Egypt Photos - Yes, Including the Pyramids!

Well, it was a beautiful two (2) day sail from Rome to Alexandria, Egypt and we got to see many things along the way, including the very narrow passage between Sicily and the Italian mainland, as well as this:

This is the very active Mt. Stromboli volcano very close to Sicily.

In this picture more on the backside of the volcano, you can see the many, many houses and buildings that share very close proximity to the volcano.  I have a feeling people are either quite religious here...or maybe more nihilistic.

Cruising into the port of Alexandria, Egypt at daybreak

Once in Alexandria, we were still faced with a minimum 3 hour drive from the port through Cairo to Giza where we would find the pyramids.  Thankfully, we had found a really good guide and driver that would be our personal escort through THE WORST TRAFFIC I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!  And I lived in the City of Chicago for nearly 20 years.  Seriously, do not even THINK about renting a car if you go to Egypt.

Crossing over the Nile River with Cairo in the background.

We must have heard half a dozen people get really quiet and talk about safety and security when Agnes and I mentioned we were going to Cairo before we went on the trip and, honestly, you really do start to wonder when your tour guide points something like this out to you:

This is pretty much what's left of Kofi Annan's party headquarters.    The 2011 riots resulted in this entire building being completely gutted by fires set by protesters.

Nonetheless, the entire time we were in Egypt we did not feel--at any time--threatened or insecure in any way.  In fact, the Egyptian people we met were very, very nice to us--though they do get a good laugh out of tourists that wear shorts.  After a stop at the Museum in Cairo, where we learned a great deal about ancient Egypt, it was time to head out to the pyramids!

The ticket counter to get in.  No waiting for us--our very qualified guide already had tickets for us as part of the deal.

At long last: Agnes and I in front of the Great Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu, the largest of the three pyramids at Giza.

Its really great that you can get up on the steps of the pyramid itself, at least in this section.  Its discouraged in other parts--though I have a very strong feeling that many a 14 year old Egyptian boy has looked out over Giza from the top of these things.

Agnes poses with our guide, Amira.

We got there at the perfect time in the early afternoon to get this shot over  Khafre, the second largest of the three pyramids, at nearly 450 feet tall.

The one and only thing Agnes wanted to make sure she did  on the cruise was to be able to see the pyramids and ride a camel.  Its good to have a guide arrange this for you since the local Bedouin have been playing the tourist game for literally thousands of years.  Subsequently, its not unusual to negotiate a fee to get up on a camel--only to find later that the camel wrangler wants a little bit extra to get you down again!

Agnes is the first to get up on her camel named...Michael Jackson.    Really.  Hold tight, though, because these beasts are just a little bit different than a horse!  While they will actually respond to reins and get along at a good clip when you give them a little kick, you are actually sitting up quite a bit higher up than a horse though with what felt like a smoother ride than what you get on an average horse.  

After Agnes was aboard, they got me up on Mustafa for a ride to Libya.  At least that's where our wrangler SAID we were going as he led us out into the desert.

See?  We got the hang of it!

The Bedouin absolutely LOVE taking pictures of tourists at the pyramids and have developed a wide variety of different poses and gimmicks which they can't wait to subject you to:

(You're not supposed to see his thumb though! lol!)

Ok, that's enough already!

Still, there is just one last shot I had to take in front of Menkaure, the smallest pyramid.  I actually dragged this old leather coat and hat with me literally halfway around the world because I just couldn't resist.  The Egyptians certainly were familiar with Indiana Jones and knew exactly what I was doing when I got the coat and hat out of the car.

What really got me was how close the pyramids were to Cairo itself.  I always thought of them as being out in the middle of the desert, but it only took about 15 minutes to drive there from Cairo and, as you can see from this photo, the suburbs of that huge city are quite visible from the foot of the pyramids.

Likewise, the Sphinx is literally a stone's throw from the pyramids and we could have easily walked there.

After seeing these amazing sites, it was finally time to think about heading back to the ship, but first our guide, Amira, wanted to take us to a wonderful restaurant nearby.

It also had a great view that we will never forget...