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.