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...

Cradle of Civilization: ROME DAY 2 (Colosseum & Trevi Fountain)

The day broke sunny and bright with very nice temperatures in the upper 60's and no indication that this would be the most nerve-wracking day of our entire trip.  With only a limited amount of time left in Rome (about 5 hours between the time we walked out of the hotel in the morning until we were due back at the hotel to check out and get our ride to the ship), I was convinced we would be able to make it to the Colosseum AND see the Trevi Fountain--two must-see sights in Rome.

Taking a taxi would be one way to do this, however, the local train was convenient to the hotel and neither Agnes or I were particularly intimidated by traveling this way--though doing this in Rome is probably not for the faint of heart.  It turns out getting to the Colosseum was really no problem at all since there is a stop on the train right there across the street and it was the fastest, cheapest way to get there.   You walk right out of the station and this is what you see:

 First thing in the morning, its really not too crowded there and once we got closer, we were almost immediately recruited into a small English-speaking tour group.  $50 for a 2 hour tour, including the price of admission?  Ok, sure...what do I really know about the Colosseum anyway?  Turns out--not much!

To begin with, I never realized that the space was almost strictly for gladiatorial contests, rather than chariot races which were held in a completely different venue (Circus Maximus) a short distance away.  Likewise, I never knew that no Christians were actually fed to the lions here (they were mostly crucified on the road out of town along the Appian Way), though this fact hardly stood in the way of the early Popes who claimed that this is what happened here.  Hardly surprising that the Church would promote this false history when you realize just how much of this structure was cannabalized to build St. Peter's Basilica!

Note large marble plaque with crucifix affixed there by Pope Clement after a great deal of marble was removed from this section to build St. Peter's and replaced with brick.  He wasn't alone though: several other Popes also removed marble and left their signatures as well.

Before going inside, we had a chance to look around and learn more about our surroundings, beginning with this somewhat familiar looking arch:

Visitors to France may recognize this particular arch which actually has its duplicate in Paris.

Ruins of the original Temple of Venus, later converted to a church by some of the early Christians.

Agnes and I standing a few feet away from the location of the original  colossus statue of Nero.  The  statue was how the Roman Amphitheater behind us originally got its name.  Apparently, no one at the time ever said "Hey, I'll meet you at the Amphitheater".  Instead, they said, "I'll meet you at the Colossus", meaning the huge statue next to it.  The statue, of course, is long gone but the tradition of calling the Amphitheater the Colosseum has stuck to this day.

Getting ready to go in.  Well of course there's a line!  Still, not as bad as St. Peter's and going with a group puts us in a different, faster line.

Yes, its a little crowded, but certainly not as bad as when upwards of 90,000 very lucky citizens (tickets were free in those days and given as gifts to only the most select Romans) packed in here on game day.

Part of the original floor has been reconstructed over the lower  cells.  Beneath the Colosseum floor was where vicious wild animals were housed that could be released into the arena through a system of trap doors, very similar to scenes found in the movie Gladiator...though not with computerized tigers or Russell Crowe.

Even though the entire structure is quite deteriorated, this was still hugely impressive.  Takes a bit of athleticism to move between floors as well--there are no elevators and the steps between the different levels are very high and steep.

This is where the Roman emperors themselves actually sat.  This area is in especially bad shape since the fine mosaics encrusting this area were later pilfered by local scavengers.

While most of what you see is kind of this reddish, rustic brick color, its important to keep in mind that most of what you are seeing is the supporting structure.  Everything you see in this picture would have originally been encased in slick, white marble long since removed or deteriorated.

There is no question that Agnes and I were glad we made the time to see the Colosseum, despite our tight schedule.  But I just had to push it a little further...

From everything I could see on our map, the Trevi Fountain lay just off the path of our train back to the hotel and we should be able to jump off the train, take a quick look and get back on the line.  Well, this is where confusion gradually set in and anxiety quickly followed.  So, back on the train and out of the station a few stops back along the line and what do we see as we come out of the stop?

This beautiful fountain!  Which I will call Fountain #1, for reasons that will become clear.

Ah, the famous Trevi Fountain!  Let's take a couple of pictures!

Hey, this little bypass worked great...until it slowly began to dawn on us that maybe this fountain really wasn't the big deal we were after.  We would have thought more people would be around and, of course, its always possible we took a wrong turn when we left the station.  Let's look at the map again...Oh yes, here it is!  We needed to go this way instead of that way.

Through this cute little shopping area and down these steps...

Wow!  Look at all these people at the fountain.  Still, this fountain is even smaller than the original one...This can't be it, can it?  I think we have instead found Fountain #2.  Don't ask me its name...please.

Twisting and turning the map as though looking for the key to buried treasure, it soon became apparent that we were getting dangerously close to being lost with only an hour left before check-out time and the arrival of our car.  Plan B, which consisted of eschewing train travel and getting a cab, now seems a pretty bad idea since there are just a TON of people around and the narrow, crowded streets makes vehicular travel a pretty slow proposition.  Unfortunately, my drive to FIND THIS FOUNTAIN NO MATTER THE COST! starts to kick in, despite Agnes' growing pleas to forget the whole thing.

Ok, up this street (where are the street signs?!  Oh, yeah, they don't really go in for those in Rome.  Sometimes a building might have its address and the name of the street on it, though its not a very uniform practice and angle streets make deciphering directions difficult) and follow this other group of tourists this way.  No, not that way, maybe this way?  Half an hour of chasing around looking for fountains in Rome while the clock is ticking starts to make me feel like Tom Hanks in "Angels & Demons" except I'll bet they'd hold the ship for Tom Hanks.

Success!  We found it!  Fountain #3 is officially the Trevi Fountain.  Quick, get a picture , push through the throngs of people to throw a coin in and make a dash for the nearest train station!

Things actually got even MORE tense after this point, however, thankfully no photos of that survive.  Long story short, we actually did make it back to the hotel more or less on time (meaning "On time enough that they didn't charge us an extra day").  Our very professional driver was waiting for us and got us to the port in plenty of time, though don't ask me much about that hour long drive since exhaustion and jet lag finally got the better of us and we pretty much slept the whole way.

Cradle of Civilization: ROME - Day 1 (St. Peter's)

After a flawless flight to Rome through Amsterdam (thanks KLM!), we got to our hotel near St. Peter's Basilica without a problem.  While we could have flown in the day the ship left harbor, the time would have been really tight and we wanted to spend some time in Rome before we departed on the cruise anyway.  Therefore, we would be able to see St. Peter's that afternoon with some time the next morning to see other things, but it was going to be a whirlwind!

To begin with, St. Peter's turned out to be about a half hour walk from our hotel, which wasn't a big deal since we wanted to stretch our legs after the flight anyway.  On the way, we would get to see the first of MANY fountains scattered throughout Rome (see below)

Not sure sitting on the fountains like this is encouraged, though given the amount of graffiti all over the place in Rome, I'm thinking doing this is not such a big deal.  Makes you really look like a tourist though! 

 We also got a chance to see the Castel Sant'Angelo on the way there which was really impressive and just an outright wake-up call that we were now in a very different place than the United States (though everybody speaking Italian should have been our first clue).

Castel Sant'Angelo.  Don't ask me about its significance or anything because we were pretty much sprinting to St. Peter's.  We have only 20 hours in Rome before we leave for the ship, so...

Ditto on the Palace.  Does the Italian Parliament meet here?  When was it built?  Don't know, gotta find St. Peter's which is around here somewhere.

Ah, there it is!  Ok, let's just kind of dodge and maneuver ourselves through this crowd of people...

...so that we can stand in this VERY long line to get into the Basilica itself.  On the right side of the picture you can see the beginning of the line and watch it stretch all the way behind me and through the columns in the distance.  

Basilica with Obelisk in foreground

Agnes stands in front of St. Peter's after we made it through the line.  On top of the Basilica, you can see statues erected in honor of the first Popes.

Looking out from the Basilica back towards the way we came from.

Inside in the middle of the Basilica is this area where only the Pope is allowed to say Mass.  Even with literally hundreds of people visiting in here, there is still just a huge amount of space.  They were able to hold two (2) different ceremonies in here simultaneously while we were here without any disruption to either the celebrants or the tourists.

Tomb or Crypt of Pope John Paul II.  This was the first time it really hit me how unbelievable it was that we were actually here in Rome and would be able to see things like this.  

I really tried to decipher the Latin here, but gave up after awhile since the REAL message was awesome enough as it is...

Back outside, Agnes "poses" with the Swiss Guards.  These guys seemed pretty serious though, so we didn't want to get any closer than this and disrupt things...or have ourselves "disrupted" by a halberd!

So, we felt pretty good about being able to see St. Peter's that day, but it was time now to head back to our hotel since jet lag was starting to get the better of us and so was hunger.  Thankfully, on the way there would be plenty of places to get this:

(Of course!)