We awoke to find ourselves half way through the Canal in a convoy stretched over many miles with at least a mile between ships. At one point, in one of the lakes, I thought we had engaged a mud bank as we had stopped and mud was churning around the stern. However we were only waiting for the north bound convoy to pass...
Once into the Gulf of Suez we headed for Safaga on its western bank and moored there so that people could go on excursions the next day.
At the start of our cruise the captain told us to prepare for a terrorist attack in the Red Sea - burn your American passport, practise some British vowels and try running on water etc.. He gave us a code word he would use in the event of an attack, and on hearing this we should immediately head away from windows to the centre of the ship. Trouble is we have forgotten the code so if you see us cowering in the toilet, it's because we have heard that there are flying fish outside...
Friday 2nd.
Today we went on a 14hr, 400Ks round trip with armed security cars fore and aft of our 15 bus convoy, in searing heat, to Luxor on the Nile to visit the Valley of the Kings and the Luxor Temple. The former is a barren stoney valley in which short tunnels were dug by the Pharoahs for their burial, all except one being completely looted. It was Howard Carter who, convinced that King Tut's tomb was also there, spent over a decade shifting thousands of tons of stone to eventually find an untouched tunnel and the priceless treasures therein.
The cost for the privilege of viewing king Tut was NZ$30 .00. This child king must have been beautiful, certainly his masque is stunning and it was awesome looking down at such a revered character. The tombs were well ventilated, outside however was scorching.
The Temple at Luxor reminded me of Stonehenge in its architecture - no arches, just massive uprights with huge stone slabs on top. Of course much more sophisticated!
We had lunch at 5pm, dinner at 10 pm, and all arrived back at the ship exhausted.
Tomorrow we set off for Aquaba in Jordan to have a look at Petra.
2 comments:
Wow! What an incredible privilege to be part of such history! If anyone deserves all this, you two certainly do! Hope the rest of your trip is memorable. Much love Janette n John. X x
So glad you got to get off the ship this time! All looks amazing, glad ship life is also proving to be interesting. Lots of love xx
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