Our trip was incredible we got to see so many wonderful things. I'm going to go back wards and talk about Malta and Cairo for now.
Malta was awesome and way exceeded both Shawn's and my own expectations. Probably because we didn't have any. As stupid as it sounds, I didn't even know what Malta was until we booked the cruise. For those of you as clueless as I am its a little island country by Sicily. It has been fought over many times, its notorious for having been pillaged by pirates a lot and it is an independent nation. It was a British Colony for a while and all of the signs are in English, all of the people speak very good English (at least that we met) and they drive on the left side of the road. That was insane to me. I kept feeling like the bus was about to turn head on into traffic.
We went to a city there called Mdina and it was so awesome. It was all stone and it was like a fortress. We went down into the dungeons there and it was really creepy. Reminded me of the opening scenes of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Our biggest problem with Malta was that we wish we had more time there. The beaches looked incredible as we drove by them but we didn't have time to go walk barefoot through the sand. Bummer.
Cairo. Well, what can you say, its...like no place I've ever been or ever want to go to again.
Seeing the Pyramids and the Sphinx was amazing. It really was such a dream come true. I can't even begin to express how blessed I feel that I was able to see something I've dreamed about since 7th grade. Thanks Mr. Wolf for the inspiration to love Egypt. And for teaching me to spell hieroglyphics. I was so proud of myself for that one.
Cairo itself, as well as the port city Alexandria were just so filthy. There are canals dug out that follow along with the road that go from the Nile to irrigate crops. People dump their trash in there. Bags of trash, mountains of bags of trash floating along this water. Dogs lapping it up. I saw a dead donkey floating in it, continued down the road a little further and saw two men on a little boat fishing in it. Vial.
Our tour guide Nabil was very smart and informative. He did however make things a little awkward in the van when he got all political and said in his own words that the United States homeland security is overkill...hmmm...call us crazy but we sort of like our buildings standing and the people inside alive. Nabil insisted that he take a picture of me doing this. Very silly.
We were taken to a place where they did a demonstration of how they made papyrus and it really was cool. A total sales pitch and we totally bought it. We got a papyrus thing with our names in hieroglyphics to frame. The man doing our demonstration was Abrahem, I'm spelling it that way because that's how he insisted that we say it. He was so cute and funny. He just giggled the whole time. Afterwards while Shawn was in the bathroom he said to me, see people think Egyptians are mean but we're really nice. It made me laugh.
In Alexandria Shawn and I thought we'd just wander around for a while and stay sort of near the boat. We stayed very near the boat. The sales people were RIDICULOUS!!! They followed us down the sidewalk trying to get us to buy. At one point I thought I'd give the man a little, submissive woman routine (something I thought he'd get behind) and said, pointing to Shawn, "he says I'm not allowed." Didn't work. Maybe he knew Shawn doesn't have it in him to disallow me anything.
After giving up on Alexandria we stuck really close to the boat, below I'm amazed at how fat the rope keeping us tethered to the dock is. I'm easily amused.
Shawn was a big fan of the license plates so here's one for you to enjoy.
Well, this is getting long and probably boring for you for now so I'll give you more on Izmir and Athens later.
10 comments:
That is so cool I am totally jealous of your experience, that is how the "natives" are at all ports I remember them doing the same thing to us in Mexico, Glad you guys are back safe and sound, keep posting more ps it is not boring at all, I love the picture of you and shawn on the pyramid pretty cool stuff!!
I'm happy that you were finally able to see the pyramids that you've dreamed of seeing for so long! Cairo sounds like a very filthy place, though. You should thank your guide, Nabil, because I think the picture of you with your fingertip on the pyramid is hysterical! Who else do you know that has a picture like that?
I'm so jealous! I loved the pictures of the prymids and the sphinx. It was so pretty that it looked fake. I'm glad that you had an experience to remember!
It seems like we've been waiting for years to hear from you. It was worth the wait. Seeing how other cultures live is quite eye opening. And the history in those places--Wow!! I'm glad you got to go. It's hard to come back to real life, though, after all that ship board pampering. I hope you remembered to leave your shoes out the last night!
Interesting I didn't know much about Malta either. Places I want to visit plus one.
How fun! Sounds like you had a great time!
i'm so impressed with your adventures! once again, you're both very brave. i'm glad that the people were friendly though--i happen to like the picture that nabil had you take. very funny. 'can't wait for more!
Looks like a great time. I loved Cairo...seeing those photos makes me want to go back. lol...I know you felt different.
I hope you are feeling better and can't wait to hear more about your trip.
lol I love the less then amused look on your face as your pointing to the top on the pyrmaid, so funny!
Yeah! I loved these pictures and entries. Glad you had a great time :-) And I'm so happy for you that you got to see the Pyramid Comlex in Giza!!! Nice! I remember you always being interested in that part of my art history studies :-) You are gorgeous and your trip sounded FABULOUS! luv ya.
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