Solar Eclips Tour Libya/Egypt 22 March-5 April 2006

Foreword

During our trip I wrote every night a short story about our adventures of the day. I have done this of all my trips but never ever thought about sharing this with others. I thought this trip was very special and so I like to share this with all my friends and family and of course I also like to share this with our fellow travellers. This website is a translation of my travel dairy with some extra explanations and some photos. We have lots more photos. If you are interested please let us know so we can send you the link of the photo website. English is not my native language. I hope that I did not make too much mistakes, but I’m sure that this website gives a good impression of our experiences in Libya and Egypt.

The Trip

The trip was booked almost a year in advance. We found this trip via the Internet. John-Paul and I were browsing to find a possibility to be able to watch the eclipse of 2006 either in the desert of Libya or somewhere in Egypt or in Turkey. Libya would be the best, both for the weather expectations and the total time of the solar eclipse. But we had no idea how to you get to Libya and if it would be possible to travel around safe. We found several tours and after comparing some of them we decided that the trip offered by Journeys Worldwide was the best solution for us. So we booked the trip, bought the Lonely Planet for Libya, start to prepare a bit and we were certainly looking forward to this trip.

Finally the time came to pack our suitcase and to head for Libya. We had some hiccups in the final preparation but in time we were at Auckland Airport to board the Emirates flight to Dubai and from Dubai to Tripoli. Totally almost 24 hours of flying, 4 stops and 10 hours of time difference. You have to bear something to get something.

Around 02.45 p.m. we landed at Tripoli Airport. This was almost on the scheduled time of arrival. We had our first encounter with the bureaucracy of Libya. It took us almost 1.5 hour to get through the passport control. This doesn’t bode well for the continuation of the trip but this turned out better than expected. Libya tried everything to treat their guests for the solar eclipse as real VIPs so actually I really have no point to complain about the bureaucracy of Libya.

Before I continue with the actual beginning of the trip, I really need to tell about the meeting with a former colleague of the KLM. At the airport we met Axel, a colleague of mine while I worked for the department Business Development of KLM. Of course it is always possible to meet KLM staff at an Airport but he just flew in from Amsterdam and we arrived of course from New Zealand. It is a small world!! We chatted while waiting for the baggage. It was good to hear his experiences of working in a country like Libya.

OK, after two hours we had our baggage and we did meet Dick, our Tour Leader.
We also met the other people of our tour group. The group contained 61 people, 8 from New Zealand, 49 from Australia, 1 from South Africa and 2 from Europe (if I’m correct). Two luxury buses were waiting outside to bring us to our first hotel in Tripoli. The bus ride took approximately 40 minutes. It is difficult to describe my first impressions. What I do remember that the highway does have lineation but that the drivers don’t know why those lines are on the street. They just ride on the lines instead of between the lines. And of course there was the dirt. Refuse everywhere, along the streets, near the houses, even on the roofs of the houses. Also I have to mention the photos of Gaddafi everywhere. I will tell a little bit more about this later in the story.

Our hotel was at the sea. It was called the Blue Ship because it was blue and looked like a ship. The outside looked neglected, but the sand and wind probably caused this. The lobby was still glamorous and huge. We arrived at the hotel around 04.30 p.m. and I think you can understand that we were knackered, but no time to go to bed yet. A meeting was organised at 06.30 p.m. and dinner was at eight. We went to our room, refreshed ourselves and waited till it was time to go to the meeting. Dick informed us about the itinerary of our trip. He also explained some of the habits in Libya. For example, in Libya you don’t have to bargain. You have to have some patience and he informed us about the contents of a meal: Salad, soup, main course and fruit. Peter, a group member, gave some information of the solar eclipse. The meeting took approximately an hour and was ended with some fruit juices and cakes.

Dinner should have been at 08.00 p.m. Dick had warned us about the fact that the Libyan people are not so very particular with appointments. And we encountered this directly because the restaurant was not ready and we had to return at 08.30 p.m. I was almost asleep and I don’t know how I managed to keep my eyes open during dinner. I know I was not really pleasant company and within 20 minutes we were back at the room for a good night sleep. Food was good, nice chicken soup and salads. I did not eat much more.

The next day we were heading for Sabratha. Departure time 09.00 a.m., so that was not too bad. Breakfast contained white bread rolls, croissants, cheese, jam and it seemed that there was some hot stuff also but that was finished by the time we were in the breakfast room. Also the hotel had never expected to have so many guests at the same time because there was a shortage of everything like cups and cutlery. The staff worked hard though and learnt of the experience so the next morning they knew how to deal with the amount of guests.

Around 09.00 a.m. we left for Sabratha. It was a bus ride of approximately 2 hours. Again we had a chance to get a glimpse of the Libyan life. First the bus drove along the waterfront. Tripoli has a nice esplanade and I noticed quite some playgrounds for kids.
In contradiction we saw a lot of scrap in the harbour. Boats which will never sail again but which are left for no reason at all. Tripoli also has a small very modern area. This area has some high risers, mainly hotels and offices. In contradiction to this, we saw a lot of unfinished or not maintained houses. There is no luxury at all, no nice gardens or pavements around the houses. But every one has satellite dish and also almost every one has a car. Don’t ask what kind of car. Main important thing is that it drives and hoots. And if a car did not drive anymore it was just left behind somewhere. So we so a lot of wrecks everywhere.

We had two buses and both buses had a Libyan guide and a security guard. The security guard was compulsory and he actually did not do anything. He also did not have a weapon. I assume it is just a way to create jobs. The two guides, Moammer and Miftah spoke English very well. Moammer was on our bus. In the beginning he told a bit about Libya in general. Afterwards he “forgot” he was supposed to be a guide. He talked a lot with some of us privately so we could learn a lot about the Libyan life. But if you were in the back of the bus, you did not have this luck.

Around 11.00 a.m. we arrived at Sabratha, an ancient Roman city. Most of the city was built around 200 years AD. Some of Sabratha’s monuments are faithful modern reconstructions of the Roman originals; the most stunning example is the theatre. The remainder are in varying stages of decay. To me the location of Sabratha made it very special. On the foreground the ruins and on the background the blue Mediterranean, this gave great views. We walked around for almost 3 hours. It was quite warm and the sun was shining. Headgear and sunscreen were really necessary.

We had lunch in the modern Sabratha. This was a very good lunch: a nice salad, Libyan soup, main course of some meat, chicken, rice and vegetables and the desert of fresh dates. For me the first time I ate dates and I think I will never have them so delicious again.

After lunch we returned to ancient Sabratha to have a quick visit at the museum. Only one wing was open. In this wing we could see some superb mosaics. Our local guide Bashir (his name is even mentioned in the Lonely Planet) thanked us for our visit and called us ambassadors for his county. Again and again he told us how happy he was that we visited Libya and he let us know how welcome we were. He really meant this and he expressed what we encountered throughout the whole trip in Libya. We were really welcome and not only because of the money we are bringing into the country.

Around 05.15 p.m. we returned at the hotel. It was not sure were we could go for dinner so we were requested to be at seven at the lobby so we could go somewhere to eat. We had a little rest. Before dinner we had a short scenic tour through the city. Unfortunately it was too dark to have a good view, but the “old city” looked very nice and certainly worth a visit. Dinner was at a restaurant near the horse track and it was quite similar to the lunch we had this afternoon. We still had a bit of a jetlag and around 09.30 it was hard to keep our eyes open. John-Paul, Stephen, Annette and me were discussing taking a taxi back to the hotel but luckily everyone had the same idea, so we returned to the hotel at 10.00.
(Stephen and Annette is a couple from Invercargill, New Zealand.)

During the day we had the chance to get to know our fellow travellers a bit better and we found out that it was a very interesting group of people. The majority of the group was a bit older as we but everyone had travelled a lot and it was very nice to hear their stories.
During our lunch we sat across Peter and Ruth, who are living in the Wairarapa right now, but they lived in Wellington and still have an apartment in Wellington.

The second day of our stay in Tripoli was reserved to go to Leptis Magna. This is considered as the cultural highlight of Libya and yes, I can image why. It is HUGE.
The trip took around 1.5 hours. Everybody rushed out of the bus. Not because they were so eager to see Leptis Magna, but to go to the toilets and also the little souvenir shops were the target. So it took a while before everyone gathered together to have the guided tour by Moammer through the ruins.

The ruins are impressive. The first sight is the Arch of Septimus Severus. This is a grand introduction to the architectural excesses of the city. It was built in AD203. We continued to the Hadrianic Baths, the Nymphaeum, the Great Colonnaded Street, the Severan Forum and then into the Basilica. I think I never saw so many parts of statues and remains of a Church as in the basilica. Indescribable. And at this stage we were only half way. The tour went on to the Byzantine Gate, the Old Forum, the Port, the Market, the Chalcidicum and finally the Theatre. We walked for more than three hours through the ruins and it was really amazing but at the end some of us saw enough of the stones and were longing for the lunch. We made a tremendous amount of photos.

The afternoon was reserved for the Amphitheatre and the Circus of Leptis Magna. Both are situated in the dunes and the Amphitheatre was pretty good preserved. Around 06.15 p.m. we arrived back at the hotel.

The bus to the restaurant departed at 07.30 p.m. We ate at a fish restaurant in the old town of Tripoli this time. The restaurant was close to the Arch of Marcus Aurelius. Another remains of the Romans, and a good opportunity to make some nice pictures.

The next morning we could have a bit of a sleep in. Departure at 09.00 a.m. This was not too bad, but we had to pack because this evening we would leave by plane to Benghazi. This turned out to be a very long and exhausting day.

At the end we were ready to leave the hotel at 09.30. The first stop was the National Museum (Jamahirya Museum). The guides started to talk and to talk and to talk, very interesting of course, but John-Paul and I decided that we would do a quick tour through the museum and than will have a look at the real live in the city. We saw enough stones and statues. This did not mean that we did not enjoy the museum, but 1.5 hours was enough for us. John and Josephine (a couple from Melbourne) had the same idea as us, so we ended up together outside the museum and we decided to go for a little expedition. I had the Lonely Planet and in this “bible” a walking tour was given. So with the LP in the hand we started our exploration.

The LP directed us directly to the souq. To me the best place in Tripoli. It was so colourful, so full of activity, so much variety, two eyes and a camera where not enough to record all the impressions. The copper souq I have to mention separately because this was really special. It looked like the time stopped for more than 100 years. Lots of men were forging all kind of metals under really terrible circumstance, no labour laws or Health and Safety regulations. The men were really friendly and more than willing to show what they were doing.

I had been to other souqs but I expected to be bothered by sales man and beggars, but not in the souq of Tripoli. Luckily they still don’t have a clue that they can make a lot of money from the tourists. You even don’t have to bargain. Very easy, fixed prices and also very good prices. We did not buy much but it was a real GREAT experience.

We had to return to the bus at 12.30 for a little walking tour through the old City. Let’s say that this was not the best-organised part of the trip, but OK we saw the best part already so we just followed and saw some other buildings in Tripoli. After this there was lunch again and after lunch we had some free time. John-Paul and I used this to send some e-mails to family and friends. We also had a little stroll through the Italian quarter and this gave me the idea that Tripoli has a lot of potential to become a nice “City trip” stop, but a lot of maintenance has to be done.

Before I continue with the story of our trip, I just like to tell something about Libya since Gaddafi took over from King Idris in 1969. Of course this was a military coup but in Libya they like to call it the Revolution. I have no idea of what Gaddafi all did, but from what I saw in Libya I do think that he did good things for the population. There is enough work. The people don’t earn much money but the government sponsors the necessities of life so there is no much need for a lot of money. I did not see big contradictions. This equality provides peace amongst the people and I have the feeling that they all are quite happy.
Of course this is my opinion.

What I don’t understand is the fact that he is visible everywhere. You see big billboards with his photo along the streets. His photo is in every building. Everywhere you see signs with 36 on it (36 years since the revolution) and they change this every year. You can buy watches with is photo and a T-shirt. But than again, in London you can buy souvenirs with Elizabeth on it, so I will compare it with this.

The buses left for the airport at 06.30 p.m. The departure time of the flight was 21.00 hours. We left from the domestic terminal; this was situated close to our hotel. I think it was a good thing that I had no idea how the whole check-in procedure went because maybe I would have stepped up and would have done the group check-in my self. But I’m not an passenger handling employee anymore, so I just read my book and waited patiently.

I must not say: “of course the flight left not in time”, but we indeed did not leave in time. For some kind of reason a Baggage Identification Check at the apron was needed. Also we had a chartered aircraft from Tunisia (Karthago Airlines) and I think that had their own baggage handling and operation staff with them. Or they made the load sheet manually, anyway it took ages and finally we left an hour late. The flight took an hour so we landed at Benghazi airport around 23.00 hours. The luggage was pretty fast in the arrival area but it all took some time before we were able to leave for the hotel. You probably can image that we were pretty exhausted at this stage. As a nice surprise the local authorities of Benghazi had decided that we were real VIPs so we had a police escort of even two police cars. Although we did not have to stop for any traffic light, it was still long after midnight that we arrived at the hotel. Probably the best hotel we stayed in Libya, but we only could spend 7 hours here because the buses left again at 08.30 a.m. the next day.

While we were checking in the hotel Dick advised that there was still something to eat for us in the dining room. John-Paul and I decided to have something to eat before we would go to our room. This was a bit of an embarrassing experience, because the full staff was waiting for a group of sixty people. A whole buffet was there for us, with more than 6 chefs waiting to serve us and than only John-Paul and I came in and just wanted some soup and bread. After a while some more fellow travellers came, so we felt a bit better about this. We were in bed by 02.00 a.m. and we knew that the wake up call would be around 07.00 a.m. Not much sleep after such an exhausting day.

Breakfast the next morning was great. Lots of nice sweet rolls and great cheese, this is important when you are Dutch. Again we had to fight for the cups but in the end we really enjoyed this breakfast. Mr Dick had advised us that after Tripoli things might become worse but this breakfast proved that things did change in a year. The hotel was a real nice hotel also, but like everything in Libya, it needs maintenance. But I don’t have any complaints.

Departure time was scheduled for 08.30 but due to some problems we did not leave before 09.30. Mr Dick predicted an arrival time of around 17.23 or 17.24 in the hotel in Apollonia. Actually the town was called Susa, but the ancient name is Apollonia.

From this day on we were really treated as VIPs. Again two police cars escorted us and everybody was waving or saluting to our bus. Our first goal was the bridge near Wadi Al Kuf. The bus ride was very scenic because we drove through the Green Mountains and like the name does do expect, it is a real green area. It is a plateau just behind the coast and divides the coastal area from the desert. For Libya this is an important area because of the possibility to grow food here.

We walked across the bridge and took some time to make some photos. After half an hour we continued our trip to the Greek ruins at Cyrene.

The Ancient city of Cyrene is again one of the undoubted highlights of a visit to Libya. It was the premier city of the Greek Pentapolis and its glorious remains are an enduring testament to the great civilisations that flourished along the northern Libyan coast. To me the highlight was having our lunch here in this environment. This was really a great spot to enjoy the contents of our lunch box. Maybe it was not really enough but like everyday John-Paul and I had some cheese sandwiches taken from the breakfast buffet. And I know I saw some jealous faces.

After lunch Moammer guided us along the Gymnasium, the Skyrota, the house of Jason Magnus, the house of Hesychius, Agora, the Sanctuary of Apollo and the Theatre. Luckily for him, the Lonely Planet described it all very clear, so he could read to us from the LP. He did a good job. Today was a bit a cold day. Of course, the altitude also caused this cold. We walked for approximately 2 hours and at the end of this walk I had seen enough stones but we continued are trip to another part of this site, to the Temple of Zeus.

The Temple of Zeus is a huge temple. It is even larger than the Parthenon in Athens. It was built in the 5th century BC. Nice to see, but I wanted to go to the hotel. The short night sleep started to pay his toll. It was not a long stop and next stop would be the hotel in Susa near the remains of Apollonia. Like Dick had predicted, we arrived at 17.24.

The hotel we stayed was only a year and a half old, so pretty good and certainly I have to mention the dinner buffet. They made an international buffet so not only the Libyan specialities but a lot more variety. I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately the queue to go for a second round was to long, but I assume this was to protect me for the extra calories. The desert buffet was very good too. We did not do anything more in Susa as just enjoying the meal. We were too exhausted to do anything else.

The excitements about the solar eclipse grew. It was only a long driving day away. We drove along the Mediterranean. I think Libya has a lot of potential to become a holiday destination for Europe, like the Spanish coast, but then of course a lot of things need to be done and I don’t think it would happen shortly. Today Dick predicted the driving time wrongly. It was not as long as he thought and way head of schedule we arrived at the first stop, the Knightsbridge Cemetery, 20 km from Tobruk.

A lot of important battles were fought in the area around Tobruk. Lots of men lost their lives and among them lots of Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans. So to our fellow travellers this visit was very emotional and important. This part of the Second World War did not mean much to John-Paul and me. We were taught different stories at school, about what happened in Western Europe. But now we had to chance to learn something about the ANZAC involvement and so now next ANZAC day we do know why we have a day off. (ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand is like 4 and 5 May in the Netherlands.)

We also made a brief stop at a former Australian war hospital, which was situated in caves surrounded by fig trees. This was a perfect sheltered spot during the war.

Around 04.00 p.m. we arrived at the hotel in Tobruk, a government owned hotel this time. This meant that even less maintenance was done, but the bed was OK and what more do you need. So far we never had time for a swim, so it did not matter that there was no water in the swimming pool. Maybe today we had some time to go for a swim but we thought it is far more interesting to go into Tobruk.

The Lonely Planet describes that Tobruk is completely uninspiring. I completely disagree. To me the two nights and one day in Tobruk and surroundings were the highlight of this trip. Of course the Total Solar Eclipse has something to do with this.

Together with John and Josephine we walked to the Town centre. The hotel was not really situated in the centre. We had to walk for approximately 30 minutes. During this walk everybody waved to us, or cars hooted to us. We felt like we were of some royal family. People came to us and wanted to take pictures, either of us or together with them. And if they spoke a bit of English they tried to have a conversation with us. A policeman stopped the traffic for us so we were able to cross the street. It was an amazing experience. The people were so friendly and they really meant it when they said:
“Welcome to Libya”. This did not have a commercial reason or other ulterior motive. They were just really happy that now tourists came to visit their city and only maybe they were hoping that we would share our experiences with more people so that in the future more people like to come to Tobruk.

At the same time as we arrived in Tobruk a big cruise boat arrived. The people on the boat came also for the solar eclipse but they did not leave the boat. We found out later from some New Zealanders on the ship that they were advised not to leave the ship unaccompanied. What a shame!

We could not discover a nice place to have something to drink so we ended up in an Internet cafe, so we did have some contact with the friends and family either in Europe or New Zealand. We also went to a little grocery shop to buy some crisps and biscuits for during the Solar Eclipse. I really enjoyed this afternoon and the experiences the next day were even better, but I will write that down later.

Dinner at the hotel was not the great, soup and salad for OK, but the main course was not much and not good. The dining room was also very special, very spacious but not really cosy. Breakfast the next morning was OK.

Finally it was the day of the Eclipse. It was also the first day we left in time. At 08.05 a.m. the buses drove towards the destination in the desert. The sky was clear but directly when we drove out of the city into the desert it was foggy. Not really good for a solar eclipse of course but we kept our fingers crossed and after one hour suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and we had the best conditions we could have wished for.

Libya had done everything to organise this event perfectly. We really need to thank them for this. They had arranged two camps, with toilet facilities, a souvenir shop and some catering. Even for the people of the cruise boat there was a duty free shop. I think that around 2 to 3 thousand people were gathered here to watch the solar eclipse. The atmosphere was superb. Everywhere groups of people gathered around telescopes or huge camera gear. The organisation had taken care of arranging chairs and tables. We did not have a chair. We just sat down on the sand and enjoyed this miracle together with Peter and Ruth and Stephen and Annette, six Kiwis.

From the moment of first contact Peter and Stephen started to take photos. We also followed the instructions out of a magazine to be able to follow the process even better.
Slowly the colours of the desert were changing and the excitement grew minute by minute. The final minute before the total eclipse was superb. Or maybe it was only 10 seconds but suddenly it went all so fast, the shadow bands, the darkness, the 360 degree sunset colours, diamond ring and the Corona. We enjoyed every second of the 4 minutes of this total solar eclipse. It was hard to choose were to look, to the covered sun or looking around to the marvellous 360-degree sunset colours. I think I will never see this 360-degree sunset colours again. I will see another total eclipse again somewhere but this full circle of sunset colours was really something special.

Photo Stephen Voss

Too fast it was over. Maybe for the first time a whole group of people had a hangover in Libya (a non-alcoholic country). People started to cheer and applaud but it was over and done and this made us feel a little sad as well. We stayed until fourth contact. A long queue of buses left the desert again. Will we all meet again in Mongolia 2008??????

Around 04.00 p.m. we arrived back at the hotel. We wanted to go back to centre of Tobruk. Our kiwi friends joined us and we had a great afternoon again. First again to the Internet cafe to send some more e-mail. In front of the Internet cafe we met some more kiwis. They stayed on the boat and were friends of Peter and Ruth. Together we walked through the city. The people were as enthusiastic as the day before. We did meet an English teacher. We talked with her for quite a while and it was interesting to hear her stories. A little boy brought us homemade falafel. The gesture was great but I was afraid to eat it. Stupidly enough I did because it smelled so good. And it was OK because I did not become sick of it.









We found the market and strolled for quite a while through Tobruk. Again the people were so friendly and Tobruk will have a special place in my heart forever.

Around 07.15 p.m. we were back in the hotel. Dinner was a photocopy of last night except for the desert. This time we got a little cake instead of the banana. At 10.00 p.m. we went to sleep again. And I probably had nice dreams after this perfect day.

“The day after”, there is no other way to describe our day trip across the border to Egypt. It was a long drive today, with 3 hours of waiting at the border between Libya and Egypt. It took 2 hours to get from Tobruk to the border. First one immigration officer checked if everyone had a passport. Quite naive I thought that this was the check, but how wrong was I. We had to hand over our passports and after an hour and half we got them back. We were allowed to leave Libya. At the Egypt border again first one officer entered the bus to check the passports for the visa. A second officer checked the passports and the faces, so again I thought OK, we can go, but I was wrong again. Now we had to leave the bus and queue up in front of a little office. We all got a stamp and we were allowed to enter Egypt. We hoped we could continue now, because this took almost an hour also. Unfortunately this bus trip was stopped after a minute. We all had to identify our luggage and had to put it through an X-ray machine. Don’t ask me why, luckily it went quite fast and this was indeed the last check. So after 3 hours we entered Egypt.

After the border we still had to drive for 3 hours to get the hotel. And because we stopped for lunch for about 45 minutes we arrived at the hotel around 07.00 p.m. Lots of us were really looking forward to a swim in the Mediterranean but they had to postpone this until the next morning. I had hoped for a quiet afternoon in this beach resort because the itinerary had described it so wonderful: “We stay in a beach resort with a private beach”.
Now we had only time for our dinner. This dinner was one the best we had during the trip. Great salads, good soup, tender meat with stuffed artichoke for the main course and a delicious desert buffet.

The next day we had to drive 300 kilometres to Alexandria. The schedule for the day was driving for two hours, then have a stop at the war museum of The Al-Alemein and at the war cemetery of Al-Alemein. After these stops we should continue to the library of Alexandria. The stop at the war cemetery took a bit longer than expected so the plan changed and we went directly to the hotel in Alexandria. Personally I thought this was a great plan because we would stay in the Hilton and I was looking forward to a rest.

The trip to Alexandria was not really interesting. I have to mention all the beach resorts along the coast. There are there in every variety: to be built, almost ready, finished, ready and neglected and all most destroyed already. One thing they had all in common: They were all deserted and every beach resort contained all the same houses or apartment buildings. They did not look as beach resorts to me, more like prison camps. I would like to know how you are able to find the way back home to your house if you stay in one of these areas.

The bus driver did not know how to find his way in Alexandria and this was pretty exciting. Especially when he entered a one-way street from the wrong side and got in contact with a taxi. I thought that we were in the middle of a wild-west movie. Luckily nothing happened but we did have a guard with a gun in the bus and I heard from the people who saw it all happening that he was pointing the gun at that poor taxi driver. Our bus driver was pretty aggressive. Well, we reached our hotel safely. And John-Paul and I became the guests of a luxury suite.

The Hilton was situated in and around a shopping mall, or maybe it is the other way around, a luxury shopping mall has been built around the Hilton. It was not really Egyptian but it felt good and safe to walk around in this area. We went to the Internet cafe and gave ourselves a big treat: Cappuccino with chocolate cake (the first coffee since we left Wellington). We stayed for more than an hour. Some more group members joined us.

We had agreed to meet with our fellow kiwi travellers around 07.30 p.m. for dinner. We walked through the shopping centre and we found a nice restaurant. Although I really don’t have any complaints about the food during our trip, we were all looking forward to something else as the food what we had for the last couple of days. John-Paul and I took a pizza. It was a nice evening together with our new friends. After dinner we went to a supermarket to get some water and food for the next day. And we headed back to our suite to enjoy the luxury of it.

The next day we met our new guide, Osama. He knew a lot, but he really enjoyed listening to himself and he did not really have a lot humour. And I think that maybe in the future he might start to look out for a job as teacher. I think that this will fit him better.

We had one more day to go to reach our final destination Cairo. This was today. We first did some sightseeing in Alexandria. We visited the Catacombs. This was not really a success for me. We went down underground to visit the tombs and suddenly the lights went out. Not really nice if you are a little claustrophobic like me. The second stop was at Pompei’s Pillar. This is one of the largest pillars in the former Roman Empire. The third stop was at a look out point near Fort Kait Bey. The nicest thing about this stop was the friendliness and curiosity of the people. Lots of school kids who were eager to talk to us although they didn’t speak any English.

At a certain moment I was surrounded by 10 schoolgirls who all wanted to take a photo of me with them. I did not expect things like this to happen in Egypt. I was a bit suspicious all the time but as long as you don’t try to buy anything or as long as you are not in a real tourist area then this is not necessary.

The fourth and last stop in Alexandria was at the Library. We could not go in, only to the toilets and this was a real disappointment to some of us. The Library is housed in a beautiful modern building. It was once one of the largest libraries of the world.

The stops were informative but the street live we saw while driving through Alexandria was even better. So many impressions: donkeys and horses, yellow/black taxi wrecks, modern and luxury buildings along the esplanade, neglected houses and apartments, little shops and colourful market booths, women carrying stuff on the heads, men smoking the water pipe and lots and lots more.

After this stop we started our final stage to Cairo. We stopped at a road house. After this stop we drove directly to Cairo. At 05.30 p.m. we arrived in Cairo. The guide brought us to a shop to buy Egyptian cotton. This was a very commercial stop and because of this stop our sightseeing tour through Cairo was in the dusk. We arrived at the Ramses Hilton Hotel at 07.00 p.m.

We were quite exhausted and we decided to have dinner together in the restaurant of the hotel. The prices were a bit higher than we were used to, but to celebrate this great trip we choose a cocktail of the cocktail list and we drank to a wonderful trip.

The last full day of our trip with the complete group was full of pyramids. After today the majority of the group would continue to Luxor to make a Nile cruise and 8 of the group including John-Paul and me would return home. The first stop of this day was Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. I had been there before, 17 years ago, but it was all different now. I even thought that the big Ramses statue was moved but when we returned home I checked my old photos and it was still on the same spot. I had completely forgotten that it was in a building. So let this be a little warning for you all my fellow travellers: “Check your photos on a regular basis so the memory will stay fresh”.

From Memphis we went to Sakara. Here are also some pyramids and tombs. We stayed her from more than an hour. After this stop we had a lunch in a local restaurant.
After the lunch Mister Dick did his last speech of the tour. He thanked us all and we thanked him. He really organised a great tour.

The final stop was at the pyramids of Giza. These pyramids are of course world famous, if someone talks about pyramids, 99 out of 100 times he or she talks about these pyramids. Of course the pyramids are very special but maybe it was to crowded or I got annoyed by the camel or horse drivers who came up to you to persuade you to make a ride, but they could not fascinate me. This was probably caused by the fresh memories of Libya, an unspoilt and pretty quiet country. I know I'm pretty spoilt to think like this, because of course it is great to be at one of the seven world wonders. So we had ourselves immortalised on a photo in front of the three pyramids of Giza.

The buses took us also to the Sphinx. It was under construction.

The Nile Cruise Group had to leave at 03.30 a.m. the next morning to the airport, so we said goodbye in the lobby of the hotel when we arrived back from our pyramids day. It felt strange that the group divided now, but we had great time. We did meet a lot of interesting people, we made some new friends and we all share a great memory of the total solar eclipse of the 29th of March in the desert near Tobruk, Libya.

For the last evening we booked a sound and light show at the pyramids. Although it was in French it was still very interesting and nice to see.

For the 8 remaining travellers a visit to the Egyptian Museum was the last part of the trip. The guide Osama went together with the group to Luxor, so another guide accompanied us to the Museum. He was really good. He showed us the highlights of the museum and this was an interesting end of our tour.

At 03.00 p.m. we were picked up from the hotel to be brought to the airport. Our flight left at 06.15 p.m. for Dubai. We had a hotel booked in Dubai. We just could sleep for 4 hours but now I can say that I have visited Dubai. The connecting flight to Auckland via Singapore and Brisbane left on time and it all went very smoothly. Right on time we landed at Auckland Airport. We had some hours to wait for our flight back to Wellington and we were really knackered when we arrived home safe and really satisfied.