photos.

Tour Round up

2010-04-18T12:32:00.005+02:00

This tour exceeded our expectations. It was a busy tour, with a lot of early mornings, but we got to see all the main sights in 8 days, so it was well worth getting up early. My favourite part of the tour was definitely the Nile cruise, I’d have loved an extra day on the Nile.

Our tour group a.k.a Mashi Mashi

Where our tour took us:

The only negative in my opinion is that we didn’t get to know our tour-mates really well. We met a couple of very nice people and I’d have liked more time to chat to them. Part of the problem was obviously that this was a fairly short tour and also, we had to sit at the same table with the same people at every meal on the cruise, which made sense logistically, but it meant that we didn’t get a chance to chat to different people. We also didn’t have seat rotation on the bus – I enjoyed the seat rotation on the European tour as it meant that we got to chat to different people everyday while travelling.

Egypt was amazing. The mind just boggles at the fact that some of the buildings we saw have been around for more than 4000 years. Yes, the vendors are a pain and the tipping gets you down a bit, and we won’t mention the toilets, but it is all SO worth it in light of what you are seeing and the places you are visiting. I’d recommend this tour 100%

Hotels:
Cairo: * Ramses Hilton (3 nights) * Concorde El Salam Hotel

Nile Cruise: * MS Sapphire

Alexandria: * Helnan Palestine Hotel

2010-04-10T12:02:00.001+02:00

We left the hotel at 7:30am today. First stop was the Monastery of St Macarius the Great.

We had to be covered from wrist to ankle for the monastery visit. A monk took us on a tour of the 3 churches on the property. One of the churches houses the crypt and relics of St John the Baptist, which I found utterly amazing. Unfortuantely we didn't get a photo of that!

We then drove on to Giza, where we stopped at the Funky Brothers cotton shop. I was a bit disappointed with the shop, there was lots of stuff, but not much choice and it was very crowded. We bought some lunch at the take-away next door.

Final stop for the day was our hotel near the airport, it was really beautiful. We took a bit of a walk to stretch our legs before our flight. We rested a bit, finished packing up our things and had a lovely supper at the Italian restaurant at the hotel. Our last supper with Walter, although we hope to see him again soon at his home in Pietermaritzburg.

Our transfer to the airport picked us up at 9:30pm. No sooner had we got to the airport when we realised that our flight was delayed for at least 4 hours. If only we’d known before, we could have slept at the hotel for a few hours! We ended up sleeping on chairs at the Heineken pub in the airport.

Our flight that was supposed to leave at 11:45pm left at 04:45am! Aargh!! By that time we were so exhausted that we even managed to sleep for a few hours on the plane. Our flight from Jo’burg to Durban was also delayed, but only by about 45mins. We finally got home in time for supper on Sunday night. Having had 3 hours sleep in the last 36 hours......

2010-04-09T10:37:00.002+02:00

We had another early start today, up at 5:40am to have breakfast and leave at 7am.

We drove to Alexandria, stopping at a very nice roadside stop along the way, where my girls each bought their favourite things: shoes for Rox and a book for Paula.

As we drove to Alexandria Wael spoke to us about life in modern Egypt. He told us all about the school system, housing, the Muslim religion, married life etc etc. He gave us personal insights into his life, which I found so interesting.

On arrival at Alexandria we went directly to the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa.

Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed

Quite an extraordinary place, I found it a bit creepy. What I found even more creepy were the toilet facilities outside. Honestly, if you ever have the good fortune to be able to spend some time in Alexandria, find somewhere else to go to the loo! Trust me on this!

Then it was on to Pompey’s pillar – quite a nice place to take a walk around (and it has good loos!) but after the temples we had seen, this felt a little ho-hum!

We then headed off to the Roman Amphitheatre.

Again, it was quite impressive, but I always get to the point on a tour where I compare everything I am seeing to what went before. Had I seen this amphitheatre on Day 1, I would no doubt have been all “Wow! Awesome!” – I am ashamed to admit it, but today I found the little kitten that was strolling about way more interesting than the amphitheatre.

Rox in " Cleopatra's bath"

Next stop was the Alexandria Museum.

I found the signage in this museum far better than at the Egyptian museum, it was also less crowded, so easier to get around. Dad was extremely clever and while we were browsing the museum he wandered off and found a bakery (apparently you exit the museum and turn left) where he bought us THE most delicious savoury nibbles.

Final stop was a beautiful mosque – this was a first for our family.

The mosque was in use at the time, so we had to be very quiet and unobtrusive, so as not to disturb the people who were praying and doing a type of religious dance. The men had to enter one side and the women another – we were able to see through into the men’s side from our side. All very interesting.

Not my most gorgeous moment!

We finally drove to our hotel right on the Med. It’s a lovely hotel and all the rooms have very good views.

Some members of our tour were lucky enough to be allocated the presidential suite and a couple of the executive suites. Seeing as it’s Grant’s birthday I really feel we should have got one of those ;-) Walter has been given the Presidential Suite!

The setting for our evening meal was absolutely gorgeous and the meal was lovely. Our tables were laid out alongside a pool, which was very beautiful, but it did get quite chilly.

Jose’ and Alexandria announced their engagement over dinner, so that was very exciting. A great big cake was brought out for Grant’s birthday, and for the happy couple.

Walter invited up to his suite for a drink after supper. We had such fun seeing how the other half lives! We couldn’t find the glasses, so there we sat in the Presidential Suite, drinking Amarula out of toothbrush mugs! Walter decided he needed to record his moment of importance on video, so he planted himself behind the desk, assigned Dad as his Personal Assistant and began to dictate matters of national importance, in-between answering “phone calls” no doubt from heads of state, while Grant filmed the scene. I don’t know whether it had anything to do with the Egyptian wine (Omar Khayyam, nice!) we had with dinner, but we laughed till we cried.

2010-04-08T10:15:00.002+02:00

We got up extremely early today as bags had to be out by 5:15am, we had breakfast and left the boat at 5:45am.

We headed straight to the Valley of the Kings and ours was the first bus to get there, which was a very good thing as I gather it gets very crowded. (Cameras weren't allowed inside)

Valley of the Kings

We went into 3 tombs, an awesome experience. The setting is completely barren and mountainous. Nothing to see on the outside, but you enter the cave-like tombs and they are full of intricate carvings and paintings. Unlike the temples, the tombs have retained much of their colour, so it’s really beautiful.

We then went to Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple.

It’s a very different temple, built right into the side of a mountain.

This is the temple in which 63 people were murdered in 1997 in what was to become known as the Luxor massacre. Maybe it was just my overly sensitive nature coming into play, but I found the place had a melancholy atmosphere. Sad making.

On a lighter note, this is the place I had one of those experiences that sticks with you long after the holiday's over. Picture the scene: I needed the loo (with me it's always about the toilets!) so I headed off on my own and found the WC sign. The loo was manned by an elderly Egyptian man, who was holding the ubiquitous roll of toilet paper, palm out for the necessary tip. I put the money in the palm, grabbed my bit of bog roll and headed for the cubicle. There I sat, behind one of those doors that is open top and bottom, while the elderly man perched on an upturned tin right outside, like a metre away and sang tunelessly in Arabic!! Whether the loud singing was to drown out the noise of the flow, I don't know. Funniest wee I've ever had! Most entertaining too!

Finally we stopped at the Colossus of Memnon

It was very strange to see the 2 enormous statues right next to a wheat field in a very rural area. So very Egyptian, the mix of ancient and everyday.

The drive back to Luxor was very interesting as a lot of the time we were driving through small villages, seeing the people going about their business.

We then went to the airport and flew back to Cairo. Not the best landing ever, but I think Paula and I were the only ones to notice this.

This evening we went to the Sound and Light show. It was an incredible experience to see the pyramids and the sphinx all lit up at night. It was quite chilly out there at night, but so worth it!

Driving back to our hotel was very interesting. It was definitely wedding night, we saw at least 3 brides on the way back to our hotel.

Cairo is such a crazy, dirty, chaotic and yet vibrant city!

2010-04-07T09:25:00.003+02:00

We woke up in Edfu this morning. We had an early wake-up call and set off on the short bus ride to the temple before breakfast.

The temple at Edfu is particularly well-preserved, probably because it was buried under desert sand until 1860!

There were a series of friezes on a long wall depicting the battle between Horus and Seth which I really loved – as Wael said, it was probably the first cartoon!

After the tour of the temple we went to the nearby market where I bought a T-shirt and Paula a bag. Then it was back to the boat for breakfast.

We had a meeting mid-morning to discuss the itinerary for the next couple of days. The rest of the day was at leisure on the boat, as we sail to Luxor.

Again, there was so much to see as we cruised along the Nile:

During the morning we passed through the locks at Esna, which was quite an interesting experience.

We arrived in Luxor in the late afternoon. Like most of Egypt, Luxor is a mix of ancient and modern. It has some modern areas, but there are still lots of horse-drawn carts around. Quite a fascinating place.

On arrival at Luxor we immediately got on a bus bound for Karnak Temple. Karnak temple is a huge, sprawling complex. We had a guided tour and were then free to wander around.

We had been told that it is lucky to walk 7 times around the statue of a scarab beetle, so the girls and I did just that, along with another family on tour with us, much to the amusement of Dad and Grant. Hey, everyone could use a little luck, even if it comes from a dung beetle with a fancy name ;-)

We then went over to the market where Paula bargained for a necklace like a seasoned business woman. The vendor was a little too impressed with her and got a little too friendly for my liking.

We then drove to Luxor temple. I loved Luxor temple, it was absolutley gorgeous. As it was getting dark, the various features were lit up. So, so beautiful.

We got to see the obelisk, there were originally two, but the other one now stands in the centre of the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

An avenue of sphinxes extends towards Karnak, some of which are still in the process of being excavated – quite something to see. Unfortuantely, by this point it was really dark, so the photo didn't come out too well.

Once we had finished at the temple we drove to a Papyrus shop, where we were shown the process of making papyrus. Paula bought two lovely pictures.

2010-04-06T15:25:00.001+02:00

This morning Grant, Paulzi and Dad went off at 7:30am to fly to Abu Simbel.

Rox and I relished a little lie in and then went and had a very leisurely breakfast. The pastries were particularly yummy, so we had a few….oink, oink!

We decided to take a walk along the wharf, to try to rid ourselves of the pastry guilt. We found the internet café someone had mentioned to us and logged on for a little while. We strolled around for a bit and then went back to our boat and up to the pool deck.

We had a lovely lazy morning, watching life on the Nile. We also spent some time chatting with one of our tour-mates, Jose, who lives in New York. A really nice chap.

We had lunch and then the others arrived back. Seems like Abu Simbel was absolutely wonderful.

This afternoon our boat set off for Kom Ombo. It is so lovely to sit on the pool deck as we sail along the Nile, sipping on a delicious cocktail called “Egyptian Mist”.

We also sampled the local brew and found it to be very good. Sakara was my beverage of choice.

What I loved about the cruise is that there is always something to see on the banks. People working on their plots, donkeys or camels grazing, quaint little homes. All along the way there was lovely green scenery with the desert a little further back.

When we docked at Kom Ombo we walked the short distance to the temple.

All the temples had some sort of market nearby

This temple has the most beautiful frieze on one of the walls. By the time we got there it was dusk and the frieze was lit up, it looked really beautiful.

It was very atmospheric in the temple in the twilight.

After supper it was time for the Galabea Party. We had bought galabeas during the day at the little shop on board the boat. Those of us who wanted to, gathered in the lounge for the party. The staff on board the boat played traditional instruments and danced in a conga, hauling passengers up to join them, soon everyone was joining in. Wael and the other tour guide organised various games. It was a lot of fun.

In front is Wael, our tour director

Tonight as we sleep we will be sailing to Edfu.

2010-04-05T09:04:00.002+02:00

Wake up time was 2am this morning for our flight to Aswan, bags had to be out at 2:15am and we met in the foyer at 3am after a quick hot chocolate in the Terrace restaurant. We were given breakfast boxes to take with us.

We had such a laugh at Walter this morning. Apparently he had a shower and then wrapped his towel around him and took his suitcase out at 2:15am and the door shut behind him!! He couldn’t get back into his room, so had to catch the lift down to reception to get another key, clothed only in a towel! Can you imagine?! Hee, hee…..

The flight was quick, just over an hour. On arrival in Aswan we were immediately driven to the High Dam. Very impressive. The expanse of water is just HUGE.

We then continued to Philae Temple. We were taken to the island on which Philae Temple stands by motor boat. It was a lovely boat ride there and back. A local chap brought some of their locally made jewellery with and we had the opportunity to buy some without being hassled by vendors. In retrospect I should have bought more from him as we didn’t have many opportunities to buy this type of jewellery.

I fell a little in love with Philae Temple, the setting is SO beautiful, very much what I imagine Greece to be like. Charming oleander bushes, rocks and water and of course the beautiful, ancient temple watching over it all. Philae temple was in fact moved from it’s original site on Philae island to the nearby Agilika island in the 1960s, because of perpetual flooding caused by the building of the dam. Imagine the logistics of moving an ancient temple?!

We then drove to a perfumery. We were totally taken in by the sales speel and ended up buying rather more than we had anticipated. Typical tourist suckers, that’s us!

Finally we made it to the boat in time for lunch. There were numerous cruise boats berthed along the river. Our boat, the MS Sapphire, is berthed between two others.

The food is really good on the boat, more local flavour, which is nice. We’re sitting at a table with 3 Canadians from our tour, and will keep this table for the remainder of the cruise.

Our cabin is very nice. A room with a double bed, side tables, 2 chairs, a large dressing table and a chest for our suit cases. There’s a big built-in cupboard too. The bathroom is small with a loo, shower and basin.

We’re on the 3rd floor and above us is the pool deck. The pool deck is really lovely with lots of loungers under canvas as well as tables and chairs around the bar area.

The Nile is gorgeous, very wide, with a narrow strip of green along the banks and then the desert takes over. Aswan is much cleaner than Cairo and far more peaceful too.

This afternoon we were taken on a felucca as far as the Botanical Gardens and Aga Khan’s mausoleum. We then transferred to a motor-boat for the return trip to our boat. It took about 1 ½ hours in total. It was very relaxing and a wonderful opportunity to see life along the Nile up close.

This evening after supper there were performances by a belly dancer and a whirling dervish in the lounge. Shame, young and lovely the belly dancer was not, but she got a few of the girls up and taught them some moves which was fun to watch! The whirling dervish was something to see though.

2010-04-04T21:18:00.003+02:00

We had a fantastic nights sleep and were up bright and early at 06:15. We made it down to breakfast at 7am. The buffet style breakfast was superb. Fruit salads, yoghurts, cereals, porridges, quiche, all manner of eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, tomatoes, breads, croissants, cold meats, cheeses, pastries, pan-cakes, chocolate fountain….. you name it, it was there! I tried Hibiscus juice for the first time, it was gorgeous.

We eventually managed to tear ourselves away from the spread to meet our tour director, Wael, in the lobby at 8am. We were immediately whisked off to a conference room for a tour briefing. They briefly ran through our itinerary and detailed which optionals were on offer. We booked and paid for our optionals and also provided details of our flights home, so that our transfers could be arranged for us.

We left the hotel at 9am and headed straight to Giza to see the pyramids.

We started out at the Great Pyramid – awesome!

We then went to an area where we could go on camel rides. Paula and I decided to be extremely brave (well that was me, Paula thought it was a piece of cake) and go on a camel ride.

Note to self: being short and stout is obviously not conducive to climbing onto the back of a camel. Once I had got over the getting-on part, I thoroughly enjoyed the 15 minute ride. It was SO special to be wandering around in the desert, on a camel, with the pyramids as back-drop and to share this experience with Paula was lovely. Having got off the camel (which was a lot easier than getting on, the secret is to lean back, so that you don't get pitched over the head of the beast) we went to the viewing deck and took some photos.

We then drove to the second pyramid, where those who wanted to could go inside. Being the claustrophobic sort, I decided against this, but Dad, Rox and Paula went in, while Grant and I wandered around outside, taking photos, fighting off the vendors and drinking in the atmosphere. Dad said the walk inside was quite a strain on the thighs… he ended up being horribly stiff for a couple of days, so I was VERY glad I hadn’t attempted it.

Then it was off to the sphinx. Very impressive and yet another great photo opportunity.

We were taken to a fast food outlet which specialises in falafel and shwarmas to buy a take-away lunch to eat on the bus. I thoroughly enjoyed my first falafel.

We then drove the approx 45 mins back to the Egyptian museum. There is SO much to see, it’s quite mind-boggling. Wael gave us a guided tour of some of the exhibits and we were then left to wander around on our own and to pay the extra fee to enter the Royal Mummy room if we wanted to. The girls and I decided to go into the Mummy Room and I was glad we did, I got a bit spooked by the mummies, but it was quite amazing to see them literally in the flesh. We also went to see Tutankhamen’s jewellery etc and that was really amazing.

It was a relief to get back to our hotel for a nice soak in the bath after a very big day!

We went back to the Sherlock Holmes pub for Happy Hour and supper with Walter. Cheers!

2010-04-03T15:37:00.001+02:00

Time to go!! We left home at 1pm and got to the airport uneventfully. Our flight on British Airways to Jo’burg was quite pleasant (and coming from me that’s saying something!)

Being Good Friday, Jo-burg airport was very quiet. We tried to check our luggage in immediately, but were told to come back later. So we went and had a drink at the Keg. On our way back to the check-in counter the girls and I got distracted by some people who were welcoming "who knows who" with vuvuzelas and toyi-toying, for some unknown reason I came over all Proudly South African and got very teary eyed…… I know, it was very weird because I never cry.

We had to queue for ages at the check-in counter and watched in disbelief as a large group of Egyptians checked in multiple enormous suit-cases, huge bags and even a large printer! Talk about excess baggage! I was beginning to doubt that the plane would be ABLE to take off...

We then had a mini-drama when Rox’s boarding pass got lost (now it was Rox’s turn to get all teary eyed!), but Grant sorted out a duplicate and we were finally able to go into the duty free area and have some supper. We had a good meal and then it was time to board and off we went.

I hadn’t been comfortable about flying Egyptair (OK I admit, I'm not comfortable about flying. Period), but it was better than expected. The plane was a little tired looking and the loos weren’t the best, but I was soon to discover that that was a typical Egyptian scenario... quite the norm.

We got presented with a 2nd supper at 11:30pm – just as I had dozed off, I refused it, but ended up tucking in to Paula’s salad, simply because it was there.

Finally we tried, and on the whole failed, to fall asleep. Breakfast was presented to us at 4 am – you’ve got to be kidding me!! And an hour and a half later we landed in Cairo.

I immediately had my first encounter with the scary Egyptian toilet. It seems that flushing is not a big thing in Egypt……

We had no trouble finding the Trafalgar rep, he was standing near to the luggage carousel. After rounding up some other Trafalgar people who had arrived at more or less the same time we set off for our hotels.

Oh my soul, the driving and traffic were eye-opening, or rather eye-shutting, stuff!! 3 lane highways with no lines painted and a very loose regard for the rules of the road.

Cairo is a strangely fascinating place. Pretty it is not, but there is something about it. The buildings are in the main a uniform greyish colour. It seems quite normal to live in an unfinished building and even to keep a couple of goats in the middle of the city. Every family seems to have a satellite dish attached to their building, even if they are living in complete squalor. Not the kind of place you’d want to take your annual holiday, but I’m very glad I’ve seen it.

We arrived at our hotel and as our room was not yet ready, found a spot in the lounge and prepared to wait.
The girls managed to snooze and I had a lovely chat with a fellow tour-mate. His name’s Walter, and he’s also from KZN. He is an Austrian who has lived in South Africa for the last 40 years or so, although you wouldn’t say so, he still has a very broad accent. He’s been on many Trafalgar tours and is extremely well-travelled and interesting to talk to.

The guys eventually decided to take a walk and the girls finally woke up. We watched, fascinated, as nearly every man in the lounge ordered a sheesha pipe at about 10am. We’ve already noticed that smoking is a much loved past-time in Egypt.

When we finally got into our rooms we discovered that we have a lovely view over the Nile. And we spent quite some time watching the traffic in the roads outside the hotel.

The Egyptian Museum is just opposite our hotel, but I wouldn’t want to have to cross those roads to get there!

After a much-needed shower (nice Crabtree & Evelyn bath goodies!) we set off to the shopping centre which is just over the road (a very little road, thankfully) It’s quite a strange centre, made up largely of shoe shops! Suits Rox down to the ground ;-)

We decided to have lunch a a Lebanese restaurant. As we have never encountered Lebanese cuisine before, we had no idea what we were doing! We were presented with a basket of various delicious breads – slightly sweet, puffed up ones (very delish), a type of roti and then another type of crispy roti. We had no trouble working out what to do with those – we ate them in about 5 seconds flat. But then the waiter arrived with a bowl of whole veggies – a green pepper, a carrot, a large chilli, a whole cucumber, a tomato and a lemon! What to do? I don’t know whether it was sleep deprivation or culture shock, or what, but we collapsed in fits of giggles as we stared at the veggies… the waiter looked quite worried about us. Grant eventually ate the chilli ;-)

Grant, Dad and I had various kinds of shish kebab. They came on large charcoal burners with roasted veg, a mound of savoury rice, a roti-type bread and another sort of pizza bread covered in spicy tomato paste and pickled red onion. It was VERY good. We had another silly, giggly moment when Grant announced in all seriousness that he thinks the word “Shish” in “Shish Kebab” comes from the Egyptian word “shisa” which means “hot” – we had to point out to him that “Shisa” is in fact the ZULU word that means “hot”…… funny man!!! The girls opted for Italian food. Rox also had something called a “Moon Cocktail” It was 7-up with a mint syrup and it tasted just like Panado!

We found a tiny little shop near the hotel selling cheap bottled water. Quite important to find a cheap supply as we have been told to even brush our teeth with bottled water.

And then it was back to the hotel for a desperately needed nap. After which we made our way to the Sherlock Holmes Pub in the hotel for happy hour. The girls and I were delighted to discover that they serve good cocktails and as they were 2 for the price of one, we had an exceedingly good time. We only remembered afterwards that we weren’t supposed to be having ice in our drinks! Oops! Fortunately we suffered no ill-effects at all.

We persuaded the manager of the pub to put the Sharks game on, so we got to watch the rugby even though we were so far from home. And our boys won! It almost made me teary-eyed again ;-)