January 21 through February 7, 2002 we took a Maupintour of Egypt which included plane, boat, motor coach, walking, and a bit of climbing. All went extremely well. We were very pleased with the tour host, Maupintours, and our guide, Basma Famous, what a delightful lady. She really took care of us. There were 11 people in our group, all seasoned travelers and knew what they were doing and believe me that makes a big difference. The only bug in the trip was the delays at the airport due to weather, Cairo has a fog problem this time of year. Out of the 280 pictures I took, this is only a small sampling . . . didn't want to bore you too much!
We got to the Hotel (Mena House) about midnight and woke the next morning greeted by a beautiful view of the pyramids out our window, what a pleasant sight. Actually we had to step out onto our balcony to see them but it makes a good story. We could have easily walked up to them but we didn't. We waited for the tour which started the next day. We had arrived a day early. Here's a little closer shot the next day.
Here are all eleven of us plus our tour guide on the left and some other guy on the right. This is not a painted backdrop, this is the real thing.
Here's Shirley standing about where they took the group picture and as you can see the surrounding blocks, which were once temples, reduce the impact of the sphinx. However, from a different angle, it's quite impressive.
The next day we went off to the Bent Pyramid and this one called the Red Pyramid. This one they allowed you to go down to the burial chamber a rather steep long descent. You were also bent over to clear the ceiling of the shaft. I panicked about half way down and shot out of there like a cannon ball. It's a good thing nobody was coming down behind me, I would have bowled them over.
A
hoopoe bird on the hotel lawn
Then we took a motor coach trip to Alexandria. We had a wonderful hotel room overlooking the Mediterranean. There was a tad bit of traffic there in Alexandria but we managed to see several of the most popular of the touristy spots before heading back to Cairo.
One of the penalties of attending a diner with entertainment. A view of the Nile from our hotel room in Cairo.
Today in Cairo we visited the Cairo Museum where all of the more famous Egyptian artifacts are housed. Very impressive. The crowds were at a minimum because of the world confusion, however, the Egyptian kids were on winter break from school, and I think they all went to the museum.
The next day we took a plane ride to Luxor and boarded the boat for the Nile cruise part of the trip. After getting settled on the boat, off we went to the Temple of Luxor just a few blocks from the ship. It was dark so all the lighting was on, and wow, was that impressive.
The next day, because of low water on the Nile and the boat being unable to go north, we were bused to Dendera for the Temple of Hathor. Here we see, supposedly, the only glyph of the famous Cleopatra.
So much for this page on to Page Two Home Updated Feb. 21, 2002
