Cairo!

In Egypt we stayed in Hurghada, which is about 6 hours by car from Cairo, but since we were there I really wanted to make sure we made it to Cairo, to at least see the pyramids in Giza, just in case we don't make it back. The prospect of a bus ride was horrifying, though, so we went to Egypt Air and booked a day trip by plane. We were able to get round trip tickets for all 3 of us for 230 Euros! SO off we went!



My diet coke from the airport... note the pop top, and Arabic marketing....





Hurghada airport - 6 AM - forget about announcements, signs, or any other form of communication... we were supposed to leave at 8:30 for a one hour flight... we made it to Cairo by 11:30. First glitch. Delays were due to "fog." In Cairo.... ? Smog maybe?

Hello Cairo! Be sweet, now! Please take care of us! Thank goodness for a blessing in taxi-driver disguise! Egypt Air managed to lose our one checked item - Luna's stroller... glitch number 2! After finally getting someone to help us with the claim it was 1:30 by the time we left the airport...

To get camels, we stopped outside the gates in Giza, before going in, and commissioned these guys...

It's a long way down before standing up! He was huge! They tell you to hold on, but you really have no idea what you're in for!

Bas and Luna got the "small" one.

And let me tell you, standing up, is pretty scary = hold on or else! Not exactly the same as mounting a horse!

Carriage going by...

And lo! There they are! Smog and all...

Luna loved it...

Look out - we're getting up!

Can you believe they are actually that big?

Yes, I am wearing pants and a sweater in the dessert... wasn't even hot believe it or not. My guidebook suggest that women cover legs, arms and shoulders in loose fitting and "frumpy" clothing - otherwise the locals will think you're a "loose" foreigner...

Check out the guy on the camel, on top...

The Sphinx!

Bas wanted to make sure that we had a picture of him and Luna in front of the Sphinx, but he had no idea how hard it was to turn and take a picture at this point...

But the looming bus was quite easy... look out!

Nuts, nuts, nuts for sale!

View of Cairo near the citadel on our way back in to town...

Our first view of the souk... can you imagine? Wish i had gotten some of those shoes!

The applique pieces...

Wish I could have brought one of these lamps home!

By the time we got out of the bazaar, we attempted to make a go of finding some of the other "sights." Including mosques, the citadel, and - heck - whatever we could find... didn't work out so well, but - we did have a great time!

Bas spotted this...

At this point, we were really just wandering around, with no idea of where we were... I really hate doing anything like that, and therefore always have a guide book, but unfortunately, our guidebook map was CRAP. So we gave up stayed close to "home" and then gave up on knowing what anything was that we saw...

One of the gates on the old town to old Islamic Cairo...

This was amazing... walking along... street full of market stalls, and then all of a sudden - a mosque, dashed into the wall, probably hundreds of years old...wish I could have gotten a better picture!

This is where we decided to have dinner... we hadn't eaten all day. It was a tea room, but they were more than happy to go get us dinner! (For a price!) They were convinced that we would want hamburgers, and were quite surprised when we ordered Sish Tawook and Kebabs. All in all, a fun experience...

They brough this for Luna as a treat... can you believe it?

This guy was Syrian, made a lovely dinner experience for us...

These screens are made of beautiful turned wood. Ancient air conditioning system...

And here's a stand with flatbread... yum! And look out - very mobile...

This place was so cool! It was in between two market stalls, and it was huge, floor to ceiling - as you can see... it took a library ladder to reach anything good...

Cairo traffic - just as we crossed from the "OK" zone, into the "Enter at You Own Risk" zone...

Amazing building just as we entered... must be OK right?

Delivery truck - please note the Dutch and German license plates (What the Heck?) then get out of the way!

Looks like wool just got delivered! How cool!

And here they are weighing it!

This guy was pushing a cart with something that looked like sweet potatoes... and a burning oven to cook them in... would have been fun to try!

We saw several guys like this... bread on bikes! See? Mobile!

Lotsa bread! Now we were entering into the slums...

Then we got lost... against my better instinct we did not just attempt to walk back the way we had come. I figured we could just make a couple left turns and then end up back where we needed to be... Bad assumption! AFter winding around in some very dark and scary alleys we started asking for help, and finally found someone who didn't want to charge us! Just a few more turns and we were out of the labyrinth - thank God! Glitch number 3!

And glitch number 4 turned out to be the delayed flight home... Ended up getting back to the resort about 2:30 in the morning... late but well worth it!