Downtown Cairo

There is an excellent view of downtown Cairo from The Citadel. Enjoy.

The Citadel

The Citadel is a medieval fort in Egypt built to protect the Egyptians from various invaders. In the 1800s, a mosque was built by Muhammad Ali, not the boxer. Muhammad Ali was the King of Egypt. The mosque was a private place for the family to worship.

You must either take off your shoes or put plastic bags on your shoes before you enter. For women wearing revealing clothes, they will provide a very large green sack to wear.

Washing Day!

Mary suggested we have the hotel clean our clothes. I looked at the price list and decided against that idea. The reward for my good idea, washing clothes. Connor was also volunteered to help in the process. We had a tour guide waiting downstairs while we furiously cleaned our clothes. Now we just hope the clothes dry before we catch our next flight tomorrow.

The Blogger

Wireless Internet is great. Mary felt it was important to get a picture of me working on the Blog. Here I am sitting on the top deck of the Nile cruise ship.

Cruising the Nile … Part 6

The staff was excellent. We sailed on the Sontesta Cruise Lines Nile Goddess. With a small group of passengers, the staff was able to get to know the passengers very well. By the end of the cruise, they knew our preferences and each person’s service had been tailored to their desires. One staff member took an interest in Connor, at lunch one day he laid out a toothpick riddle. We tried to solve it by dinner. We had a solution but it was not the right one. At each meal afterwards, we received a new toothpick riddle.

Felucca Ride

Felucca is a type of sailboat used by the Nubian’s. In the evening, we were given a ride on a Felucca. This was a lot of fun. The sailboat was run by Nubians. They performed a Nubian song, sold Nubian trinkets, and were very good sailors. At one point during the ride, we were latched onto by Pirates! The Pirates were two young boys riding in what could barely be called a boat. One boy had boards on his hands to use as paddles. The other boy was constantly bailing because their boat had a leak. The boys came up next to our Felucca, grabbed on, and started to sing. I think they picked the wrong Felucca because they were singing in French. After a while, they let go and attached onto another Felucca.

Unfinished Obelisk

This is a site at Aswan where the Egyptians found an unfinished Obelisk. It is unfinished because during the construction, the obelisk cracked. Obelisks have to be a single piece of uncracked granite. This would have been the world’s largest Obelisk if completed.

This time providing a tip helped all three of us. On the tour bus, they advise against tipping the people working in the monument. THIS IS VERY BAD ADVICE. For just a few dollars, you can get access to things other people are not allowed to do. If you do choose to tip the monument workers, you do so at your own risk.

The best way to get the access is to hang a few feet back from the rest of the group. One of the workers will usually try to point out a good picture spot for you. At the unfinished Obelisk, a uniformed Tourist Police Officer offered to take our picture. No one else was around so we said yes. He took two great pictures of the three of us near the Obelisk. Then things got interesting ...
- We were show a chunk of rock in granite that is used to carve the granite. We took a picture of that.
- Connor was given a chunk of the granite carving rock, and allowed to smash granite with it, for “one minute.”
- I then tipped the guard $3. He was very happy and proceeded to show us the following.
- A 200 foot well, behind the security rope used when constructing Obelisks.
- Three other Obelisk construction sites not highlighted for the public.
- A shortcut behind the security rope, saving us quite a bit of walking.
- I was so happy with him, I have him another dollar. He was surprised, commented how wonderful Americans are, and escorted us through the shortcut to the main path.

All of that for only $4 more! And on top of it all, that money really mattered to the guard. It was a win, win situation for all of us. Be a good tipper on your travels. It will make an amazing difference.