Ahoy Mateys! In honor of Halloween - I thought I'd post these Pirate theme night photos from our recent cruise. Val made quite an intimidating pirate didn't he ? Don't ask him about the earring - he whined about that. Nothing like a scary pirate who's pre-occupied with his painful earring. Wishing all happy and safe trick-or-treating and parties.
This is going to wrap up the posts about the trip. I didn't post about every port or every adventure because I fear these posts would never end if I did. Let's just say this was the trip of a lifetime and a magical adventure that we could never recreate. Please take the time to look at these last few photos - and if you haven't already, go back through the posts because it is just fabulous all the things we saw.
I have decided that my favorite Greek island is Paros. It is a labyrinth of white houses clustered around the Elatontapyliani (the Church of a Hundred Doors). Just look at these photos and you'll see why I think it's so fabulous. It was also on Paros that I got attacked by a sabor-toothed cat. It looked like a regular cat until it sunk it's teeth into me and now I'm sure that they breed special sabor-toothed housecats on Paros. note - I have healed and am none the worse for wear after being maulled by a cat. No ill feelings toward the cat.
Kusadasi was one of my favorite stops. We had more time here and so were able to to explore a bit more. (And of course that meant more shopping time too.)
We walked the bazaar until I was ready to drop. As far as we walked, there were shops and restaurants. The streets went on and on.
We found a little restaurant and ordered an appetizer of pita bread and sauces. Just look at this HUGE bread. I didn't snap my photo quite fast enough - the bread had already started to deflate. When it was brought out it was totally plump and then deflated to form the flat pita. And did I say it was HUGE ? We were all amazed for sure.
We did also visit Ephesus while we were docked at Kusadasi. We had been to Ephesus two years ago and it was still an awe inspiring experience. You can read about Ephesus and see photos of that trip HERE. It was the first and greatest metropolis of Asia - dating back to 3000 BC. It's worth going and looking at that old blog post - the photos are amazing.
Though we missed the port of Dalyan due to our delay in Egypt, we were fortunate that we were able to stop at nearby Marmaris and go via a 1.5 hour bus trip back to Dalyan. Then a motor boat took us on a trip through the reed delta, allowing us to see the Lycian tombs built into the cliffs throughout the area. Just look at this - these cliffs were steep and quite tall - and the detail is amazing.
Within these tombs are stone benches for laying out the dead. Shreds found in the tombs reveal that they date to the 4th century BC.
From here we took a short hike UP to the ancient city of Caunos.
You *WILL* hike *UP* ........up THERE.......and I will use my umbrella to shelter you.
This city is believed to have been founded in the 9th century BC. The theater is probably the most striking of the ruins today.
OHHHH - don't let go!!!!
Then we made our way back to the bus and then back to Marmaris. We spent a little time walking around the port - where we found we could buy any number of Genuine Fake items.
And there were tons of bars with these huge pipes on the tables..........
Gotta love those bright colors too.
Check back - more of Turkey to come...........
OK - this is the last of Egypt. And this is where things get a bit edgy and there actually is a story to tell. I have no photos in this post - it's all about the story.
After we flew back to Cairo from Luxor, we got back on our buses but were not allowed to leave the airport. All tourist buses are required to have a policeman on board, which we did have through our whole journey. But it was decided that we also needed a police car escort. So we had to wait for this police escort for about a half hour before we started out on our 3hour drive back to Alexandria.
Then, about a half hour after we get going, we pull to the side of the freeway and stop - our police escorts couldn't go any farther as we were at the edge of their territory, so we had to wait for other officers. We waited about 40 minutes and finally got the ok to go ahead, and then a bit later our new police escorts caught up with us.
Our tour guide Mohammed - who had everything planned to the minute up until this - was very frustrated and embarassed. He explained that he had once complained about his tours having to wait for police escorts who were always late. He was actually suspended for 6 months for this, and so doesn't complain anymore (except to us).
So we made our way back to Alexandria - every so often we would see the police cars change out. We did a quick bus tour around Alexandria but we were all just too exhausted by this time. It was a very full 2 days! We saw and did so much it seemed like we were in Egypt for much longer than 2 days.
Finally back on ship -we quickly got situated for our 11pm sailing out of Alexandria. And it didn't happen. There was a quick announcement that there were some technical issues that had to be worked out with the Egyptian authorities but that we would be underway as soon as possible. So I went to bed, and when I felt the ship moving around 2 am I just thought we were finally underway. Nope.
Woke up the next morning and was surprised to still see Alexandria in the distance. We were anchored in their harbor. There was a little joking that we should just cut anchor and run for it - that's when the gunship off the side was pointed out to me. Were they there for us ??
I learned lots about maritime law that day from all the goings on. Evidently a ship cannot enter open waters without a registry. Our ship had decided to change registries while we were on our overnight adventure in Egypt. The process hit a snaffu when the official who could sign off on this new registry went missing. Seriously.
OK - to make a long story short - our cruise line was very embarrased and apologetic, accepting full responsibility for this not going according to plan. We were stuck another 2 days and had to miss two ports of call. We couldn't go ashore during this time - just sun and fun on the ship. But if I had to be stuck somewhere - this was absolutely the best group of people to be stuck with.
Finally, our official who could sign off on the ship's registry was found. Egypt officials said they would send him out to us on "a very quick boat". This was that boat. Just a hilarious ending to a pretty funny adventure.
So there you have it - our Egypt adventure comes to a close.
Now I need to post about the rest of the trip!!
Next stop - Karnak Temple. Wow. This is huge, and it is actually a complex of temples and not just one. Think Vegas casino huge. This complex was built and enlarged over a 1300 year period. It is the largest ancient religious site in the world.
These sphinxes are the other end of the Avenue of the Sphinxes we saw at the Luxor Temple. It's about 2 miles in between and this street is supposed to go all the distance in between. I want to go back when it's uncovered.
To give you an idea of just how big this temple complex is -- look at this model of the area --
OK there is just so much history here - and I am so grateful for the lectures we had on the ship by our Egyptologist Tarik. But these photos will have to speak for themselves - enjoy - (remember to click on any photo to see bigger)
Next - back to the airport for our flight back to Cairo. We have a schedule to keep!! Waive to Mohammed our tour guide !
We woke very early on day 2 to this fabulous view of the Nile from our hotel. We crossed the nile and quickly made our way to The Valley of the Kings. It was very hot and our very smart guide was trying to spare us that heat as much as possible.
The Valley of the Kings is a valley where tombs were constructed for Pharaohs for nearly 500 years, from 1600 BC to 1100 BC. The valley is on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor, and is known to contain 63 tombs (although there are surely tombs that have yet to be discovered). The tomb of King Tutankhamun was found here in 1922 (though this was not one of the tombs we visited).
We were not allowed to take photos - we were not even allowed to take our cameras off the bus. You can see some fabulous photos of what we saw here and here. We were able to visit 3 tombs. I was most amazed at how so many of the engravings are still in color. After all these years and so many people going to see them -- the color remains. Amazing.'
Then we went to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. We did not go inside (again - nothing much inside - and way to many more things left to see). But isn't this temple beautiful ?
It was built into the mountain like other tombs at the Valley of the Kings, but on such a grand scale. Queen Hatshepsut was the subject of much scandel - subsequent Pharohs tried, almost successfully, to erase her name from history. A woman was not supposed to be a Pharoh.
Then we made a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon. These statues are from the 14th century BC, and depict Amenhotep III. They are 75 feet high and 1,000 tons. Huge.
NOW -- back to the hotel for lunch (yes - all that was before lunch). We got so much sightseeing in. Love our guide Mohammed. Next post - Karnak Temple ! (sorry so many posts - there's just soooo much to tell).
OK - 2nd part of day 1. We arrived in Luxor and went straight from the airport to Luxor Temple. Even at night it was such a sight. This temple was built by Amenhotep III around 14th century B.C. and later added to by Rameses II. Just look at some of these amazing photos - and remember it was 1400 b.c. - amazing. remember you can click on the photos to see bigger.
Now - this is a horrible photo but I had to include it becase it's so amazing. This is a street lined with sphinxes. This is a relatively new discovery - it's called the Avenue of the Sphinxes. This street goes from the Luxor Temple to the Karnak Temple which is some 2 miles away. Eventually the entire street will be excavated and what an amazing thing that would be to see - I have to go back and walk that street once it's all uncovered.
Now - off to our hotel for dinner and a quick few hours sleep so we can make a very early start the next morning. Tour guide Mohammed runs a very tight operation ! Next post - Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple.
Our trip to Egypt was so absolutely incredible - I am not sure I will be able to do it justice here.
The adventure started before we even arrived in Alexandria. We had an Egyptologist on board the ship who gave several lectures on Egyptian history in anticipation of our visit. These lectures added so much to our experience in understanding what we were seeing.
We arrived in Alexandria very early on day 1, and quickly boarded a bus with our tour guide, Mohammed Ali, and started the 3-hour journey to Cairo. (anybody remember Gilligan's Island ? "a 3 hour tour"). Mohammed kept us very well entertained during the bus ride telling us many stories of his country and it's history. Turns out that Mohammed was more than well educated in Egyptian history. There were only 24 of us in our group and I think we all felt fortunate to have gotten him for a guide.
Then we were there - outside Cairo - the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. Wow. These are so impressive. Huge - bigger than I thought. And built around 2500 b.c. Wow. We were just in awe - all of us. Just click on this photo to see it bigger....... then savor the majesty of it all....... Wow.
The vendors here were super aggressive. It was very hard to shake them. One guy kept following us around and finally offered Val 200 camels for ME. Val counter-offered and said he would take 300 camels (thanks honey) and the guy walked away. Evidently I am worth somewhere between 200 and 300 camels. Good to know.
Then time for a quick lunch and then off to the airport - no time to spare - for our flight to Luxor. Next post - Luxor Temple!!
