Bab Zuwayla

Yesterday was the 6th of October, so we got the day off. I decided to do a little bit of exploring around Cairo. Esther has offered to take me and 2 other girls to Bab Zuwayla. Bab Zuweila is a medieval gate in Cairo, which is still standing in modern times. It was also known as Bawabbat al-Mitwali during the Ottoman period, and is sometimes spelled Bab Zuwayla. It is considered one of the major landmarks of the city, and is the last remaining southern gate from the walls of Fatimid Cairo in the 11th and 12th century. Its name comes fromBab, meaning "Gate", andZuwayla, the name of a troop of fearsome Berber warriors from thewestern desert who were charged with guarding the gate.

The city of Cairo was founded in 969 as the royal city of the Fatimid's Dynasty. In 1092, Badr al-Jamali built a second wall around Cairo. Bab Zuweila was the southern gate in this wall. It has twin towers (minarets) which can be accessed via a steep climb. In earlier times they were used to scout for enemy troops in the surrounding countryside, and in modern times, they are hailed for providing one of the best views of Old Cairo. The structure also has a famous platform. Executions would sometimes take place there, and it was also from this location that the Sultan would stand to watch the beginning of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. (courtesy to Wikipedia).

We got there around 11 and we stayed until the call to prayer, as people say it is quite impressive to hear all the surrounding mosques going on at the same time. We waited patiently and it was indeed impressive. I called it "traffic jam of sounds" - there are like 6 mosques around and it sounded quite morbid to hear them all from the top of the minaret.

I richly enjoyed it!

After that we decided to go for a walk around the area and we ended up in a souk; it was fascinating!! So many people, so many things, cars and bicycles, scooters trying to all find their way on this little path!

We were close to Khan el Khalili so we stopped there for a bit as well. I've never been to Khan during the day - there were too many tourists there i thought. In the evening it is nicer .. there are lights and there's a special feeling about it!

I took the girls to the famous (in my opinion) restaurant that sells Egyptian Pancakes. We got 2 big ones: one with bananas and one with mixed sweets (honey, sugar, coconut, raisins etc). The girls loved it!! I think every tourist needs to stop there and try a pancake; they are quite different than the American pancakes or the European crepes.It was a day full of fun!

Holiday in Dahab

A couple of weeks ago together with Nichole (aka Muppet, Nix), Kelli and Bronwyn i went to Dahab, one of my favourite places in Egypt (there's at least one thing i like about Masr LOL).

Thanks to Bronwyn i was spared of a 9 hour bus drive which is often a terrible experience, just because she had a 4x4 and we drove there. We left Cairo on a Thursday afternoon, right after school.

We rented a beautiful apartment there that i totally reccomend (http://www.dahab.net/; check the Sea Stars apts - very cool and friendly owner - Tim). During the 4 or 5 days we spent there we got henna tatoos - all the same, apart from Kelli which has betrayed The Pride (as we called ourselves).

We have also taken the quads into the desert (Bronwyn stayed behind, as she had homework) - that was an awesome experience, especially for Kelli ... I am sure Nix has enjoyed it as much!! :P Luckily, we were with some Jordanian guys and they were able to get our guide to offer the best ride ever!

most afternoons were spent on the beach, snorkelling, having drinks (soft), getting a tan ... and getting hassled by the little girls who sell bracelets/anklets.

Our apartment had an awesome rooftop with a nice sitting area, so we spent most evenings there, apart from the one night spent at RUSh .... quite an interesting place, with even more interesting people, i'd say. We went to our friend, Dr Sheesha for his special mix - apple mint sheesha. We actually bought a big sheesha to have for ourselves at the apartment.

We had more fun than it sounds in this post, just because i am talking about facts and activities... but it is something that i will remember for a long time! :D

Pyramids!!!

I took Cristina and Dutu to the pyramids and we had so much fun! Nichole's parents came too, so there was quite a group!We decided to ride camels around the pyramids and i got the price down from 150 LE to 30 LE/hour. We spent 2 hrs on the camels. Me and Nichole got horses, as we didnt want camels. Cristina was too scared of the camel so i took her camel and she took my horse. It was alright in the end.

Mahmoud, the guide, was very funny - he was hitting on me. I thought he was in his 30's but to my surprise, i found out later he is only 24.

I've been to the pyramids before, but this was by far the most pleasant experience so far. We got a good deal on the camels and enjoyed the ride a lot!

We ended up by the Sphinx and this little girl came to sell us things; cristina bought something. The little girl wanted to take pictures of us - she was very good at it as you can see; the pics look very touristy, but i love them, so i cant help not posting them!

I keep saying i am not a tourist, as i live here now and it seems like my home, but when you go to sites like this, you cannot help not being treated as a tourist.

I am happy Cristina and Dutu enjoyed themselves and so did Nichole's parents.

Visiting Cairo

Nichole's friends were here visiting for 5 days and we were all tourists. I joined them for some things that i did not get to see in Cairo yet.We went to Coptic Cairo - visited the Museum there, went to the Hanging church. I was impressed that there was no entrance fee for the church. But what shocked me the most was this young man who approached us and offered to give us a tour of the church. He said he volunteers for the church and that it is all for free - we do not have to pay; he emphasized that! Once he finished he just left, without waiting around for a tip. You don't see that very often here.

We also took a felucca ride and the guys joined us. The sunset was gorgeous!!! These are the things worth taking time for - it is so easy to just get a taxi to the corniche and jump on a felucca to get away from the noisy city!Of course we took the girls to Khan el Khalili - it was crazy there, but the girls got scarves for a really good price - 20-25 Le. We had to stop for Egyptian pancakes at the end of all the craziness. Ben was the one who showed me and Nichole that place. Not bad!

We also went to see Cairo Tower - 187 metres, it is 43 metres higher than the pyramid of Giza. I freaked out as it was way too high for me! I stepped out and tried to walk around it but got too scared, so i called Leah to take me back to the door.

Day trip to Alexandria

This year, there was nothing fancy going on on New Year's Eve; we actually went out for dinner at Spectra (i think it is my favorite restaurant here) + it is very close to our house. After dinner we went to Kathy's flat, played a few rounds of Dutch Blitz and had a cup of .... at midnight. I was in bed at 1 o'clock. But it was alright, as we had to wake up early in the morning to catch a train to Alexandria.
The train ride was only 2 hours; i slept for 1 hour while everyone else was reading.

We didnt quite have a plan of what we're going to do there; luckily, I had the lonely planet guide with me. When we got there it was all a bit muddy, as it rained the day before. We started walking; direction - nowhere. We stopped at one food stand for breakfast - foul and tameya. Don't know how good that was for breakfast (another update on Egyptian food some other time). We have all agreed that we want to see the Mediteranean Sea, so that was our first stop. After the impossible mission of crossing a 4 lane motorway, trying to find a bathroom, sneaking through the crowded narrow streets of the souk we got there. The sea is absolutely beautiful!!!!! I loved it!!

At one point it started raining - we were totally unprepaired for it! It never rains in Egypt! Well, it did this time! Rachel and Leah had an umbrella in their bag - lucky them! It was funny how we've been all complaining that it never rains and we want some rain, but then we all ran to shelter. We took taxis to go to the Library. The Royal Library in Alexandria was once the largest library in the world. It was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt. We didnt go inside - just had a warm drink in a cafeteria, just to warm up. The waitresses were hitting on Dave and we kept laughing about it. They were very pretty - i still think Dave should've gotten their numbers.

That was when we decided to make a plan and agree on what we want to see. So, our first major attraction was Fort Qaitbay - it is a fortress built upon/from the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

We had koshari for lunch and went to see the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (one of the seven wonders of the middle ages). It consists of a series of Alexandrian tombs, statues and archaeological objects of the Pharaonic funeral cult with Greek and early Roman influences. It was rediscovered in 1900 when a donkey accidentally fell into the access shaft. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take our cameras inside.Pompey Pillar - by the time we got there, there were closing, so we saw it from the gate. It is an approximately 25m red Aswan granite column with a circumference of 9m, which was constructed in honor of the Emperor Diocletain. Originally from the temple of the Serapis, it was once a magnificent structure rivaling the Soma and the Caesareum. The Pillar is the tallest ancient monument in Alexandria. it was all worth visiting! I enjoyed it very much - i think i could actually live there!

Trip to Aswan - Day 3

We had to wake up at 3 am to take a bus to see all the touristic places around Aswan: Abu el Sid, Philae Temple, the Dam and unfinished obelisk..

We were all tired and sitting in a packed little mini van; one Russian lady was sick and she threw up. It was a nice day, althoug tiring and we decided to go and see the unfinished Obelisk.

it has been an amazing trip, we enjoyed seeing all the monuments, making fun of the Brits (even though Rach was with us), trying to survive one more temple, or one more Egyptian trying to get an unrealistic amount of money off us just for a 5 min ride on a boat...

When we got back to Aswan we were exhausted! We walked on Sharia El Souk to get some food and most of the shops were closed. What we found, though, were piles of cows' skins, as they slaughtered the animals that morning. It looked and smelt like blood everywhere.

Trip to Aswan - Day 1

We had a short break, for the December Eid, so we decided to go to Aswan. the whole group was suppose to go, but people changed theird mind - so in the end it was just me, Nichole, Rachel and Esther. After a busy week, Esther and Rach went to the train station to get tickets the day before we left. Surprise: there were no more tickets. We decided to go early in the morning - maybe they will add another car to the train.
Early in the morning - we wake up - NIchole is sick. We make it to the metro station ... Nichole throws up. My oppinion - she will get better once she's thrown up. We manage to buy our tickets for 136 LE, French class (whatever that was suppose to mean) while NIchole keeps throwing up.
We were told to go to car 7, where 1st class was - we get on through the crowd of people, find our seats taken. Rach talks to them, NIchole is still sick, telling me she wants to go back home. I feel bad and try to convince her to stay. At the same time, men on the train laugh and make jokes. Angry, i turn around and shout - then the crowd starts calming down.
We found some empty seats, surrounded by Egyptian men. Nichole decides to get off. I accompany her. When i returned, there's a new scenario: our seats might be at the end of the train.
Let me try and describe you how the train looked: PACKED!!!!!!!There were people on the seats, under the seats, on top where you put your luggage, in between seats, on the aisle, pilled up on top of each other like a pyramid.... etc
Me and Rach adventure ourselves to the end of the train, passing from car to car, to see if we can find our places, telling Esther to keep the seats that we already occupied. We get to the end of the train and to ur surprise there was no 1st class there. We come back. Meanwhile, new people claim our seats - the ones we were sitting on. Esther willingly gives them our tickets. At this point we are all standing, led by a man who claims to know what he is doing. He tries to tell us that we have seats at the back of the train, so there we go again. We take our bags and carry it through the train, through the crowd of people. The man didnt even give us the chance to tell him that we've already checked the back of the train. We get to the end of the train - car 12
At this stage we dont knwo what to do ... We talk about getting off the train and heading back to Cairo. Hardly anyody spoke English on that train - our Arabic was limited ... and all around us there are oppionionated people - some say our seats are at the front of the train - car 1. At this point all i wanted was to get off the train and go home. I almost had tears in my eyes. After many debates, plus finding out that the next stop is in 2 hours, we decide to adventure ourselves and walk back - this time through the whole train to get to 1st class.
I an't describe how people were sitting, standing ... unbelieveable!! We managed to get to 1st class, but other people were sitting our on seats. At this point we are standing. I texted Nichole and told her she should be happy, that she returned, coz i was almost in tears.
Many people tried to help - Egyptian help - but htey had no idea what to do. We managed to get two seats - after an old man stood up and let us sit down. I felt so bad and tried to explain that i am ok and i feel bad having him standing. Rach is on the floor...
There was one man, in his 20's that tried to help us - his English was good and he said those are our seats, we paid for them bla bla .... while i was trying to tell him how bad i feel. Later, during our journey, he came back to check on us. After many smiles, he turned to me and said: "you know, earlier, your behavior was totally unacceptable here". Luckily, for him, i kept calm, smiled but inside i was burning .... Don't you tell me what is acceptable, or not acceptable!!!! It is not acceptable for me to argue that i cant have an older man standing, but it is acceptable for men to grab my ass while i go through the train!! Whatever... But, once again, i live in a country that is not my own, so i guess i should live according to their rules.
If you hadnt been through all the hassle and classes, we wouldnt have appreciated as much our 1st class seats.
The train ride was 16 hours, btw ... we got to Aswan at 11 pm... completely tired!!

Holiday in Dahab

Ok, i know this post should've come here a month ago, but i completely forgot i didnt post anything about my holiday in Dahab.

We had a one week holiday at the beggining of October, for the Eid. The Eid is a big thing here; it marks the end of Ramadan, when all the fasting is "khalas"; it is a bit like our Christmas day. So, me and Nichole plus some other work mates embarked on the first bus to Dahab. Dahab is a nice little town by the Red Sea - actually more the Gulf of Aqaba... It is close to Sharm el Sheikh, but more relaxed, cheaper, nicer in a very bedouin style.
We stayed at Dyarna Hotel - realy pleasant - not too pricey, with a nice swimming pool and breakfast included.

We went snorkelling by the Lighthouse and it was amazing!!! It was my first time snorkelling but i enjoyed it a lot!! We tried to snorkle further up but it was so windy and i got so many bruises from the reef!! Nichole got excited because she saw a lion fish and got near, without knowing they are poisonous and you can die if you touch them!

Second day in Dahab i tried scubadiving; it was an intro dive and i promised myself that was my first and last experience of that kind.

The water presure was too strong for my ears, plus i didnt see any fish!! Snorkelling was so much better! I went 8 or 10 m under water, which is quite of a thing for me! Well now i can say i've done it!

We couldn't have missed Sinai, so we took a night bus to St Catherine's. It took us 2 hours to get there. We started hiking at 2 am and got to the very top around 5 right in time for the sunrise. Numerous groups of Russians were up for the same thing as us, so it made it even harder to get a good spot at the top, in order to see the sunrise. It was packed!!!!!! We managed to find a spot, which was a bit dangerous, but we were able to enjoy our experience - sunrise from the top of Sinai mountain.

The whole hike was an adventure, with a crazy bedouin who made fun of all the Russians, and staring at the girls' bottoms, saying "babushka".

I forgot to say that the best place to eat in Dahab is the Funny Mummy - the atmosphere is amazing and the guys that work there are really great!!! the owner remembered Nichole, who's been there right when she arrived to Egypt. They have good sheesha there and the best chocolate milkshake in the world!!!!!!

Dahab seems to be out of Egypt, as there are many foreigners there and the rules that apply when living in Cairo, dont apply here ... you can wear any type of swimming suit you want, you can hold hands wt your bf/husband/fiancee ..whatever...

It is a cool place to go to! you can see Saudi Arabia from there!

An afternoon at Al Azhar

After the whole "ant incident" i got a call from Bronwyn and she invited us to go and have lunch in the park - Al Azhar (finally i managed to spell that properly).

We drove there, paid 5 LE entrance and the funny thing right at the entrance: a note saying what you can or cannot bring to the park; among the things you cannot bring one got my attention: "alchoholics" - they should've left me at home!!! LOL (i did get a bit dizzy two nights before after having some lemonade with vodka).

We had lunch at one of the places there - the service was kind of bad, we had to wait a lot for our food and drinks to come, but it was nice to just chill there.

You can get a nice view of the Citadel from up there.

There is also some sort of a fountain that reminds me of one of the Romanian sea resorts - Mamaia.

We chilled on the grass, tried to get ice-cream, but the man said it will come in two minutes (two min in Egyptian time means more than an hour, or it could even be days), so we just left.

We got ice-cream on the way home, from Road 9 and came home to have coffee as well.

It was a nice afternoon, and luckily when i got back i was in the mood for planning, so i did some work too!!

The Citadel

We decided to be tourists every weekend; so our plan is to go sightseeing every Friday or Saturday. This last time, we went with Sarah and John to the Citadel.
It took us a while to find a parking space, but the good thing is that we got to visit this place.
The entrance fee is 40 LE – and we paid a guy to guide us around and tell us the story behind the Citadel. It was all very interesting … I will not go into details now, as I am not in the mood, but we took some great shots there.

There are a few mosques inside the whole site, plus a little museum (with portraits of kings of Egypt). The Citadel is fairly big on the inside, with a huge carpet brought from France, with alabaster walls etc.

From the top you can see almost the entire city plus the pyramids of Giza and Sakkara.

I've been looking for an Egyptian flag, so i can take my pic wt it, so i finally found it, right by the Citadel - i couldn't help not putting this pic on!!

A corner of Heaven: Anafora

A few weeks back we went on a staff retreat to Anafora, which is a nice, quiet place about 1 h drive from Cairo.

We've been looking fwd to that weekend, after being busy at school with the children, plus planning etc. It was nice to be with people, get some time off, relax.. talk, enjoy the nature ...

Anafora is a retreat center - it has a Coptic church there and everybody who works there is a christian - that is surprising, as Egypt is a muslim country; i have to admit it was nice to spend time in that quiet atmosphere. I think i saw more unveiled women in the 2 days that i spent there than in the whole month spent in Cairo.

Anafora has its own farm with cows and sheep, they make soap and some other things. We had a beautiful room, very bedouin style, with a mosquito net that made me feel like a princess. There is a nice swimming pool as well - i really enjoyed that!!! We had Barnaby bear with us in Anafora - he's part of my class, so he had to join me on this trip.

Nichole was saying she could live there; there are even corn fields - that reminds her of home!! no doubt she'd love to live there. i guess it is a nice place to go and relax, as it is far from the pollution and noise of Cairo, but i still preffer the city. I would get bored there!!

Apparently, it costs only 50 LE/day there with 3 meals included (buffet style). There was plenty of food - Egyptian food (not my favorite, but i have to admit i like it - i am not crazy about it, but it's ok). Anafora is a nice place to go and relax if you like peace and quietness etc.

Being a tourist - the Pyramids

Ok fellows ... long time, no .. posting!! I guess i've been busy with school, plus other uninteresting things called cultural shocks ...

So, i was on MSG/MSN/Skype with many of you and the first question was "Did u see the pyramids?" Well, let me tell you that i didnt get to see them until after 2 weeks.

Now that we had everything sorted (kind of) with our flat, me and Nichole decided to go and see the pyramids. The way to do it is not that easy - i usually think i'll get on a bus, get there, visit, take pics and 'halas' (finished). The way to do it is hire a car with driver included - pay him 100 LE ($20) to take us from Maadi to Giza. Ok, fair enough - a nice car with AC, nice driver ... we leave early in the morning (that's the way to do it) before all the tourists get there; aaaaaa, i forgot to mention - we don't feel like tourist anymore!! Once we got there, we get the "Welcome to Egypt" phrase from one man who wanted to give us a carriage ride aroun the pyramids; he was asking for 100 LE/person but we managed to get it for 50 LE/person.

The carriage driver was a nice guy and we had a lot of fun with him!! He knew exactly where to stop for us to take pics .... we gave him a good tip at the end.

We did not go inside the pyramids because we didnt want to, plus we had the driver waiting for us and we didnt want to make it too long - otherwise he might've asked for more.

One embarassing thing we did was leaving without paying the carriage guy - we completely forgot about it!!!!!!!!! We were on the motorway and Nichole turned to me and said: "guess what? we didnt pay the guy!!!!!!" I am like:"what????? what do we do now?" The net second the driver's phone rings - it was the carriage man asking to talk to us. So, i get him on the phone, apologized a million times, told him we are leaving the money with our driver and said ma'salema. He was a bit annoying on the phone, kept asking how much we tipped the carriage driver - which i didnt tell him anyway.

I got to 'drive' the horse and carriage, which was kind of fun - i forgot the horse's name ...

It was a short visit to the pyramids - we stayed there only 2 hours - but we will definitely go there again, with all the friends wanting to come and visit us.

The best part was at the Sphinx!! We had fun there, taking pictures, making videos .... That was hilarious!!!

Another funny thing is that you have to pay an entrance fee to the site (that is not hte funny part) - it usually costs 50 LE (10 $); if you are a student you pay 25 LE. So, both me and Nichole took out our student cards, gave it to the man, he went and got us tickets for 25 LE. Well, later on, you have to go through some things, just like at the airport, where they check your ticket again. So they asked for our Student ID. I took mine out - it was an international student card, but expired; Nichole's was valid, but not international, so we kind of bribed the people to let us in (we gave them 25 LE). Never do that!!!!

Now, for the end, enjoy watching "Live from the pyramids" by Nichole Book! (or me fooling around when i am not at school)