Sunday, April 24th - we finish school one week early

Upon our return from our holidays, we were told that we would finish school on June 23rd as opposed to June 30th. Because of Ramadan, we want our students to finish writing their exams before they start fasting, therefore our whole schedule has been moved up one week, This therefore means that we are flying out on the 23rd and getting home on the 24th of June. We are really looking forward to that.

We've been back from Egypt for two weeks already. It was a little rough going back to work on the first Sunday, but by now, things are back to normal. So is our daily life: walk on the beach on weekends, a bit of time at the Crowne Plaza on Thursday afternoons, school work on week nights ... just basic everyday stuff! Nothing exciting in the last few days.

Wednesday, April 13th - Recap of Egypt - Part IV - Cairo and Alexandria

We got back to Cairo by mid afternoon on Thursday. The drive back to the hotel took a while as there was a fair amount of traffic. While we were stopped on the highway, we noticed people walkinig around, between cars, with boxes on their shoulders. We asked our tour guide what they were doing and he told us they were selling Asaliya, a kind of sweet stick made of black honey and sesame seeds. So next thing you know, the window is rolled down and the guide is buying some for all of us. Everyone liked it and he had to buy some more later on! 

On Friday morning, Jacqui and I, with a driver and our tour guide from Cairo, headed out to Alexandria, located on the Mediteranean Sea, on the Nile Delta. The way there (a little more than 200 km) allowed us to see mostly farm land used for fruits, veggies and feed for animals. We visited Pompey's Pillar and the Catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa. It was really neat to go undergroud in the catacombs and see where they used to bury their deads, way back when (200 AD). We then drove to the Montazah Palace but it is not open to the public so we only saw it from the gate. We had a very nice seafood dinner in a restaurant on the corniche, than drove back to Cairo, before being taken to the airport to go back to Muscat. On the way to the airport, we stopped to get some Koshari (rice, macaroni and lentils, mixed with tomato sauce, chickpeas and fried onions), a very traditional Egyptian meal. It was indeed very good as our tour operator prepared it for us in the front seat of the van before sending us off to the airport.

And so ends our trip. It was very interesting and we learned a lot, with all the things we've seen and heard from our two tour guides. We are really glad we had a chance to do it!

Places we visited in Alexandria

Pompey's pillar

Montazah Palace

We can't go in!

At the park in front of the Palace

Side street getting ready for prayer time

Restaurant where we had lunch

with a view of the Mediteranean (and our van)

Egyptian wine

Our meal

Koshari being prepared by an expert!

It is very good!

Tuesday, April 12th - Recap of Egypt - Part III - Edfu, Komombo, Abu Simbil and Aswan

Cruising the Nile River was pretty cool. The river is not very wide in most spots (average of 2.8 km but didn't seem that wide where we were), so you get a good view of the shores. The land along the river is mostly farm land, where they grow mostly fruits.

Our transportation mode to get to Edfu Temple was a horse and buggy. It was kind of cool, even if our horse could have used a RedBull before leaving! Poor thing looked tired at times. Good thing the Temple wasn't very far from the ship. Upon our return, we sailed to Komombo, where we walked to the KomomboTemple and Crocodile Museum. We did see a mummified croc. Weird!

We started sailing again while we were having dinner and woke up the next morning in Aswan. We got up very early (2:30 am) for a 3:30 departure from the ship. Our journey was taking us to visit two Temples in Abu Simbel. However, it is a 3 hour drive to get there and all tourists (buses, vans, ...) travel in a convoy, with a police car at the front and the back of it. We therefore left Aswan at four, got there at 7, headed back at 10 and were back in Aswan by one. We then went to visit the High Dam, which helps create lake Nasser. That was enough for that day, even though we went for a short walk by late afternoon to the local market which was nearby.

On Thursday, we visited the unfinished Obelisk in Aswan then took a short boat ride to a small island to visit the Temple of Philae. This temple had been underwater after they built the dam, so they had to move it farther up on the island. We then came back to mainland, picked up our bags at the ship and left for the airport, to fly back to Cairo in the afternoon. So far, everything has been pretty amazing!!

Places we visited on this part of the trip

Our ship

Tour boats on the river

Our room

The bar/lounge

Dining room

Lobby

Small pool and sundeck

The River Nile

Vendors tying up to our ship, with the reflection of a towel in the window (makes for a cool shot)

Our transportation to get to Edfu Temple

Us, in front of Edfu Temple

Traffic around the market area

Temple of Komombo

Our ship

Sunset on the Nile

Tough decision. Which way to go?

First temple of Abu Simbil

Second temple of Abu Simbil

This is where the temple used to be!!

Waiting to get back in our van, for a 3 hour drive

The Nile River, on one side of the dam

Lake Nasser, on the other side of the dam

The unfinished obelisk

At the Temple of Philae

At the market, in Aswan