All of the
guides in Egypt have gone to college to become Egyptologists.
We got off
for our 7:00 start, but the tourism police had us cluster in a tighter convoy
than we had in Safaga. So, we sat in the vehicle and waited for them to give us
the go ahead. They at first said we had to wait for all the ship’s big bus
tours to come, but we did get to go at almost 8:00 before the buses started.
The military presence here was incredible. APCs with machine guns were
everywhere. One right in the middle of the fruit and vegetable market. We were
kept in a tight convoy to Cairo and even though our driver sped ahead, at one
point everyone was stopped to catch everyone up together again.
It was about
a 2 hour drive to Cairo and Bassem shared his knowledge of the area and what we
would see though out the day. He got a feel for what we wanted to shop for and
planned accordingly. Since we had done the Egyptian cotton store and the
Papyrus store in Luxor, we skipped those here. Instead we stopped at an Essence
Shop, where they showed us the blown glass techniques for the pretty bottles
the perfumes can come in. Then, we went into a room where he had us both sample
some of the different oils. Some, were perfumes and others were medicinal oils.
All were just the essential oils with no alcohol. I hadn’t planned to buy any
since I don’t wear perfumes, but there was a nice one called Night of the
Dessert or something like that. While they packaged that the owner had me pick
out my choice of a beautiful bottle or oil burner as a free gift.
Earlier in
the day our guide asked if I wanted a Khartoush, which is a pendant with your
name written in heroglyphs. I said I would like one and he had me print my name
for him and if I preferred gold or silver and he’d have it ready for me to pick
up later in the day. I ordered one in silver and we received it at the
Essential Oils shop. It is pretty and has their alphabet on the back.
Our
first stop was the Egyptian Antiquity Museum featuring King Tut's treasures in
Cairo. It was a nice visit and our guide took us to the most important pieces
and explained everything. We toured The King Tut area which was amazing. We
also added the Mummy Room which was fascinating. No photos allowed here.
We
passed by Tahrir Square, (the area where demonstrations often make the news),
but it was calm today.
We
then drove to Giza (which really is just a suburb of Cairo), to see the Pyramids
at Giza, home of the 7th wonder of the world, the Great Pyramid of Cheops.
Seeing pictures do not do them justice…..they are HUGE! The largest was built
out of 2,300,000 limestone blocks each weighing two and a half tons! We were
taken to the camels where we each got on one and were lead to view the
pyramids. Our camel guide took photos of us on the camels with the pyramids in
the background. It was a fun ride!
our lunch stop
view from restaurant window
me being goofy
Then
we went to see the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid. We had a photo stop here and
had to deal with the aggressive vendors. Our ship mates said in the morning
when they were there that several vendors got in a fight and they were choking
each other and one took out a camel crop and was beating the other. (makes the
vendors we dealt with seem tame) The police were watching and finally put a
stop to it. YIKES!
After
an amazing day we had the last stop to the Essential Oils shop and then drove
back to the ship.
We
skipped the evening show in favor of a quick meal at the buffet and getting to
bed early for our 5:00a wakeup call for Israel. We had to set the clocks ahead
1 hour so we lost an hour of sleep. UGH!
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