Pyramids

I forgot to post a photo of the meal from the top of the Sheraton Tower, but rest assured that it was nice but expensive and prices were quoted without the entertainment tax, service at 13% and VAT at 14% which adds up to quite a bit extra.

 And the next day was for being a tourist after so many weeks of being an overland or a traveller. SO nice to have a hot shower and clean and freshly ironed clothes. But I was still on the look out for beetles, and found some really nice examples such as this two tone outside the Agricultural Museum,

 a gold one,

 and a yellow one with alloys.

 And then the tourist stuff with a visit to the Cairo Museum. A baby sphinx outside the main door.

 The main entrance.

 For an extra fee you are able to take photos inside but I was listening so carefully to the guide that I forgot to take photos most of the time but I did get a few.

 And then it was off to see the pyramids at Giza, the main one.

 A close up of the two entrances, the main entrance with the sloping stones and the lower bottom right of the original entrance where for an extra fee you can walk into the pyramid to see the main chamber.

 A view of the corner of the main pyramid.

 The second pyramid with some of its facing stones still in place near the top.

 The two large pyramids from the view point.

 The head of the sphinx.

 And lastly a landscape photo of the sphinx.

Cairo

After travelling for months down the west coast of Africa from Ceuta opposite Gibraltar to Cape Town, and then up the east coast I have finally reached the last city on my schedule. I left Luxor and took some time relaxing at the beach resort of Hurghada on the Red Sea. It is a modern seaside town for tourists and nothing of any architectural historical merit but it is a well known place for diving and snorkelling.

Then it was a short flight to Cairo and later pyramids and museums but I had a chance to wander around at my leisure for a couple of days. I had an idea to spend a while shopping, swimming and going to the gym. After so much sitting on the truck and no exercise, I needed to get fit quick for the next expedition. But I did a lot of walking the streets looking for trainers and a bar and little actual exercise unless walking around for hours in hot dry temperatures counts as exercise.

But I found plenty to see and the first few examples I ignored as perhaps coincidence and then I saw loads....so here is a selection of additional photos of VW beetles to add to my considerable collection from around the world. A red now with a roof rack.

 A standard white.

 A white with a roof rack.

 A special paint job, blue and red with white trim and alloy wheels in excellent condition.

 A shy beetle, but it was red the I peeped underneath the skirts to check.

 Another red one.

 A rather dirty green with a very shabby cover that didn't move all week and given that it had a flat tyre. it wasn't going anywhere soon.

 A light to sky blue.

A bright yellow but another flat tyre so it wasn't going anywhere soon either.

But this convertible hadn't moved for a very long time and had become filled with rubbish. I hope some collector will come and rescue it.

 And another shy beetle with a camouflage cover under some trees.

 But it wasn't all searching for beetles and I had a great view from the restaurant over the Nile. It is a short walk from Tahrir Square but given that the hotel is squeezed in between the Russian embassy and the main police station and several other embassies including Libya, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are within a stone's throw, this is probably the safest place in town.

Aswan and Luxor

After Abu Simbel we drove into the desert to get to Aswan, well known for its dam and for the Temple of Philae which was rescued from the rising dam waters and relocated n an island just upstream of the dam. The truck on a ferry.

 Another ferry plying the waters of Lake Nasser.

 And another boat.

 Aswan was very built up since I last visited but their bank is less developed and further downstream it is just desert.

 I visited the Movenpick resort on Elephantine Island and it has excellent views from the 13th floor restaurant and bar.

 The schedule included a three day felucca trip down the Nile but I wasn't interested in that so I did the first day and went back to the hotel in Aswan. Then I took the train to Luxor. It wasn't an awe inspiring journey as it is just desert on one side and fields on the other for three and a half hours.

 The road bridge at Aswan.

 Sunset on the Nile.

And then it was the Valley of the Kings, the Nobles, Karnak and the Colossus of Mennon in Luxor.

Khartoum, Sudan

I crossed the border and I was soon in Khartoum. I didn't quite know what t expect but just a hundred years ago there wasn't much here so there is little of any historical and there is a lot of concrete and glass. A view of the sunrise looking east on my first full day.

Some of the many boats that lie rusting on the edge of the river. Tourism has fallen away and these are surplus to requirements.

I was staying at the Nile Sailing Club and they have Lord Kitcheners gunboat that fought at the Battle of Omdurman 1898

It lies on the banks of the rover framing one side of the car park.

And under some trees which obscure it.

Not far from the city are the Meore Pyramids, even older than the Egyptian pyramids but they have smaller bases and steeper sides.

They lost their tops in the late nineteenth century when an Italian used explosives to look inside for treasure.

But they are still majestic.

And they also have peons at the entrance.

Sunrise at the Meroe pyramids.

It was a hot day but here was an irrigation tank bing filled from a well so we stopped and had a bath to cool off at the side of the road.

An unusual cloud lit from behind.

The ferry across Lake Nasser that takes traffic to Abu Simbel, the great temple of Rameses.