Egypt

EGYPT - 2010
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First day in Cairo, where do you go? Of course! the Pyramids! Specifically, the Pyramid of Giza the ONLY 7th Wonder of the Ancient World left! The other 6 cannot be seen as they are all gone. And of course the famous Sphinx.

Cop asleep on the job overlooking Cairo. Wendy learning how to weave and making nice with the locals.


Next off to see the Citadel of Cairo, built in 1176. Below is our tour guide performing the cleansing ritual before prayers.

The streets of Cairo are filled with markets selling everything you can imagine! The houses are not finished being built before people move in, often never finished as a house under construction does not have to pay tax, so they deliberately don't finish building them. Nor pretty but practicle, I guess.
Toking away at a hookah bar!	Dinner with our tour guide in a local restaurant. Wendy had stuffed pigeon!


Then it was time to get onboard our river boat cruise down the Nile for 7 days.	Our suite, one of only 2 onboard, that cost us a WHOLE extra $100 for 7 days!
A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat with a single sail used in Egypt for transport on the Nile.	There was always something to see along the way through our wall to ceiling windows.

Our first port of call was Luxor. Luxor, often called the "world's largest open-air museum," contains one of the highest concentrations of monumental architecture from Ancient Egypt.

The Avenue of the Sphinxes (or Rams Road) in Luxor is a 1.7-mile ancient ceremonial path connecting the Karnak and Luxor temples. This, "Path of God" features over 1,000 sandstone statues!
Scenery along the way was stunning! Always something to see.	Day and night we were plagued by vendors in rowing boats selling T-shirts and other trinklets they would toss up on deck and you'd have to throw them back if you didn't want to buy.
Idfu - Idfu Temple is dedicated to Horus, the falcon-headed god of protection.	The temple of Idfu. Built between 237 and 57 BC.

Next a boat ride on one of the famous felucca, and I got to steer it!

The next port of call was Aswan dam. The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built between 1960 and 1970 across the Nile in Aswan.

Getting booze in Egypt not very easy. First you got to find a taxi where the driver is not Muslim (they don't know where to buy liquor).

Then you have to be careful what you buy - Note this is Johnny Warden, NOT Walker! Tasted like cow dung, even in Coke!

Next was another boat ride.

Agilika Island is an island located in the Aswan region of Egypt, within the reservoir of the Old Aswan Dam of the Nile River.

It is famous for hosting the rescued Philae temple complex, which was moved here in the 1970s to escape flooding.

Then we went to Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt, is a royal burial ground for New Kingdom pharaohs (c. 1550–1070 BCE), featuring 63 rock-cut tombs hidden in the desert hills to protect from tomb robbers, unlike earlier pyramids

After that was a ride on a camel! Not for me, there's no way I was getting on that thing, but Wendy had some fun!

We finally docked for the last time and our final act in Egypt, was to attend our tour guide's
birthday party for his daughter who turned 13. It was also my birthday party as we shared the same birthday!