As requested by Pete ,
It's a long day , early start between 6-00 & 6-30 for the trip to Paphos airport .
Being an organised trip formalities are over quickly and it's onto the plane ,
breakfast is provide , not a full English sadly but enough to get you started .
On landing in Cairo you go through a set gate and hand in your passport ,
this gets delivered later , you find your bus and away you go.
The guide gives you the itinarary for the day , in our case , Mohammed Ali
Mosque , Cairo Museum , Pyramids , Meal , shopping and finally the evening Nile
Cruise . As we went in Oct it happened to be Ramadan so that changed the meal time,
normally it would have been before the Pyramid stop.
The traffic in Cairo is manic , every one seems to want the bit of road someone else is
using , this was no problem for us , not only did we have smartly suited , ARMED security
gaurd on the bus , but a chase car with about five police in it , there were actually two bus's
on our tour , the chase car would pass up the outside going into a roundabout and block
traffic to let the bus's straight out .
We arrived safely at the Mosque and were ushered through gate with armed gaurds
checking the groups in , there are a lot of trips running at the same time and to the same
places so it is pretty busy .
The Mosque is a marvellous building , hopefully the pic's give an idea of the place .When you go
it's shoes off , and fetching green gowns for the ladies to cover arms , legs and shoulders , you
can just make these out in the pic's. You get a chat about the Muslim religion and it's ways and
then a chance to wander , again I hope the Pic's convey something of the splendour of the inside .
Here are a couple of shots of the view over Cairo , I asked the guide if ti was always this hazy ,
and yes it is , the heat and pollution just keep it like a blanket of grime . Apparantly if it was clear
you could see the Pyramids from here .
Sorry this should be further down . This is a veiw of Cairo from the Giza site , and I thought the pyramids were out in the dessert.
Then it's off to the museum , this is in a very cramped area and again there is a scrum of bus's
trying to get in and out , the bus drops you and then go's and parks and comes back at the arranged
time . This is VERY important .
No cameras in the museum , loads of tour parties , lots of noise as each guide trys to tell you about
the various exhibits , I suffer with Tinitus and a high pitch hearing problen so gave up trying to hear what
was being said , we just looked at stuff as we went round kepping an eye on the group so as not to get left
behind . An hour is no way enough to see all that is there , a week would do it if you really wanted to get
the history . You get the chance to go into the set aside area with all of the Two-ton-car-moon exhibits ,
this is just breath taking , artifacts of solid gold , necklaces and bracelets covered in jewels , I just cannot
put it into words what you see, the death mask of Tuts is solid gold and weighs 22 Kilos , the solid gold inner
coffin that held the mummy weighs 110 Kilos . These alone must be worth millions , apparently the Egyptians
used gold as mere decoration , they actully valued silver higher . Some of the party paid extra and went into the
mummy room , we went out and had a smoke and waited to be gathered up for the next leg .
Back on the bus and , oh dear , two people missing , hurried search , no sign , bus has to go , and it did ,
off to Giza , like probably most people I've seen the Pyramids loads of times on telly , I have some photo's
that my Dad took when he was there in 1939 during the war , but this does not prepare you for the sheer size
of these things , again I cant find the words to describe these , amazing , a feat of engineering brilliance , how did
they do it 4000 years ago . Qouting from a book I bought , some years ago they measured the accuracy of the
pyramid of Khufu , the sides are 230 meters and a few centimeters , the the total difference in the sides is ,
20 Cm. Not bad really .probably better than some of todays builders .
Okay , on to the visit , beware , scoundrels and hawkers are rife , they will try and steal your camera , they will
engage you in conversation and dress you up and take your pictue and then you pay for the privalidge , even the
police get in on the act , take a picture with you , then rub the finger & thumb gesture , with a smile of course .
How do I know this , it happened to us . See the pic's .
Apparantly people come from all over the world to marvel at this sight , not that you could tell .
Oh it was here that the lost two reappeard , they misheard the bus leaving time , were found and bundled into
a taxi and sent off across Cairo , thay thought they were being kidnapped as the driver did'nt speak English .
After this it was off to the hotel for food , not any hotel , a top list 5* job , all white coats and silver cutlary , and
with a view of the of the Pyramids too . Food was okay too .
Next was the shopping trip , though TRAP would be more like it , during the bus rides between sites the guide tells you
what is involved in the shopping stop , a Papyrus makers and jewelary shop , if you like to look at these leaflets you can
choose a necklace with hiro / hyroglyf , oh , them picture things on it .
Order now collect later , to good a chance for my SO , more of this later . When you get there you are shown down to the
paper shop , then the door is locked , a demo on how it's made and then browse the pretty pictures , personnal shopper included ,
this one hovered on your shoulder , you only had to look at something and you were asked if you wanted it , we even waited till he
was looking the other way and snuck off to the other end of the shop , twenty seconds and he was back .
After this upstairs to the jewelary shop, SO go's and gets the necklace and then we realise we missed some of the chat on the bus ,
when you order the necklace thay ask your name obviously , my good lady gives her surname and thinks no more of it , what she
SHOULD have done is give her first name , thats what they put on the the necklace , so she is now the proud owner of a necklace
with the name Cox in pretty pictures .
Oh and just to make a good killing from the gullible , the chain is extra .
It was good to escape back to the bus , another drive through Cairo and down to the Nile , all aboard the boat for the trip down the river ,
The trip lasts about two hours , food and entertainment , this was good , a nice belly dancer , and then some music , we went up top
and watched the lights of the City slide by along with a lot of others . This was probably the best way to see it , you dont see the poverty ,
the unfinished buildings , or the kids playing in the garbage .
After this back to the airport and the flight back , we got back to the hotel around 12-00pm . so it is a long day , did I enjoy it , yes , would I go
back , no , I cannot work out a a country that was so developed and advanced 4000 years ago can be like it is now , great wealth in areas and
total poverty in others .
A few pic's to illustrate the poor side .
Well I hope you are still here , sorry it was so long winded I could have gone on some more , but I hope this gives an insight from an average persons view .
Another apology for the formatting , I typed it up in wordpad
and pasted it , I started this yesterday and halfway through I managed t o lose the lot .
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