Week 23 - Lebanon and Egypt

Sunday of this week we flew back to Beirut, an easy and uneventful trip. It's a short flight and we only had a little bit of luggage for the weekend.

Monday was spent doing PCR tests and laundry. Since we were at a bed and breakfast in Jordan we hadn't been able to do laundry there, and I would never have been able to do it all in one day without my aunt's help. We also completed our Kenyan visas which was pretty arduous.

Tuesday we left early, again with minimal luggage, and took another short flight to Egypt.

We're staying in Giza, with a view of the pyramids. It's a very busy area which I don't love. Our apartment is on a quiet side street, but the minute you get to the main drag, walking becomes a challenge of avoiding cars, camels, horses, carriages, motorcycles, and of course whatever the horses, camels and donkeys left behind, all while being aggressively sold souvenirs, taxi rides, camel rides, carriage rides etc. Our first grocery run exhausted me. But, I do love the view.

There's a light show at night, which I don't think I would want to pay extra for and sit in a crowd to see, but watching from the balcony is fun. The horse, camel, trash, smog aroma took some getting used to but I don't really notice it anymore.

The other nice thing about this place is that the host took care of everything. We were met before even clearing customs and immigration by a chaperone who led us through, then took us to a waiting car and driver. The guide rode along pointing out sites all the way from the airport. The host met us at the house and gave us a tour and directions to restaurants and groceries. She also set us up with a guide for three days of tours. It did feel expensive to pay for it all at once, but I'm sure we would have spent nearly as much piecemeal on our own, seen less, and been much more frustrated. 

Our tour Wednesday was around Cairo and Giza, which are basically one huge city. We went into Cairo first and saw the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. Lots of artifacts, including the contents of King Tut's tomb. It would take days to see it all so we just hit the highlights. The kids were kind of crabby about it, because they're used to going at their own pace in museums, but it was still a good experience.

We had lunch beside the Nile…

Stopped at a papyrus factory…

Then went to the pyramids. Of course, they are incredible, but like many of the iconic sites we've seen, the view from afar, which we have from our balcony, is as impressive as being close, where it's impossible to get it all in your field of vision. We did get to go inside one. Big C didn't like the crowds and tight space, understandable due to COVID, and turned back first. Little C didn't like the height he had to climb, but just as I was turning back with him J and S made it to the top and I heard a distinctly familiar little voice say, "That was great, can we do it again?" We took many pictures from the outside, many different angles.

Last was the thing S was most excited about, the Sphinx.

He didn't find a secret library between it's paws, in fact you can't actually walk up to it's paws, but he still had fun.

Wednesday was fun, but we were all ready for a break from crowds by Thursday, and as usual we enjoyed our off the beaten path day even more.

We really didn't know much about the places on that tour, so we learned a lot. We drove into the desert until we reached an oasis where there are a few lakes. It's a protected natural area and very pretty. Two of the lakes are connected by a waterfall, which was the first stop.

The whole area was once underwater and has some interesting geological features, including round rocks, called watermelon rocks locally.

We got to take a little boat ride on one of the lakes. 

Next we went to The Valley of the Whales where huge complete fossils of prehistoric whales are found. This was definitely a huge hit with all my fossil loving guys.

We had a yummy grilled lunch there, then went driving off the road over the sand dunes. The kids loved this, I was sure we were going to roll over but all was fine. From the top of the dunes overlooking the lake the kids were able to sand board.

J even got in on the fun.

They loved digging in the enormous sandbox.

On the way back, since J had been so interested in the watermelon rocks, the guide made a special stop so he could see even more of them. I stayed in the car with sleeping kids who were totally worn out from playing on the dunes.

Everyone really enjoyed that day.

Friday was a long car ride to Alexandria. The highway was closed due to fog so we spent a lot of time sitting with no progress. I was really impressed with how good the kids were. 

Eventually, the fog burned off and it became a lovely sunny day. It was actually odd how quickly it disappeared once it finally lifted. We made it the rest of the way to Alexandria and saw Pompey's pillar and the temple of Serapis…

Roman catacombs…

and a Roman amphitheater.

We had a late lunch by the sea

and went to the 15th century citadel of Qaitbay.

We all enjoyed the day. Our host offered to set us up with another tour for Saturday, but we're all exhausted. We decided to stay home. We knew we needed PCR tests, and were delighted to find that they can be done at the house. Once that was done, J and I took a walk in our neighborhood to get breakfast treats for the kids. We found a sweet bakery, and fresh baked bread. We haven't really had time here to just be in the neighborhood which is something we normally enjoy, so today has been nice. I'm happy to report that I am just fine communicating simple transactions like this in Arabic, despite the Egyptian dialect being pretty different from the Lebanese/Syrian Arabic I'm used to. So, tomorrow is Sunday and we head back to Beirut.