Port Said - the Pyramids

Wednesday April 22 2009 - Up at 04.45am this morning for an early start, we were to be on the bus by 06.00am. We were the last bus in our convoy which had a pick-up at front and back of the column, each pick-up had two police officers in the front and three armed soldiers in the back on seats set into the bed. On our bus and presumably the same on the other buses, in addition to the driver there was our business suited armed security guy, an Egytologist/guide and a representative from Memphis Tours. As we left the town of Port Said, each cross street was blocked and traffic held by a policeman so that the convoy never had to stop, our lead vehicle used his siren frequently to announce our coming. We left the dock area at 06.10am and arrived at the Giza Plateau just before 10.00am so it was a long journey, about an hour into it as we came through a police checkpoint, we had a few nervous moments when as the last bus, we were separated from the rest and pulled off the road as the convoy took off without us. Our tour representative got off and exchanged words with the police and after some arm waving we were back on the road. I wouldn’t want to give the impression that the people were not friendly toward us, because in general, they were, people occasionally waved and smiled as we drove by and we reciprocated.


Izzy climbed the Great Pyramid




The Great Pyramid of Cheops, with Izzy at front



We stopped for about half an hour at the great pyramid of Cheops and were able to climb part of it, it was spectacular to see and even more massive than in pictures. The vendors in the area were very aggressive, one came up and pulled off Izzy’s headgear and started to rearrange it, as he said, in the correct way, meanwhile another guy was loading me down with ‘free’ gifts, ’no charge’, he insisted it was purely a gift, then when I began to walk off he suggested I should give him a gift, just a small one, I said I had no money whatsoever and he was quick to take all his gifts back.

Izzy and friend on the high plateau




Overlooking the Giza Plateau



We then moved up to a higher plateau which gave a good view of the great pyramid, the Chephren pyramid and the Mykerinos pyramid, once again were bombarded by aggressive vendors, but the view was excellent, unfortunately we didn’t have time to ride a camel across the sands, maybe next time.

The Sphinx




Me and the Sphinx with Cephren's pyramid behind



Next we moved down to the area of the Sphinx, east of the Cephren pyramid, the Sphinx’s face is thought to be in the likeness of Cephren and is believed to have been the guardian of his tomb.
It was now about noon but before heading for lunch at a local ‘5 star’ restaurant, we stopped at a jewellery maker where several people onboard had ordered cartouches made, the quality of the cartouches was so bad that no-one would accept them.

Me, Izzy and Pat in the restaurant



Lunch as buffet style and the best that can be said is that it was edible, though I must say the restaurant staff were extremely gracious and help[ful. After lunch we made a one hour visit to the Museum of Egyptian Antiqueties, 120,000 artefacts from the pre-dynastic era to the time of the Pharaohs, then the long drive back to the ship, we reformed in convoy about half way back, arriving dockside around 06.00pm. I liked Cairo, the people were generally friendly and welcoming, but the city is an open sewer in places and poverty is everywhere, it’s a shame that the area around these major world renowned antiqueties is so poorly maintained, it might serve well to clean the place up a bit.
We ordered room service on board, then as we ate our food, an announcement was made by the captain, the canal was backed up with shipping heading South, so we weren‘t able to depart at our scheduled time, our most likely new departure time 10.00pm.

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Red Sea day and Suez Canal

A comfortable position to view the suez canal



Monday April 20 2009 - Quiet day at sea after our long day in Upper Egypt, as we sailed North in the Red Sea. I spent some time around the pool and in the evening we watched the movie ‘Body of Lies’


Tuesday April 21 2009 - We were up early this morning and had our breakfast on deck 5 as we would be spending the whole day travelling through the Suez Canal. It was something I’d always wanted to do and we planned to spend the whole day on deck, Jim and Lucy joined us and we were happy to have a great location to watch the passing scenery. Early on we travelled through the outskirts of the town of Suez, mostly industrial buildings along the canal’s edge.

Ferry crossing area, typical several places along the canal



The town quickly gave way to sandy banks, some places built up 20 or 20 feet other places only a few feet above the water line. We moved to the starboard (East) side of the ship to take advantage of the rising sun and waved to the occasional military personel stationed along the bank. The canal is 119 miles long and shortly before lunch, we were in Great Bitter Lake where water from the Mediterranean meets water from the Red Sea and evaporates allowing a constant flow of water into the canal from both sides. The canal has no locks and at places it is only wide enough for single transits, though there are wider sections allowing ships to pass.

Jim and Jim about to sample the Chinese liquor



We were joined by Pat and Jim and the six of us sat eating and drinking the day away, by 03.00 we were sampling Jims Chinese liquor, he had paid 75 cents a bottle in Shanghai and it was eminently drinkable and also quite potent and we soon were singing to anyone who would listen, including a boatload of Egyptians who passed us by.

Mosque on the canal bank, close to Port Said



Half way along we passed the town of Ismailia but otherwise it was all sandy banks with occasional ferry crossings and bridges in two places, one place had a massive open grandstand where about two or three thousand soldiers were marching to an accompanying band. We reached the edges of Port Said around 04.00pm and by 05.00 we were tied up to the dock, which was covered with vendors’ stalls selling all kinds of souvenirs. I really enjoyed the transit and it was all the better for the company and the brilliant warm comfortable weather and the accompanying beverages, of course.

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Safaga - Luxor - Egypt

Sunday April 19 2009 - We had taken advantage of an offer of a private tour arranged by Pete and Leslie, two other passengers, for less than half the price of the same tour operated by Princess. Our tour also included a half hour boat ride on the Nile, something not in the Princess tour, and it all worked out great, we were very happy with the arrangements provided by the tour company, Memphis Tours.
It was advertised that it would take from 2½ to 3½ hours each way by bus from the dock to Luxor, in fact it took 3 hours and 45 minutes approximately each way. We were up at 05.00am for a quick breakfast, the ship docked about 06.00am, and after a lot of waiting around our convoy moved off shortly before 08.00am.

Our escort vehicle on the way to Luxor




Our government supplied security guard



Our bus was first in line directly after the lead security vehicle, we sat directly behind the security guard who was smartly dressed in a nice business suit and had an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder, under his jacket so that it wasn’t too obvious, we named him Rambo. In addition to our driver, we also had a back-up driver, a representative from Memphis Tours and an Egyptologist/guide named Islam also employed by Memphis Tours. We started off slowly winding through town, allowing the other buses to stay with us, occasionally the security vehicle would sound his siren to encourage traffic ahead to pull over a bit to allow us to pass. As we moved out of town and into the desert landscape, sandstone hills and sandy flats, I couldn’t help but think, here we were in the first bus, most likely to be first into trouble if any arose, sitting behind the most likely target of any attack, the armed security guard. After an hour or so we stopped at a roadside café for a washroom break, all kinds of souvenirs were for sale at hugely inflated prices, Izzy looked at a local head dress, $35, the guy asked, eventually she paid $5, it was probably worth $2 or $3. By the roadside several women and children with donkeys, or camels, or goats posed for pictures for $1, they got a few takers, but most people sneeked a quick pic while they weren’t looking.
Our journey continued, every 5 or 10 miles we passed through a check point where the road was blocked by a chicane of barriers with armed police manning each post, sometimes with an elevated watch tower with a machine gun projecting out an opening, sometimes with a couple of policemen seemingly asleep in their vehicle.


Izzy, Pat and Jim at the Valley of the Kings




On the trolley at Valley of the Kings



When we arrived in Luxor, it was almost noon, our first stop was the Valley of the Kings and it was hot, 100 degF and the sun was brilliant white reflecting off everything around, we entered the reception building and reviewed the photographs and 3D model of the tomb locations, then boarded the little electric trolley to take us up the long drive to the location of the tomb entrances. Our entrance ticket allowed us to visit any 3 of the several tombs open to visitors and we chose those of Ramses 4th, 9th and 1st, the tomb of King Tutankamun was not open to visitors and we were told it was quite plain and contained nothing other than his stone sarcophagus.

Me at the Valley of the Kings with several tomb entrances visible behind




Excavation work continues



The tombs we did visit were basically all similar with complete wall and ceiling decoration pictures and hieroglyphics, that of Ramses 4th was different in that the walls were not protected by glass and, surprisingly, you could actually touch the paintings. All the tombs were amazingly bright and clean, easily accessible by stairs or ramps, no photography was allowed in any of them.


Shell talking to one of the guards at the Valley of the Queens



Next, we moved on to the Valley of the Queens, the location of the spectacular Temple of Queen Hatshepsut rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces merging with the sheer limestone cliffs surrounding it.

Queen Hatshepsut's temple at Valley of the Queens



Our guide suggested that her name is easily remembered if you think ‘hat cheap suit’. The Valley of Queens is also memorable for the 1997 terrorist attack where 58 tourists and 4 Egyptians were killed, it was strange to be there, remembering back to the reports on tv, now the area appears to be somewhat protected. Izzy decided to forego the long climb to the top of the temple and relaxed in the coffee shop near the entrance while I climbed to the top. I made sure I was back at the coffee shop 10 minutes ahead of schedule so that I could get a drink, the price of which varied from $2 to $4 depending on who you asked, I opted for a $2 ice cream bar.

Our transport on the Nile




Arriving at the Sofitel hotel for lunch



We moved on, making a brief photo stop at the colossal statues of Amenhotep III, then on to the banks of the Nile where we enjoyed a relaxing half hour boat trip to our lunch stop at the Sonesta Sofitel hotel.

The avenue of huge columns at Karnak - it was the busiest place we visited




Inside the temple complex at Karnak



Lunch was edible and by the time we were finished it was after 03.00pm so we wasted no time in moving on to the world famous complex of temples at Karnak, built over a period of 2,000 years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Although the complex has been completely rebuilt in modern times, it is particularly nicely preserved, in fact it’s so clean and tidy that it reminded me of Disneyland, I almost expected to see a roller coaster winding through the top of the columns.

Sunset on the drive back to the ship



We left Karnak around 05.30pm, driving back to Safaga, I watched the passing scenes of life and fell asleep before we arrived back at the ship around 09.15pm, we were scheduled to sail at 10.00pm. Back on board, we had a late dinner then watched the sail away before going down to our cabin.

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Two more sea days after Salalah

Friday April 17 2009 - It‘s a beautiful partly cloudy day as we head North West in the Red Sea. We‘ve left the pirates far behind, the coast of Sudan is a hundred miles off the port side and Saudi Arabia is a hundred miles off the starboard side. The sea is medium to high waves, but the ship is remarkably stable and level, probably as we‘re moving at close to top speed. There was a special interest lecture at 01.45pm this afternoon, ‘Mind stunts and memory techniques‘, I meant to go, but forgot about it. We played trivia this afternoon and won, with a stunning score of 17 out of twenty, ‘which superstar had a snake named muscles?‘, later we watched the big production show, Rhythms of the City.


Saturday April 18 2009 - Bright sunny day, today with a high of 26 degC (79 degF), I spent most od the morning working on my suntan. We had lunch in the main dining room, first time since we came on board, as the buffet is getting wilder as out-of-control seniors run riot. We went to a gameshow, Liars Club, where you have to determine who is telling the truth from four celebrities on stage. We got zero out of five correct, but had a good time throwing marshmallows at the people on stage, Bill had the idea at lunch and the maitre d‘ was happy to supply the marshmallows, he even suggested we could have some ripe tomatoes as well. Tonight was a formal night, so we were all dressed up in our finest attire, right after dinner, we changed into shorts and went up to the pool for an evening swim, then an early night as we have to be up at 05.00am tomorrow. One of the passengers has arranged the same tour that Princess offers, so we cancelled our ships tour and joined the passenger’s tour at less than half the price, I’ll let you know tomorrow night how it all went.

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Two sea days after Salalah

Wednesday April 15 2009 - First day in the area subject to pirate attack and we were disappointed, this morning that we didn‘t see another single ship. By 10.00am the captain announced that we were now in the corridor protected by an international task force and around 02.00pm we saw a destroyer, don’t know which country, as it was too far away. There was a flurry of activity, mostly by passengers with cameras and binoculars, when a couple of small boats appeared ahead of us, was this finally the pirates, they turned out to be only fishing boats, but they could have been pirates disguised as fishing boats. At 03.00pm we went to a free wine tasting seminar, where we learned all there is to know about fine wines, 2 white, 2 red and an ice wine sample, trouble was there was a long discussion between each sample. We went out on the promenade deck after dinner tonight and our lunch time waiter had been drafted as a security person patrolling the deck with his eyes focussed out to sea, we felt so much safer.



Our location on the stateroon tv



Thursday April 16 2009 - No pirates in sight, in fact no ships of any kind in sight, we’re 1000 miles away from our next stop, Safaga, in Egypt. Currently, 09.00am, the coast of Somalia is about 50 miles South of us while the coast of Yemen and the town of Aden is about 30 miles North, if all goes to schedule, we should pass through into the Red Sea by the end of today.

Canadian Navy to the rescue



Around 11.30am the captain announced there were several navy vessels ahead of us, too far for anyone to identify, then within 5 minutes from behind the ship, we could see a helicopter approaching, a Canadian Sea King flew by, I was on the top deck and could clearly see a crewman standing in the open doorway waving as the big copter flew the length of the ship before peeling off to the port side. We never saw any of the ships ahead of us, presumably they moved off to other locations. We went Sabatinis, the special restaurant, for an English pub lunch of fish and chips with mushy peas, the food was good enough but the portions were small so we headed straight to the Panorama buffet after, for desert.

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