Back to Cairo

March 2: Luxor to Cairo

We were up fairly early today for breakfast and disembarkation from the river ship. Travel to the airport and the short flight to Cairo went smoothly, but we sat on our parked bus at the airport for close to an hour with the excuse that we were awaiting a police escort. One of the guides pointed to a policeman trying to look important and told me quietly, “They are happy when they can make people wait.”

By the way, the police escort never showed up and was not needed for our drive to the downtown hotel.

Below, our last view from our room on-board the ship. The hills in the background are the location of the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.

Eventually, we arrived at the hotel, probably an hour later than expected. Last time we were here, before the Nile cruise, the hotel was full and busy with an international meeting of Arab security officials. Lots of guys with poorly fitting suits jackets that bulged over their sidearms commandeered elevators, crowded the lobbies, and caused a certain amount of unneeded upset. Today, the hotel is quieter and much more relaxed. That’s good.

The farewell dinner tonight was at the historic Mena House hotel in Giza, by the Pyramids. One of former King Farouk’s palaces is on the grounds and currently under restoration. Before we left Cairo for the cruise, we got a hazy view of the pyramids from the Citadel near the Alabaster Mosque. Today, on the ride to dinner, we got another quick view. The hotel where we dined is only one kilometre or so from the pyramids, so we got a good look at two of them in the dusk. Tomorrow, we’ll be on site and should be able to enter two of them.

The pyramids from the Mena House hotel.

A few pictures from Egypt. Apologies for any repeats.








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