Well, here we are, on the final day of the cruise. We’re currently in the western Mediterranean, en route to Barcelona and having just passed south of Sardinia. A busy past few days:
When last reported, we were on our way to Alexandria. We made the port on schedule and were in the excursion staging area bright and early, ready to take on the pyramids. And we waited…and waited…
It turns out that this part of North Africa is subject to very heavy fog in the winter time, and the road from Alexandria to Cairo was closed as a result. Fortunately, it cleared to the point that busses were allowed to leave the port area around 9:00 or 9:30, but that put us a couple of hours behind schedule for the excursion – which was scheduled to last around 12 hours as it was.
However, we pressed on and the first part of the ride was through Alexandria itself, and that was our first view of life for Egyptians who are not rich. Alexandria is, as are apparently all Egyptian cities, pretty much slums that have a few areas blocked off for those who have all the money. Trash everywhere, run-down apartment high rises, and many buildings that were in various states of demolition. I heard one person comment that Alexandria was a slum that happened to be located next to a port, and it was easy to believe.
On the road to Cairo it was initially very foggy and the tour guide was reduced to saying things like “if you could see it, there would be an oil refinery off to your right…” One of the most interesting things that we could see was that there were very few lane markings on the highway… all the drivers seemed to just make it up as they went along, using their horns liberally along the way. Shades of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in Dizzyland...
Another interesting note: all the tour busses were accompanied by at least one “Tourist Police” escort, usually a fairly big guy with a large bulge under his left armpit. Others weren’t so subtle: they were in uniform and carried automatic rifles. No one was sure if we should have been comforted or scared, so we opted for a state kind of in between.
As we approached Cairo, the weather cleared and we could see the countryside: just about what you might imagine, with the desert running right up to the bits and pieces that were irrigated. Think brown…lots and lots of brown. Another interesting feature: many large structures that looked at first glance like oversized beehives. They were pigeon coops, which the guide explained were used to raise the birds as a food crop. One of the favorites is supposed to be pigeon stuffed with rice and spices, then grilled. I didn’t get a recipe for Chris, so he’ll just have to experiment. [Note - "Chris" is KW's son, who is going to culinary school.]
We made it into metropolitan Cairo – Giza in particular, on the western side of the Nile – rolling through an area crowded with small shops and restaurants, and all of a sudden we were at the pyramids. Just as with the Acropolis in Athens, the city had grown up to and around the monuments, with virtually no transition at all from one to the other. The bus made its way to the parking area, and out we went – only to be assaulted (and I do mean assaulted in a literal sense) by vendors of all sorts. We’d been warned by the tour guide about what to expect and had been given “rules of engagement” to avoid the worst of it, but it was still very disconcerting to not be able to take 3 steps without being accosted by someone selling something. And not just selling as in passively offering up something: one of the basic tricks they use is to thrust something into your hands and then refuse to take it back; the idea is that if they yell loud enough that you “bought” the item in question, you’ll back down and pay for it.
The other thing that really struck us was how many camels there were in the area. Dozens, all of which were available for a camel ride. The idea is that, for a price, the camel will kneel down, you get on, the camel stands up, and you get your picture taken. Tricks of the trade: they’ll quote a price for getting you up (usually around $3 to $5), then – once you’re already up - quote you another price for getting down (we were told that could be upwards of $100, depending on the camel jockey in question). And they’ll add another fee for taking your picture on the camel, even though they’re using your camera.
Free enterprise run amok.
And then there were the pyramids. They’re very large, very impressive, and very hard to appreciate with any sense of historical perspective because of the uncontrolled carnival atmosphere churning around them. After some time at the pyramids, we moved down the road to the Sphinx… and were amazed at how small it is. Still impressive, but also still surrounded by the vendor carnival.
When last reported, we were on our way to Alexandria. We made the port on schedule and were in the excursion staging area bright and early, ready to take on the pyramids. And we waited…and waited…
It turns out that this part of North Africa is subject to very heavy fog in the winter time, and the road from Alexandria to Cairo was closed as a result. Fortunately, it cleared to the point that busses were allowed to leave the port area around 9:00 or 9:30, but that put us a couple of hours behind schedule for the excursion – which was scheduled to last around 12 hours as it was.
However, we pressed on and the first part of the ride was through Alexandria itself, and that was our first view of life for Egyptians who are not rich. Alexandria is, as are apparently all Egyptian cities, pretty much slums that have a few areas blocked off for those who have all the money. Trash everywhere, run-down apartment high rises, and many buildings that were in various states of demolition. I heard one person comment that Alexandria was a slum that happened to be located next to a port, and it was easy to believe.
On the road to Cairo it was initially very foggy and the tour guide was reduced to saying things like “if you could see it, there would be an oil refinery off to your right…” One of the most interesting things that we could see was that there were very few lane markings on the highway… all the drivers seemed to just make it up as they went along, using their horns liberally along the way. Shades of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in Dizzyland...
Another interesting note: all the tour busses were accompanied by at least one “Tourist Police” escort, usually a fairly big guy with a large bulge under his left armpit. Others weren’t so subtle: they were in uniform and carried automatic rifles. No one was sure if we should have been comforted or scared, so we opted for a state kind of in between.
As we approached Cairo, the weather cleared and we could see the countryside: just about what you might imagine, with the desert running right up to the bits and pieces that were irrigated. Think brown…lots and lots of brown. Another interesting feature: many large structures that looked at first glance like oversized beehives. They were pigeon coops, which the guide explained were used to raise the birds as a food crop. One of the favorites is supposed to be pigeon stuffed with rice and spices, then grilled. I didn’t get a recipe for Chris, so he’ll just have to experiment. [Note - "Chris" is KW's son, who is going to culinary school.]
We made it into metropolitan Cairo – Giza in particular, on the western side of the Nile – rolling through an area crowded with small shops and restaurants, and all of a sudden we were at the pyramids. Just as with the Acropolis in Athens, the city had grown up to and around the monuments, with virtually no transition at all from one to the other. The bus made its way to the parking area, and out we went – only to be assaulted (and I do mean assaulted in a literal sense) by vendors of all sorts. We’d been warned by the tour guide about what to expect and had been given “rules of engagement” to avoid the worst of it, but it was still very disconcerting to not be able to take 3 steps without being accosted by someone selling something. And not just selling as in passively offering up something: one of the basic tricks they use is to thrust something into your hands and then refuse to take it back; the idea is that if they yell loud enough that you “bought” the item in question, you’ll back down and pay for it.
The other thing that really struck us was how many camels there were in the area. Dozens, all of which were available for a camel ride. The idea is that, for a price, the camel will kneel down, you get on, the camel stands up, and you get your picture taken. Tricks of the trade: they’ll quote a price for getting you up (usually around $3 to $5), then – once you’re already up - quote you another price for getting down (we were told that could be upwards of $100, depending on the camel jockey in question). And they’ll add another fee for taking your picture on the camel, even though they’re using your camera.
Free enterprise run amok.
And then there were the pyramids. They’re very large, very impressive, and very hard to appreciate with any sense of historical perspective because of the uncontrolled carnival atmosphere churning around them. After some time at the pyramids, we moved down the road to the Sphinx… and were amazed at how small it is. Still impressive, but also still surrounded by the vendor carnival.
From Giza, we moved on to the site of the old capital of Memphis. As a city or town, Memphis doesn’t exist anymore, and there’s just one small museum with a couple of artifacts in it, so the effort was appreciated, but it wasn’t really much to see. More impressive, in a negative way, was the ride from Giza to Memphis, which was an up close look at life in semi-rural Egypt. Holy cow, Batman! The road ran along an irrigation canal that came from the Nile and was the primary (maybe the only) water source for the area in general and certainly for the agriculture. The first thing we noticed was that the waterway was filled – completely – with trash and refuse of all sorts. As we went along, we could see the parts along the banks where dumping occurred on a regular basis, which included dumping things that really ought not be dumped anywhere, much less into a water supply (we saw this happened as we drove past). Most incredibly: we saw several groups of people fishing, just down stream from the dumping.
Do NOT eat anything in Egypt unless you know FOR SURE where it came from.
From Memphis, we went to Sakara, and this was the highlight of the day. Sakara is a site with some of the smaller “stepped” pyramids, and is very well preserved and protected compared to Giza. We had a chance to wander around the excavations a bit and to go into one of the recovered tombs (but no pictures allowed inside the tombs, unfortunately).
Do NOT eat anything in Egypt unless you know FOR SURE where it came from.
From Memphis, we went to Sakara, and this was the highlight of the day. Sakara is a site with some of the smaller “stepped” pyramids, and is very well preserved and protected compared to Giza. We had a chance to wander around the excavations a bit and to go into one of the recovered tombs (but no pictures allowed inside the tombs, unfortunately).
After that it was a stop at a hotel for a late lunch/early dinner, then a long bus ride back to the ship. We got back around 10:30 in the evening, more than a little tired but happy we had made the trip. A nice touch: the ship had cups of hot chocolate waiting for us as we came in through the gates.
Day Two in Egypt. We were scheduled to take a ride out to El Alamein, one of the great WWII battle sites, where the Brits finally got the upper hand over Rommel and the Afrika Corps, but the fog did us in. The scheduled start time was 7:30, but we were still in a hold pattern at 9:45. At that point the coordinator said that 10:00 was the hard stop because after that there wouldn’t be enough time to get back. At that point we looked at each other, nodded, and turned in our tickets for a refund – then headed for the heated pool. Touring is great, but it’s a wise tourist who knows when to fold the hand and move on!
After Egypt we sailed for a day, then pulled into Malta (the city of Valetta, to be precise) around noon on the 27th. This was a great stop, easily the equal of Rhodes and in some respects even better. We walked around Valetta (literally: it’s built on a small peninsula and the outer road takes you all the way around the waterfront), and then up through the historic area. Very scenic, and a wonderful mish-mash of English and Italian culture. We decided that we could easily spend a week or two visiting here, looking around and really getting to know the countryside – and it was especially refreshing after the previous stop.
Day Two in Egypt. We were scheduled to take a ride out to El Alamein, one of the great WWII battle sites, where the Brits finally got the upper hand over Rommel and the Afrika Corps, but the fog did us in. The scheduled start time was 7:30, but we were still in a hold pattern at 9:45. At that point the coordinator said that 10:00 was the hard stop because after that there wouldn’t be enough time to get back. At that point we looked at each other, nodded, and turned in our tickets for a refund – then headed for the heated pool. Touring is great, but it’s a wise tourist who knows when to fold the hand and move on!
After Egypt we sailed for a day, then pulled into Malta (the city of Valetta, to be precise) around noon on the 27th. This was a great stop, easily the equal of Rhodes and in some respects even better. We walked around Valetta (literally: it’s built on a small peninsula and the outer road takes you all the way around the waterfront), and then up through the historic area. Very scenic, and a wonderful mish-mash of English and Italian culture. We decided that we could easily spend a week or two visiting here, looking around and really getting to know the countryside – and it was especially refreshing after the previous stop.
And so now we’re sailing along over a very calm ocean, heading for Barcelona, and hoping that we won’t freeze too much tomorrow. We’ll be off the ship around 9:00 in the morning and will spend the evening there, heading for the airport around 7:00 in the morning on the 30th. Our flights back – weather permitting! - will take us to Frankfurt, then Calgary, then San Francisco. Yeah, I know…why Calgary? All I can say is that Air Canada offered to connect us that way at a good price, so we took it.
I’ll send one more update from the hotel (or, as we like to call it, the stateroom that doesn’t move) tomorrow night.
I’ll send one more update from the hotel (or, as we like to call it, the stateroom that doesn’t move) tomorrow night.
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