Wow! We are in Cairo. We've seen the pyramids and they are super! We are doing fantastically! And now...The rest of the story:
The flight from Tunis to Cairo was only a little late, so that wasn't so bad. It's scheduled arrival was 2:30 AM, that was bad. Tired, dazed and weary from dealing with travel on our own, we were led through customs by a very caring guy, which wasn't bad. Instead of showing us where to catch a taxi into town, he showed us upstairs to his travel office, that was bad. He talked us into a tour of the Giza and Saqqara pyramids of a lot less than we thought we would have to pay AND a car to our hotel (the hotel driver did not show up and we couldn't get through to them on the phone) so that wasn't bad. We arrived at our hotel, in a very seedy, somewhat scary location to find it somewhat of a dump.....no let's be honest here....it was a dump; and this was bad. After a very short night's sleep, we ventured forth in Cairo to find a new hotel. After a somewhat difficult search, Gail and I hit the "do it yourself, budget travel" wall. And this is GOOD!
After two and a half months of do it yourself, budget travel, we are staying in a suite at the four-star Flamenco Hotel for approximately ten times the room cost of our last hotel. We have hot and cold running water 24-7, bath towels, a toilet that flushes, windows that open and close, with the Nile River under our balcony. We even ordered a room service dinner our first night because we didn't want to search for a place to eat.
We have our Egypt itinerary all in order with the help of our new travel agent friend. We visited the pyramids at Giza and Saqqara yesterday. We got to climb down into 4,500 year old burial vaults on our hands and knees (boy are they sore today) just like you see the explorers do it in the movies. And we walked on the pyramids. We didn't worry about getting lost, or how get back to town or where to eat.
Today we had a relaxing day at the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. We spent hours looking close-up at thousands of items. They have the full Tutankamun exhibit there. It's amazing how well these items have been preserved. tomorrow through Sunday we will be at Alexandria and Luxor and the Valley of the Kings and Aswan and then up to Dubai for a visit with Jen, Bruce and Jack and Kim Stracke.
The Egyptian people are amazingly friendy and helpful. They are all trying to make a buck but they are really nice. Cairo is a city of eighteen million people and I think they were all at the main square the last couple of days. It is very, very polluted in Cairo with all the cars running at about eleven miles per hour average. There are water buffalo being herded to the fields in morning rush-hour traffic and donkey carts are a very significant part of the transportation, even right in the city. It is a strange, beautiful place with exotic people dressed in all sorts of traditional dress. We are really happy we are here. Happy travels!
Dan & Gail
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Yes, and what is your flight number?
"We will be arriving much later than we expected; Can we still check in that late?"
"Oh, yes, that is perfectly acceptable. We can send a car for you. It will be 50£. Is that OK?"
"Yes. We would like you to send a car."
"OK, he will meet you at the airport. What is your flight number?"
"We are arriving by ferry at the port of Tunis."
"Yes, yes, yes; OK. What is your flight number?"
"We are not flying. We have no flight number. We are coming by ferry from Palermo."
"By ferry. OK. What is your flight number?"
"We arrive at the port of Tunis on Grandi, that's G R A N D I, Navi, N A V I, Veloci, V E L O C I ship Majestic. Boat, embarco, ferryboat, ship, OK"
"Uh....yes, yes, yes, I see. Majestic. He will meet you.
That was the conversation I had with our hotel last week. We caught the ferry early Saturday morning in a torrential downpour. Most of southern Europe has been experiencing some funky weather, so we were happy to be heading to Africa. We met some really interesting folks on the ferry, but I spent most of my time asleep. Because of last year's experience with vertigo, I had taken some anti-sea sick med that made me drowzy. Little did I know what was making me so tired.
Two couples we met were headed for a camel ride/camping trip through the desert. I feel for them because the weather followed us here. Thankfully, we had an indoor place to stay; when we finally got there. We really were expecting to see our driver at the ferry dock, but knew there was a pretty good chance he wouldn't be there. After clearing customs, we found several drivers waiting, but none for the Olsons. We eventually found a phone that works, called the hotel and had a conversation similar to the last one: "Our driver isn't here."
"Oh, yes, yes, yes, he is there. He has a sign with your name on it."
"He didn't meet us."
"He called me to say he is there. What is your flight number?"
I grabbed a nearby person who spoke Arabic and French, they spoke for a while and when I got back on the line she directed us to a nearby caffé where our driver picked us up about an hour later. Since then, our Tunisian trip has been less than the best. The weather has been terrible until yesterday and I came down with, what I thought, was the flu.
We did do some traveling here. We visited some Roman ruins in an area that has evidence of population going back 200,000 years. The ruins are very intact of a city of 20-30 thousand people in the B.C. times. This area was a bread basket for the Romans. It is so amazing to think of the extent of the Romans. We stopped at a site (which is being rebuilt) where the Romans captured water out of the Atlas Mountains and sent it by aquaducts to all of there cities in Tunisia. We also passed through the town of Jedidi. The STAR WARS movies were shot in Tunisia and they used a lot of the local names in the movies. A lot of the costuming in the movies looks very similar to the way locals dress in the cold rain.
We did miss seeing the city which was our main reason for coming to Tunisia, because our tour group forgot to pick us up yesterday. This became a good thing. My fever had returned, plus extra symptoms and I would have had a misserable day. It gave us time to go to a doctor where I found that I had picked up a systemic infection and needed to start antibiotics right away. Today I feel great, the sun is shining and everything is fantastic! We are headed to Cairo tonight. See you soon.
Dan & Gail
"Oh, yes, that is perfectly acceptable. We can send a car for you. It will be 50£. Is that OK?"
"Yes. We would like you to send a car."
"OK, he will meet you at the airport. What is your flight number?"
"We are arriving by ferry at the port of Tunis."
"Yes, yes, yes; OK. What is your flight number?"
"We are not flying. We have no flight number. We are coming by ferry from Palermo."
"By ferry. OK. What is your flight number?"
"We arrive at the port of Tunis on Grandi, that's G R A N D I, Navi, N A V I, Veloci, V E L O C I ship Majestic. Boat, embarco, ferryboat, ship, OK"
"Uh....yes, yes, yes, I see. Majestic. He will meet you.
That was the conversation I had with our hotel last week. We caught the ferry early Saturday morning in a torrential downpour. Most of southern Europe has been experiencing some funky weather, so we were happy to be heading to Africa. We met some really interesting folks on the ferry, but I spent most of my time asleep. Because of last year's experience with vertigo, I had taken some anti-sea sick med that made me drowzy. Little did I know what was making me so tired.
Two couples we met were headed for a camel ride/camping trip through the desert. I feel for them because the weather followed us here. Thankfully, we had an indoor place to stay; when we finally got there. We really were expecting to see our driver at the ferry dock, but knew there was a pretty good chance he wouldn't be there. After clearing customs, we found several drivers waiting, but none for the Olsons. We eventually found a phone that works, called the hotel and had a conversation similar to the last one: "Our driver isn't here."
"Oh, yes, yes, yes, he is there. He has a sign with your name on it."
"He didn't meet us."
"He called me to say he is there. What is your flight number?"
I grabbed a nearby person who spoke Arabic and French, they spoke for a while and when I got back on the line she directed us to a nearby caffé where our driver picked us up about an hour later. Since then, our Tunisian trip has been less than the best. The weather has been terrible until yesterday and I came down with, what I thought, was the flu.
We did do some traveling here. We visited some Roman ruins in an area that has evidence of population going back 200,000 years. The ruins are very intact of a city of 20-30 thousand people in the B.C. times. This area was a bread basket for the Romans. It is so amazing to think of the extent of the Romans. We stopped at a site (which is being rebuilt) where the Romans captured water out of the Atlas Mountains and sent it by aquaducts to all of there cities in Tunisia. We also passed through the town of Jedidi. The STAR WARS movies were shot in Tunisia and they used a lot of the local names in the movies. A lot of the costuming in the movies looks very similar to the way locals dress in the cold rain.
We did miss seeing the city which was our main reason for coming to Tunisia, because our tour group forgot to pick us up yesterday. This became a good thing. My fever had returned, plus extra symptoms and I would have had a misserable day. It gave us time to go to a doctor where I found that I had picked up a systemic infection and needed to start antibiotics right away. Today I feel great, the sun is shining and everything is fantastic! We are headed to Cairo tonight. See you soon.
Dan & Gail
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
What day is it? Where are we?
Boy, do we have some catching up to do! Before we do- We must apologize for leaving out part of the trip. When we traveled from Genoa to Sorianno a couple of weeks ago, we stopped for a few days in Cinque Terra. We hiked through each of the villages-took us two days, but we did it. There are a lot more people there than there used to be. Just about everyone in the C.T. was carrying a Rick Steves guide. He is still our travel hero (He has convinced us we can do a trip like this), but he sure has been successful at getting a lot of people into some small, out of the way places and making them very crowded. With all the people, C.T. is still beautiful and the food was fantastic. And in all fairness, there are some pretty crowded places that Rick had nothing to do with.
We followed our week in Sorianno with a few days in Sorrento on the Bay of Naples. We went into Naples for a day to go to their museum. It is SO full of Greek and Roman statues, paintings and murals that were removed from Pompei (Gail's not here check my spelling, so forgive any errors) It is one of the very best museums in Europe. If you are near Naples, do not miss it! Naples is a pretty interesting place to visit just for itself. It is a grimy, gritty real-live city. We have been warned about thieves and pick-pockets, but have never had any trouble there.
While there, we stopped at a typical little bar for a soda while waiting for a special neighborhood gelateria to open. A lady in an upper apartment across the street was yelling, "Geno! GENO! GEEEENOOOO!" Then a guy started yelling the same from the same window. A motorcyclist heard them as he was riding by, spun a u-turn, stopped in front of the bar and yelled in, "Geno!" The owner came out, shouted back and forth with the couple upstairs, walked back inside, came out with a couple of packages, put them in the bucket the couple lowered to him and returned to the bar with a wave and a, "Cioa!" as they raised it to their home.
While in Sorrento (which is so fantastically beautiful with the town built at the edge of a cliff a few hundred feet down to the sea) we went to Capri. It is so beautiful that we will return on a day when all other travelers are banned. It was so crowded that there was a three hour wait for the Blue Grotto (sp?) and you got to see it for about ten seconds. If you go, just take a sight-seeing cruise around the island and go back home. I must say, we did have about the best ever Capresse salad in the Capresse Ristorante.
ON TO THE EAST COAST
We traveled to Bari and found it to be a completely beautiful place. Then, on to a week at the Cala Corvina Resort in Monopoli. It was past their season, so most of the facility was closed. It was too far out of town to walk easily. Two buses a day ran between the resort and town. Most of the staff acted like the 40-50 guests were invading their free time. They have a beautiful infinity pool, but it is unheated and very cold. The week was saved by some wonderful people we shared time with. We now know some really nice people in Kelowna/Phoenix and in Washington, D.C.
We are now on Sicily. We've spent time swimming in the Med., sun-bathing and seeing Greek ruins. We are still amazed that we can be in shirt-sleeves and swimming in the middle of October. Our highlight here has been Syracuse. The old town is on an island surrounded by fortified walls that, today, were battered by huge surf. We are on our way to Polermo to catch a ferry to Tunisia. We have gotten tired of city-hopping in Italy and look forward to being completely lost in a new culture. We will have a week in Tunisia, a couple weeks in Egypt, then; on to Dubai for some R&R (I hope!) Ciao for now!
We followed our week in Sorianno with a few days in Sorrento on the Bay of Naples. We went into Naples for a day to go to their museum. It is SO full of Greek and Roman statues, paintings and murals that were removed from Pompei (Gail's not here check my spelling, so forgive any errors) It is one of the very best museums in Europe. If you are near Naples, do not miss it! Naples is a pretty interesting place to visit just for itself. It is a grimy, gritty real-live city. We have been warned about thieves and pick-pockets, but have never had any trouble there.
While there, we stopped at a typical little bar for a soda while waiting for a special neighborhood gelateria to open. A lady in an upper apartment across the street was yelling, "Geno! GENO! GEEEENOOOO!" Then a guy started yelling the same from the same window. A motorcyclist heard them as he was riding by, spun a u-turn, stopped in front of the bar and yelled in, "Geno!" The owner came out, shouted back and forth with the couple upstairs, walked back inside, came out with a couple of packages, put them in the bucket the couple lowered to him and returned to the bar with a wave and a, "Cioa!" as they raised it to their home.
While in Sorrento (which is so fantastically beautiful with the town built at the edge of a cliff a few hundred feet down to the sea) we went to Capri. It is so beautiful that we will return on a day when all other travelers are banned. It was so crowded that there was a three hour wait for the Blue Grotto (sp?) and you got to see it for about ten seconds. If you go, just take a sight-seeing cruise around the island and go back home. I must say, we did have about the best ever Capresse salad in the Capresse Ristorante.
ON TO THE EAST COAST
We traveled to Bari and found it to be a completely beautiful place. Then, on to a week at the Cala Corvina Resort in Monopoli. It was past their season, so most of the facility was closed. It was too far out of town to walk easily. Two buses a day ran between the resort and town. Most of the staff acted like the 40-50 guests were invading their free time. They have a beautiful infinity pool, but it is unheated and very cold. The week was saved by some wonderful people we shared time with. We now know some really nice people in Kelowna/Phoenix and in Washington, D.C.
We are now on Sicily. We've spent time swimming in the Med., sun-bathing and seeing Greek ruins. We are still amazed that we can be in shirt-sleeves and swimming in the middle of October. Our highlight here has been Syracuse. The old town is on an island surrounded by fortified walls that, today, were battered by huge surf. We are on our way to Polermo to catch a ferry to Tunisia. We have gotten tired of city-hopping in Italy and look forward to being completely lost in a new culture. We will have a week in Tunisia, a couple weeks in Egypt, then; on to Dubai for some R&R (I hope!) Ciao for now!
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