Been There Done That Too…

Luxor and Valley of the Kings

// November 2nd, 1996 // Comments Off // Egypt, Passage To Africa

Before turning in we were told the busses were leaving at 8am, and we should make sure to ask for wake up calls. Well, I did, for 7:30. I don’t do mornings, and I don’t do breakfast, a half hour was plenty of time for me to roll out of bed and make it to the bus. Imagine my surprise when my phone rang at 6am, 6:30, 7am,7:30!!!! Needless to say I was really PISSED OFF. The tour company had taken it upon themselves to place a wake up calls for everyone when they thought everyone should get up. This did not improve my already lousy opinion of Egyptians – now they’re treating us like 2 year olds! It was insulting. Not a good start to the day. (more…)

Luxor and the Temples

// November 1st, 1996 // Comments Off // Egypt, Passage To Africa

After lunch at the hotel, we proceeded to visit Luxor and Karnack Temples. We first went to the smaller of the two temples, Luxor. Both temples were finished by Ramses II, though both had been started by previous pharohs. One interesting thing the Pharohs did was any existing statues in the previous Pharoh’s image were “recarved” to the current Pharoh, so all statues look like Ramses II whether they were actually his or not. (more…)

Luxor

// November 1st, 1996 // Comments Off // Egypt, Passage To Africa

Port Safaga and Luxor, Egypt – We docked in Safaga, our gateway port for Luxor and the wonders of the Valley of the Kings. We had another long bus ride ahead of us, over 3 hours, but this time we were staying overnight in Luxor, our base to explore one of the richest area for antiquities in the world. We again set out in a convoy of around 15 buses plus Egytpian security, and headed for Luxor across an even more inhospitable stretch of desert than the one we crossed going to Cairo. This one is so treacherous that everyone crossing it has to check in where it starts, and checkout where it ends. (more…)

Suez Canal

// October 31st, 1996 // Comments Off // Egypt, Passage To Africa

This accomplishment of human engineering has been referred to as “The Big Ditch.” Very appropriate. There’s not much to see going through the Suez Canal, no locks, nothing mechanical at all. Just barren desert with an occasional ferry crossing. (more…)

Aqaba & Petra

// October 30th, 1996 // Comments Off // Jordan, Passage To Africa

The Gulf of Aqaba leading up to Jordan’s only port, is a fairly narrow waterway with desert cliffs on both sides. At one point in the Gulf you can see four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The town of Aqaba appears to be a modern, prosperous sleepy place sharing the end of the Gulf of Aqaba with the glitzy, party haven of Elait, Israel. Leaving Aqaba behind on our way to Petra it doesn’t take long to get to the middle of nowhere. Vast expanses of desert with mountains and not much else. Occasional small dwellings and little to no vegitation. A place only for the hardy. (more…)

Cairo

// October 28th, 1996 // Comments Off // Egypt, Passage To Africa

Port Suez and Cairo – Arriving at our first stop in Egypt, we anchor at Port Suez and take tenders to the busses that are waiting for us on the shore. Because the Egyptians are very “Security” conscious, all 11 busses must travel in convoy. There’s nothing like visiting all the best sites with 500 of your favorite friends… Travel time between Port Suez and Cairo is around 3 hours of nothing but desert that is definately a no man’s land. Traveling through a very congested Cairo to our first stop, the Pyramids, we pass several statues and the “City of the Dead,” a huge cemetary that the living actually inhabit too. We finally arrive at the Pyramids, and there are two things that everybody notices: (more…)

Israel

// October 26th, 1996 // Comments Off // Israel, Passage To Africa

After a wonderful day and 2 nights sailing on the Marco Polo, and falling completely in love with the ship and the people who run her, we reach Ashdod, Israel. A fairly non-descript container port for the most part. I did find it fairly interesting thought that Israeli Security checked everyone and their passport personally and instead of stamping our passport, stamped a piece of paper we had to keep with our passport until they took it back from us at the end of the day. The reason: if you have an Israeli stamp on your passport there’s a whole list of countries you can’t enter – including Egypt and Jordan. I was wondering how they were going to get around that! (more…)

Archive for Orient Lines