Cairo adventures

 Arrived into the chaotic city of Cairo and had our first taste of traffic, more like rafferty rules. The ride from the airport to the hotel took nearly 2 hours. interesting architecture, very similar to the favalias in South America, squares structures just appear on any vacant block of dirt, made out of bricks that are not well made, these structures are similar to a mound of bricks built with  four walls, has no windows on either side, except at what I imagine to be the front of the house which has a large opening, no building permits required.

Our experience at the airport was one of ease, speaking with the locals, we are assured that it is safe, so enjoy your stay The political unrest is settled at the moment due to the upcoming election, held on the 27th May. On gaining our visa for entry to Egypt, was not painful, just hand over $ 50 US dollars for two and off you go. On arrival to the hotel, was quite excited to see our first glimpse of the pyramids from our hotel.

On offer hooka/shisha (fruit tobacco) anywhere.

Day 2, saw us visiting the pyramids and sphinx, what an enjoyable day, riding a camel through the pyramids is a must do and I would highly recommend doing it, what an experience. The pyramids are an amazing feat of architecture built in 3,000 BC. In the whole of Egypt there are a total of 138 pyramids and in Cairo there are 12, one being the great pyramid. 

The locals do some amazing shots with the pyramids in the background, all at a price!

Our little group of five!

visiting the Sphynix

more clever photos!

After the morning spent at the pyramids we travelled to Alexandria, on the way stopped at the monastery of St Bishoy, a Coptic /Christian monastery, where we were given a great history lesson by Father Joakim.

father bishoy's body was in this casket.

 After our visit we experienced falafel and flat bread and fresh fruit from a local market. On our travels to Alexandria, we drove on dirt road, covered with rocks at quite some speed so was not a surprise when we got a puncture in the front tyre, well spotted by DH, so after a delay we finally arrived into Alexandria 7.30 pm.

Day 3 we visited the Catacombs, Pompeii Pillar and the national library.

Mahmoud giving his preliminary history talk.

Pompey's. Pillar

The amazing reading room in the national library 

Outside of the national library 

Tomorrow we head back to Cairo, to catch a train for 12 hours to Aswan, tour members are good company, having an amazing time, will post again when we have WiFi.