Leaving Cairo or at least we hope so!

Greetings to all on our last day in Cairo!

It has been 8 days since I last put up a post and we have once again covered a great deal of ground. Hard to believe that our 25 days in Cairo is now coming to an end! We have seen so much. We are now ready to move on to a very different cultural context with our travels on to Prague and the Czech Republic.

The last few days have been a little tense or at least once we learned that there had been a volcanoe in Iceland and the skies over the UK and Europe were shut down. We weren't aware of what had happened as we were out in the desert with Maureen & Peter.

Our trip to the desert was quite simply mind blowing! The landscape is beyond words and probably the 100's of digital images that I took will not really do what we say justice. We went to the Bahariya Oasis by mini bus from Cairo, about a 5 hour drive. We were then bunked into an oasis lodge for the night. The following morning we were allowed to leave for the desert at 10:30...it is all "regulated" so we had to wait for our permit. The 4 of us and our guide, Alberto and driver, Mohi, piled into a Toyota Landcruiser for the trip into the Black and White Deserts. We started with a visit to the Golden Mummies and the Valley of the Golden Mummies. They have discovered 500 of these mummies in this valley but they believe there are many more. They are called golden mummies because of the manner in which the facial area of the mummy was covered in guilded gold and artistic ornamentation down each side of the chest. They were remarkable particularly the family of four - mom, dad, 6 year old and 6 month old child. You would not believe the "museum" that these were kept in!

Then it was off to the Black Desert where bridey and I got to climb a huge sand dune up onto the top of a small mountain. The reason this desert is black is because of the basalt from the era of the volcanoes which would have been before or after this was all at the bottom of a sea. The landscape is very black broken by large dunes of golden sand. We were then off to "Crystal Mountain" which was a small mountain entirely constituted off quartz crystal. One is not supposed to remove any but we broke the rules as would seem to be the case with everyone who stops.

Next up was our dramatic entry into the White Desert! Honest to god, neither bridey or I could have been prepared for the landscape. Breath taking to say the least. This desert is white because of limestone. This is again from the time when this area was at the bottom of the sea. We drove through the desert in the setting sun and then we stopped to set up camp for the night at the base of one of the formations. Another Landcruiser joined us for the night with a young American couple. This was the night of our desert BBQ and the night visitors...yes, the camp was visited overnight by dozens of desert fox (proper name is Fennec Fox - look them up on Wikipedia). Bridey and I chose to sleep out from the enclosure that the guides had built in between the two Landcruisers and slept under the desert sky - We could not believe the stars! During the night and moreso in the early morning there were apparently as many as 2 dozen fox busily looking for scraps from our BBQ. The others who awoke at 4:30 said that the fox were running back and forth across bridey and I in our sleeping bags. We had no idea until I stuck my head out around 5'ish because I heard funny little noises. I guess it didn't help that we slept right beside the BBQ grill...duh!!!!

Morning saw the day greeted by the most incredible sunrise and of course, the landscape was such a different colour from the sunset the day before! We had a quick breakfast and were on our way by 5 am 'ish. The driver Mohi was crazy and gave us a thrill of a lifetime roaring across the desert. When we got back to the lodge we were given a room for a shower which was a real treat. We ended up delay for a 3 hours as the mini bus had blown a tire on the way our of Cairo...probably did not have a spare either! This turned out to be a blessing. Mohi, our driver, (who Peter and Maureen know really well from ther trips they have taken) invited us into his family home where his wife prepared our lunch. Our guide told us this was a real honour and he did not think that this had happened before.

We then headed out with Mohi who drove us to the edge of Cairo in the Landcruiser. He was a bit of a wild driver. Another long ride back to the city but the good news was that the vehicle was air conditioned.

The next day we headed off to Alexandria on the fast train. 2.5 hours later we found ourselves in a very different community from Cairo. The hotel porter first showed us a side view room when we had in fact booked a front room over looking the Mediterranean Sea. As usual, Bridey got us our room! and what a view. We were right on the sea and the Corniche.

We found Alexandrians to be very friendly. As we typically do, off the tourist track, in the 2 days we were bought our falafal lunch by a businessman, then it was a free pastry offering in another shop and the next morning an offering of free pita fresh from the communal oven. We also had our first taste of Egyptian ice cream a popular treat in Alexandria we learned. That evening we went off for dinner at a local favourite that offered Egyptian pizza.

Our second day we visited a couple of Greco-Roman sites and then when our plans got completely misunderstood by our taxi driver, we abandoned those plans and headed to the Alexandria Library which we were going to give an hour later in the day. We timed our visit perfectly as we got in on the only English language tour of the day. We were so in awe of this complex and what it had to offer, so we abandoned all other plans, went off for a seafood lunch at a local favourite of residents of Alexandria. Small street side restaurant in a back lane with buckets and racks filled with seafood where you could choose what you like or go for the seafood platter. They were so generous that bridey and I bought only the one platter and were glad we did as between the two of us we had trouble finishing all of the seafood...white fish, prawns, clams, calamari, seafood kafta, salad, pita, etc. With a full belly we headed back to the library and finished our day in the library looking around and visiting the permanent exhibitions. This is a library on a whole other scale than anything we could have imagined! We headed back to Cairo on the fast train for our last 2 days in the city.

Yesterday was spent trying to determine whether or not we were going to be able to leave for London and then on to Prague. After 2.5 hours going back and forth to various airline companies, I don't think we really were any clearer on our options. So we abandoned the mission and headed off to the Island of Zamalek - which is in the middle of the Nile where most of the embassies are located.

Today we visited the last of the pyramids with a guide recommended by Peter and Maureen. These pyramids are the oldest in Egypt. We actually went down into the heart of two of these pyramids and one was 140 steps into the heart of the structure. Hot, hard to breathe and a smell like ammonia. But what an experience!

As I have been posting bridey has been re-packing our bags for our flight tomorrow. It very much looks like we will fly. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Denise & Ed also fly seamlessly to meet us in Prague.

And so the Egypt chapter of our travels comes to an end! It has been marvellous from start to finish. When reflecting with Maureen and Peter this afternoon when they arrived home from work, we have identified our top 3 highlights - Abu Simbel (historical) , the White Desert (natural landscape) and the library in Alexandria (mo. I think we have seen far more than any tour would cover - I have close to 2000 photo images to prove it and many moments we have experienced.

Farewell to Egypt! hugs from us...bridey and laurie