Egypt, final impressions
As Tina mentioned, Egypt is a country of sharp contrast. Old buildings covered with satellite dishes(pict 1-2), the beautiful Nile river right next to the desert. The desert ending at the Red Sea. Talking about contrast: gas prices in Egypt are $ 0,75 per gallon, prices in England are $ 8,00.
After our first two days in Cairo we flew to Luxor. The sights in Luxor are incredible: Luxor Temple, The valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatsjepsoet. We stayed in a beautiful resort along the Nile about 2 1/2 miles out of town. A great place for a felucca ride(pict 3-4). The resort (pict. 5) provides bus or water taxi to town and before you could get of the bus or boat you were harassed by Taxi drivers, horse & Carriage drivers (Cariche? Cariche!) and people trying to sell you trips, services etc. You can’t walk 10 yards without cab drivers honking their horns offering rides. It is quite the hustle.
Our next stop was Hurghada on the Red Sea. We were picked up by van and soon joined about 20 other vans and tour buses at a pre-arranged location. Transports are by land and are led by police escort. Leaving Luxor you go through armed checkpoints every couple of miles. All traffic at the crossroads is stopped by the military till the convoy(pict.7) passes. “A true democracy at work”. The 4 hour trip takes you through the desert(pict. 6) into Hurghada. The resort was beautiful(pict. 8). Unfortunately the town of Hurghada is a tourist trap and it takes a 20 minutes bus ride to get to town. They really want you to stay in the resorts where everything (food and drink)is provided for you. We walked to the next hotel to get a drink and internet access and were not allowed in by the security officer in charge. Every hotel has metal detectors, barricades and police at the door to deter possible attacks.The best thing in Hurghada is the diving. Unfortunately due to food poisoning I had to cancel my dives.
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