Cairo Egypt (long post)

Well finally time to update after two days in Egypt and a good night’s sleep to ease the aching feet and muscles. We docked in Alexandria Egypt at 7:00 and I got my group off the ship by 7:30. I had organized on line a private tour of Cairo through Rasha of Egypt Daily Tours for 12 of us from Cruise Critic. Our directions were that our driver would pick us up outside the big tour company area so we could get ahead of them in the convoy. We were to go off the ship, find the big blue gates and go through them, then go over the small bridge and find Gate 10 and he would be waiting for us with a sign with my name on it. Well the small bridge ended up being about 4 times the length of the 2nd NE overpass to the Southside in SC. I thought for sure we were lost but with Steven a younger, leaner fellow leading the way, he found the end gate and Sharif was there waiting for us. We loaded in to the van which was smaller than the one we had in Ephesus and headed through the unbelievable traffic of Alexandria on our 3 hour drive to Cairo.
As it was fairly early in the morning the traffic was not as bad as later in the day but still had us rolling our eyes and gasping. This was a much different scenery than the lushness of Turkey and the sides of the road and the once delta area was mostly sand, brown vegetation, poverty, crumbling cement, broken down buildings sprinkled with small patches of greenness. People along side the roads selling bits of fruits etc and some just sitting or walking in the heat. As we neared Cairo we could see the pyramids for the first time and were struck with awe. We truly were here, where most of us could only dream that we would be one day. We met up with our tour guide Rasha, in Giza and she told us that they had not had rain last year and today was an unseasonal hot day for them as well. We got out to take a few pictures at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Cheops and to walk a bit in the sand. We drove a short distance to the Pyramid of Khufu, who was the son of Cheops, where we got out to spend 30 mins. Those that wanted to walk up to the pyramids or take pictures of camels could do so and any one who wanted to go into the pyramid could line up for tickets and do so. Only 6 wanted to go into the pyramid and guess who were two of them Yes, Harvey and Cheryl. Somehow I think senility had set in with the high heat. What were we ever thinking of ???
We got into the log line with Steven and Jon from Phoenix and a newly wed couple from New York. We were double the age of some and maybe even triple the age of the new bride. What ever were we thinking???? After the long line up where sellers bombarded us to buy their wares of tiny replicas of the pyramids, postcards, and many things we surly could not live with out we reached the ticket seller. The family ahead of us had two young daughters and a vendor tried to buy them from the father for 5 camels and some silk or something. They tried to put headpieces on you and take your picture and then ask for a huge Bakeesh (tip). It was now time to form a single line to go down into the tunnel to the inside of the pyramid. The walk way was a descending set of wooden slabs with a hand rail, about 3 feet wide, where one group was coming up while you were going down. The 1st ugly part was that you needed to bend over at the waist and bend your knees as the opening was less than 4 feet high. Harvey was scraping his head and back all the way down. Sometimes the person coming up had to turn side ways so we could get by, and as it was at a good slant downwards I had to use two hands on the rail to keep from falling forwards. The 2nd ugly part was as soon as you entered the opening the air ended and it was like walking into dead air space. It was very hard to breathe and I was sure I would die. You could not turn around and so we crawled down about 60 steps until we came to a small opening where you could stand. But still no air. I looked forward and there was another set of steps downward for the same distance. We were only half way there. We asked those red faced, profusely sweating, bug eyed people coming up..”Is it worth it?” and they just shook their heads NO. They could not talk…..we looked at each other and said….lets go up. When we got to the top, I crawled to a rock, and sat on it and for the first time in my life,,,I hyperventilated. I could not stop gasping and thought…This is the end!..... we finally got enough breathe to head back to the van and when asked if we wanted to ride a camel….Harvey turned green and said nooooooooo. Sorry Aiden, Poppa just could not ride one.
We then drove to an advantage point where we could view the three main pyramids and take photos, and then a sort drive to the one block long Sphynix for more photos.
We were back in the van for a drive to pick up our ethntic Egyptian fast food dish.
It was so very hot outside and got into the van and turned on the air but we all just kept getting hotter. Our food came which was a huge container of hot food (lentils, rice, noodles covered with a tomato sauce, fried onions and a little plastic bag of garlic oil and vinegar to pour over it. I enjoyed it but could only eat about a third and many could not eat it at all due to the sickening hotness of the van. It was at this time we found that the heater button for the back of van was on and blowing hot hot air under our feet. What a relief to finally get cold air blowing on us. Then on to a 20 min ride to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities: It houses the world’s greatest collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts, including the golden treasures of the famous boy-king Tut Ankh Amun. It was dirty and dusty but the amazing number of fantastic antiquities was overwhelming. Most things were very unprotected and we could touch them ( but no photos), and as we walked, Rasha explained everything very well giving us a background of the each statue, sacarfacus, gold jewellery etc. I heard that if you were to spend 2 mins at each thing in this musem, it would take 9 years to see it all. The room where all of the King Tut masks, coffins, clothing, shoes, toys, statues etc was a vision in gold but not well lit or displayed and seemed to be more of the dusty darkness of the museum.
On leaving the museum, our driver was summoned once again and we drove to the Khan Al-Khalili Bazaar (one of the world’s oldest and larges Bazaars) which was teeming with vendors, coming at you from every angle trying to get you to look at their tacky souvenirs. They would not let you even look at things before they were shoving things toward you, and making you walk away. At all times I felt very safe and did not feel threatened. Each one just trying to make a living in their Egyptian way. Our van was sitting where the bomb had gone off killing a French tourist a month ago and we were told that he was nearly torn apart by the merchants as acts like this kills their business. He was targeting the police not tourists. At this time the call to prayers burst forward from the temple beside the market but we did not see any one leave to pray as we thought would happen.
It was at this point that we said goodbye to our guide Rasha and boarded the van for the 3 hour drive back to Cairo. The lights of this teeming city took on another view as we manoeuvred through the streets at night, to get out of the city and back on to the road to the ship.

A drive through Cairo is a journey through time, a journey through the history of an immortal civilization, but “Humanity” is certainly its basic feature and the 30 million people that live here, leave one truly moved as how they survive as they walk between, in front and beside the teeming traffic. There are traffic lights but no one uses them and they wind their way through this huge city using horn beeps, flashing head lights, hand waves and head nods to allow cars to move in front of you or to say I am going. Our tour guide said it is “concentrated organized confusion” that works better than stop signs, yield signs and road lines. At no time did we see any road rage or any one hit or scraped as the vehicles and pedestrians often were only 2 inches apart. Truly a moving experience that leaves one feeling very good about living in a small city.