Ooh… I’ve uploaded lots and lots of photos to Flickr.
They’re all from the last month or so – including Luxor and Thebes, a brief return to Cairo, and the Pyramids… and camels!
Posts Tagged ‘cairo’
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Photos
November 10, 2006 by dafyd
Category 1 | Tags: cairo,luxor,photos,yearabroad | Comments Off
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Where Up is Down
October 29, 2006 by dafyd
I’ve spent much of the last week in Upper Egypt which, confusingly, is in the south of Egypt. As it was Eid on Tuesday (or Wednesday, or Thursday, or thereabouts, anyway), we had a week’s holiday, which was nice. We seem to be spending more time not working than working at the moment… but it seems that it’s the same for those lucky chappies doing less exotic languages who are working as assistants in Spain or Germany. In fact, it seems the UK is the only country where we don’t get a week off in October…!
So… I headed off down south on Sunday evening, taking the overnight sleeper to Luxor, where I spent a few days admiring the stunning temples, tombs and monuments and trying to avoid the heat (very, very difficult). I have lots and lots of photos – but if you think of every picture of Ancient Egypt you might have seen (except the pyramids and camels), then you’ll get an idea of what you’ll find in Luxor. Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, The Mummy… they don’t even come close!
Then on Wednesday evening I got the train back up to Cairo (not a sleeper this time, but a ridiculously comfortable night train), and met Yvonne in Cairo, where we spent a couple of days sightseeing: the Egyptian Museum – home to so many antiquities that even the curators aren’t sure quite what’s in there – and various other touristy bits around town, including, bizarrely, the Hard Rock Cafe (‘cos we were bored and hungry). Then yesterday afternoon, the train back up to Alex, ready for classes to start again on Monday.
As I say, I have many many photos – which I will upload as soon as I have a chance.
Category 1 | Tags: cairo,egypt,luxor,yearabroad | Comments Off
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Cairo
September 5, 2006 by dafyd
I’ve just thrown together a panorama from a few photos I took this afternoon, looking from the island of Zamalek in the middle of the Nile, back towards the eastern part of the city, Cairo’s main business and residential districts.
The grey haze you can see around the city? Yep, it’s really there. Cairo is, apparently, the most polluted city in the world. The government says it’s to do with the climate, but I doubt the number of cars and petrol costing less than the equivalent of 1p a litre help…
Anyway: I think the big white skyscraper in the middle is the Ministry of Finance. The towers on the far left are the Misr National Bank, World Trade Center, Conrad Hotel and a shopping mall. The building with the big antennae on the roof is, surprisingly enough, the Egyptian television centre (the design, when you get closer to it, is quite blatently ripped-off from Television Centre, with a big round doughnut…). The tall brown building to the right is the Ramses Hilton, next to the Nile Hilton, both of which contain fairly large shopping malls. And at the very right of the picture, the small red dome you can just make out belongs to the Egyptian Museum, home of numerous mummies.
I’ll see if I can do the same looking the other way, but as that river bank is pretty much one huge motorway, don’t hold your breath!
Category 1 | Tags: cairo,egypt,photos,yearabroad | 1 Comment
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Ice Cold…
September 3, 2006 by dafyd
Or definitely not, in fact. I just wanted to use that title so I have absolutely no excuse to repeat the pun later in the year. Hit me very hard if I do.
However… I do have an excuse, now. The hotel in whose bar John Mills so memorably quenches his thirst at the end of said motion picture is in fact the very hotel in which I have been staying for the last couple of days, the Hotel Cecil on the Alexandria seafront. ‘Tis a gorgeous hotel – you can really imagine Monty using it as his HQ during the North African bits of World War II, or Lawrence Durrell being moved to write his Alexandria Quartet whist staying there.
I’ve spent the last three days sightseeing – I found a little man (as a good friend of mine would say) who took me round the sights, including a few off the beaten path. There are a few things I still can’t get my head around here, most of which involve the police. I’ll explain about some of them later, but one which sticks in my mind is the big display they make of how secure their “ancient treasures” (including my hotel) are – airport-style security arches at the entrance, and so on. But everyone walking into the hotel set the gate alarm off – generally carrying huge suitcases perfect for explosive concealment… and they couldn’t care less.
Anyhoo – this afternoon I caught the train down to Cairo – nothing like as bad as I thought it would be, although I had absolutely no clue if I was on the right train or not. I’m staying here until Friday, when I’ll head back up to Alex for the start of term.
I do have photos – lots of photos – but I’m on a very slow internet connection and it would take me forever to upload them. I’ll make sure I do as soon as possible, though.
UPDATE: Photos from Day 1 are now on Flickr. Ooooh.
Category 1 | Tags: alexandria,cairo,egypt,yearabroad | 2 Comments
