Eclipse 2006 Trip

Day 6 - Egypt

We had a long day in port in Egypt. The ship arrived in Alexandria at 6:00 AM or so and left at 11:00 PM. After breakfast we boarded our bus and headed for Cairo and the Pyramids. The guide on our bus was a very pleasant lady named Bigga. She spoke English very well, explained the things we saw and answered our questions. On the way from Alexandria to Giza, a 2 hour drive on the edge of the Nile Delta, we saw a busy country. The people were out and about carrying on the business of life. It was interesting to see the architecture, transportation, and, of course, the signs, which were pretty much all in Arabic.

We made 3 stops on our tour: 1) the Step Pyramid, the oldest surviving one, 2) the Statue of Ramses II, and 3) the Pyramids at Giza. All three of these are not in isolated areas, but rather right next to neighborhoods where people live and work. I must admit that the objects we saw are on such a huge scale that is hard to imagine. Seeing them in person brought it home. Very impressive, especially considering the technology that was used to construct them. The statue of Ramses II is not standing up. It was damaged and was laying down, so they built a building around it.

At Giza Chap and Bonnie got their camel rides. What a trip! I was interested to learn that Egypt has few or no camels. They get them from Sudan. One memory of this place is the number of vendors who kept approaching us with various items to purchase. They were everywhere. And persistent. Another memory is represented by the statistic that Egypt has 80 million people living in 3% of the land. If it isn't watered by the Nile, it's not livable.

Buses for 1500 people!
Bonnie and Chap at the Step Pyramid.
The statue of Ramses II. Compare to the people walking around it.
A sphinx next to the Statue of Ramses II.
Soldiers dismounting from camels. That's Cairo in the background.
Chap got his camel ride.
Eve Johnston and Fern Mayo.	photo by Eve Johnston
Wonderful view of a pyramid with a lone camel - and no people! (photo by Eve Johnston)	photo by Eve Johnston
The 3 main pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx.	photo by Eve Johnston
Milt Percival holding down a pyramid. This is NOT Photoshopped. It's just a matter of perspective.