Port Said/Cairo
Trip Start
Nov 16, 2009
1
8
28
Trip End
Jan 02, 2010
Port Said, Būr Sa‘īd, Egypt
Monday, November 23, 2009
Today is another good day to travel thru Egypt. It is in the middle 70s and the sun is shining. There was not a lot of wind blowing so that the weather and the sun formed together and made it a wonderful day. To get into Cairo we will be driven for about three and a half hours on a tour bus. Like our previous tours in Egypt, we were accompanied by an armed, but friendly security guard. We also went thru several security checkpoints on the way into Cario.The time goes by as fast as the little villages appear and fall behind us, as we drive along the main road into Cairo. You can tell the distance from Cairo as the traffic becomes heavier and heavier as we approach the capitol of Egypt. Cairo is a city of twenty million residents. It is a large and congested oasis along the Nile River surrounded by the Sahara Desert. Cairo sits on one side of the Nile River and Giza sits on the other side. Cairo sits on the east side which is the Egyptian Land of the Living. Giza sits on the western side of the Nile which is the Land of The Dead. The Egyptians live on both sides now but in the ancient past the west side was where the Pyramids were built. So today we will travel thru Cairo and over the Nile to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. We will then return to the Nile and have lunch with a Folkloric Show as we cruise on the Nile.
The return to the Great Pyramids was as special as it was the first time. Seeing the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World is always a thrill. Today it was good, because we didn't have to run around trying to experience everything. Today we walked around and then took some time to just sit down by each other and look at the Great Pyramid. We just sat there and enjoyed the history of the ancient Egyptians. From there we went just below the pyramids to the Sphinx. Again we took time to just enjoy the scene. So we stayed there on the edge of the Sahara Desert amazed by the work of men that lived thousands of years before the birth of Christ.
After the pyramids, we journeyed back to the Nile and boarded a large Dinner Boat that cruises the Nile while serving meals and providing music and dances of Egypt. It is a large boat that can hold five busloads of Royal Princess Tourists. We sat on the side of the deck so that we can watch the Nile flow pass us as we eat and cruise on this ancient river. Toward the end of the meal the Folkloric Show began with music and native dancer, including the Whirling Derbish. The show was very good but the main attraction for us was the Nile. We were cruising on the Nile that divided the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead. The differences between the two Lands were not as drastic as it had been in the time of the Pharaohs, but the history of this land and this river still dominates your feelings as you float down the Nile River.
The Nile and the Amazon contend for the title of the longest rivers in the world, but we know that they are both one of the greatest rivers in the world. After lunch we board back on the bus for the three and a half hour journey away from the Nile and across a section of the Sahara Desert to the Suez Canal entrance into the Mediterranean Sea. We arrive after dark and board the Royal Princess. It was a long day full of excitement and wonderment that was as good the second time as it was the first.
Today Dan is on a lookout point above the Great Pyramid. Look for him and say hi.
Where is Dan Hunt
Today Dan is on a lookout point above the Great Pyramid. Look for him and say hi.
So "Where is Dan?"
Linda was the first to find Dan.
Linda Ferguson on November 29, 2009
Looks like Dan is standing behind the man in the black suit. Talking to the man. Has on white cap, dark grey shirt over his white t shirt.
Linda
