Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Two Full Days in Egypt

We spent two days in Egypt cramming in all the northern sites. The Cairo Museum and pyramids and Nile and a lot of other stuff. Here are just a few of our hundreds of Egypt pictures.

Me and Oliver at the Step Pyramid of Sakkarah - the oldest remaining pyramid in Egypt.


They are continually working on restoration of the pyramids to try to keep them preserved. Originally they were covered with limestone or marble but as people have come through the centuries and conquered and expanded Egypt they took material from the pyramids to build other things. Here are two of the restoration workers whom were really excited to have me take their pictures.


How come no one told us that the pyramids are right outside the city and not somewhere in the middle of a desert? Look how close they are! If you look at the pyramid on the right you can see that it still has some of its marble coating toward the top that wasn't easy to take and use somewhere else.


But when you go around the back, because of the elevation changes, it still looks like the middle of nowhere - don't be fooled!


We rode camels and I thought it would be pretty pricey - nope - only $4 for both of us - a lot cheaper than a horse at the fair.


Please excuse the bad manners of Oliver's camel.


Just chilling on a camel by the pyramids.


The Sphinx and a pyramid.


Kissing the Sphinx.


We saw a laser light show at the pyramids which told the history of these three pyramids and ancient Egypt. It was really fun but without a tripod we didn't get any great pictures of it. While we were watching the show the prayer cry for the Muslims evening prayer occurred and it was so loud and overwhelming that you couldn't hear anything else but the wail for prayer.


Here we are on our River Nile breakfast cruise. I didn't realize just how big the River Nile really is.


The Mosque of Muhammad Ali (Alabaster Mosque), built in the Turkish style.


These men were our escort all around Egypt. We had a two bus caravan with four truckloads of soldiers watching out for us. Because Egypt has such bad infrastructure and because tourism is so vital to their economy they send escorts with every tour group for ease getting around the country and for safety.


Lastly, some very pretty flowers on the Nile side of our five star hotel - seriously it is the nicest hotel that either Oliver or I have ever stayed in.


We loved Egypt and we will go back one day. We would like to take a cruise on the Nile River from Cairo to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings - but for now we are happy with our introduction to Egypt. We also loved out tour guide and will seek her out when we make it back to Egypt.

Stay tuned for pictures of Israel, Turkey and Greece.

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