After another day at sea after leaving Egypt we came to Malta. We really did not know what to expect as we thought it just an island out in the Mediterranean. It turns out it was very interesting and different than we had expected. Our first view was a harbor surrounded by impressive fortresses. They used the cliffs as part of the walls. In many cases there was a road outside the walls and running along the harbor. Here are views of the Port of Valletta as we entered it.
Once we entered the harbor, we left ship for our jeep safari. There were at least 20 jeeps and we all stuck together in one long line. So it was kind of fun. Unlike the jeep safari in Egypt, these drivers kept "pedal to the metal". The back roads are pretty rough so we had a blast. We went on the roads that the big tour buses can't go on.
Here are some generic views, primarily of Valletta, the main harbor we docked at. But there are some other interesting photos taken from the back of the jeep as we drove around.
The cities seemed to consist mostly of condos and apartments with a few single family homes sprinkled here and there. But the single family homes tended to be attached. The country side was what was really interesting with the many produce farms with stone walls seeming to meander all over the place. The farmers' homes tended to be very "square" and small. Here are views of the country side as we drove around.
As usual on all our ports of call were buildings that appeared interesting to us because we have never seen anything like them. Here are some of the interesting buildings we saw in Malta.
The most interesting site in Malta was the City of Mdina. It is an historic city perhaps dating from the Bronze age, although the cathedral was rebuilt by the Normans in 1090 AD, and is now predominantly a tourist site with little shops. The city is fortified by an extremely thick wall and is characterized by very narrow streets. After wandering down one of these streets we noticed doorbells on the doors. So we asked the proverbial why? The answer? People live here. In fact, approximately 350 people inhabit Mdina. We then asked how someone could buy a home. The answer was that there is no way as the homes are handed down generation to generation. If one did become available it would be very expensive and probably out of reach financially. Legend has it that Apostle Paul stayed in Mdina when he was shipwrecked on the Island of Malta. Here are views of the city of Mdina.
We didn't realize this but when they filmed Popeye starring Robin Williams, they built a special town on Malta as a set for the movie. Today it is just restaurants and shops - what else do you do with a cutesy movie set? Here are views of the set. The last picture captures the size of our jeep caravan.
We then left Malta for a last day at sea on our back to Barcelona. Here are views of the departure and what awaited us in our stateroom.
Next and final blog will be Barcelona but a different tour. Our final Barcelona tour was to Montserrat.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sixth Shore Excursion - Alexandria
On Monday, 5 April, we took a bus tour of Alexandria. It was mostly a bus tour with a few stops. As usual we were interested in typical scenes throughout the city. Here are some photos of various streets and buildings. As with the other cities that we toured it seems everyone lives in condos or apartments. There definitely is an absence of single family homes. Here are photos of the apartment buildings and condos. As we said in the last blog, we saw a lot of trash along the streets. Clearly one of the buildings seen all over the place are mosques. Here are photos of a couple of mosques, the one is the largest in Alexandria. Here are some photos of other interesting views in Alexandria.
There was one major stop that we made that was very interesting. However, we were not allowed to take pictures. These were the impressive catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa, an enormous complex of underground burial chambers, was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. They consist of three levels cut in the rock to a depth of 100 ft., connected by staircases. At the highest level is a rotunda entrance with a well in the center covered by a type of kiosk. To get down to the catacombs was a winding staircase consisting of 96 steps surrounding the central shaft. The corpse was lowered to the burial chamber through this shaft and passed through an opening at the appropriate level in the catacombs. The rotunda opens into several rooms with rock-cut niches with false sarcophagi and bas-relief wall decorations in the Pharaonic style, showing ancient Egyptian deities. The heads of statues discovered in the complex are in the Greek style, while their garb is traditional Egyptian. The large room to the left of the entrance is the funereal triclinium, the banqueting hall, where relatives and friends of the deceased assembled for the funerary meal. Poorer family members were buried in corridors leading off the main chamber. Some rooms and corridors were added in later periods. The names and ages of the deceased were marked in red paint on the stone slabs which sealed the niches. The interesting thing is that the catacombs were discovered when someone's donkey stepped in a hole that turned out to be the entrance to the shaft.
An absolutely mind-blowing spot we had some time to see was the Alexandria Library. What amazed us was how modern the library is and the high level of technology available. Here is a link to their home page. It has two million volumes and growing. Everything can be accessed by computer and translated as necessary. There is even a book printing and binding system. Here are photos of this library. We were lucky, this was the day after Easter and a holiday. However, many of the workers chose to spend a few hours of their holiday to let us see the place. After seeing it, we were very grateful.
Montaza (Translated: "The Park") is a neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt. It is distinguished by its beautiful gardens and royal palaces. It is often visited due to the beautiful sceneries that can be seen there and is considered one of the most beautiful places in Alexandria. Here are photos of the two largest palaces, one now a hotel, in this area. You can also see that the park surrounding the palaces are used by the public for family picnics and the like.
The park was rather full of families because it was Easter Monday and a holiday. So no one was working and everyone was out playing. You could see the many families spending the day around the palaces. Alexandria is right on the Mediterranean so many people were also spending the day at the beach. Here are photos of a resort hotel and then the many people we saw on the beaches. The beaches go the full length of Alexandria and so is very large and, as we saw, very full of people. There aren't any captions because they are just repeated views of the beaches. Note that people sit in plastic chairs under umbrellas, totally different than in the US.
A couple other items of interest were the various head coverings the women wore and the many men that sat outside stores and coffee shops smoking their hookahs, Arabic water pipes. We alluded to the head covering situation in Egypt in our last blog. Here are photos of the wide variety we saw. Notice that in most cases the head covering matches the outfit the lady is wearing - very stylish. As for the hookahs, we observed that there were many tables and chairs outside. Then we saw that this is where the men smoke their hookahs. Trying to take pictures while riding in the bus made it difficult but we managed to capture a few. Here they are in these photos. The hookahs are the large water pipes sitting on the ground and the gentleman is smoking it through a long hose.
Next port of call is Malta.
There was one major stop that we made that was very interesting. However, we were not allowed to take pictures. These were the impressive catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa, an enormous complex of underground burial chambers, was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. They consist of three levels cut in the rock to a depth of 100 ft., connected by staircases. At the highest level is a rotunda entrance with a well in the center covered by a type of kiosk. To get down to the catacombs was a winding staircase consisting of 96 steps surrounding the central shaft. The corpse was lowered to the burial chamber through this shaft and passed through an opening at the appropriate level in the catacombs. The rotunda opens into several rooms with rock-cut niches with false sarcophagi and bas-relief wall decorations in the Pharaonic style, showing ancient Egyptian deities. The heads of statues discovered in the complex are in the Greek style, while their garb is traditional Egyptian. The large room to the left of the entrance is the funereal triclinium, the banqueting hall, where relatives and friends of the deceased assembled for the funerary meal. Poorer family members were buried in corridors leading off the main chamber. Some rooms and corridors were added in later periods. The names and ages of the deceased were marked in red paint on the stone slabs which sealed the niches. The interesting thing is that the catacombs were discovered when someone's donkey stepped in a hole that turned out to be the entrance to the shaft.
An absolutely mind-blowing spot we had some time to see was the Alexandria Library. What amazed us was how modern the library is and the high level of technology available. Here is a link to their home page. It has two million volumes and growing. Everything can be accessed by computer and translated as necessary. There is even a book printing and binding system. Here are photos of this library. We were lucky, this was the day after Easter and a holiday. However, many of the workers chose to spend a few hours of their holiday to let us see the place. After seeing it, we were very grateful.
Montaza (Translated: "The Park") is a neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt. It is distinguished by its beautiful gardens and royal palaces. It is often visited due to the beautiful sceneries that can be seen there and is considered one of the most beautiful places in Alexandria. Here are photos of the two largest palaces, one now a hotel, in this area. You can also see that the park surrounding the palaces are used by the public for family picnics and the like.
The park was rather full of families because it was Easter Monday and a holiday. So no one was working and everyone was out playing. You could see the many families spending the day around the palaces. Alexandria is right on the Mediterranean so many people were also spending the day at the beach. Here are photos of a resort hotel and then the many people we saw on the beaches. The beaches go the full length of Alexandria and so is very large and, as we saw, very full of people. There aren't any captions because they are just repeated views of the beaches. Note that people sit in plastic chairs under umbrellas, totally different than in the US.
A couple other items of interest were the various head coverings the women wore and the many men that sat outside stores and coffee shops smoking their hookahs, Arabic water pipes. We alluded to the head covering situation in Egypt in our last blog. Here are photos of the wide variety we saw. Notice that in most cases the head covering matches the outfit the lady is wearing - very stylish. As for the hookahs, we observed that there were many tables and chairs outside. Then we saw that this is where the men smoke their hookahs. Trying to take pictures while riding in the bus made it difficult but we managed to capture a few. Here they are in these photos. The hookahs are the large water pipes sitting on the ground and the gentleman is smoking it through a long hose.
Next port of call is Malta.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Fifth Port of Call - Alexandria and on to Cairo
On Sunday, 4 April, we arrived in Alexandria. Here are some photos of our arrival into Alexandria and some first views of Alexandria itself. However, we didn't tour Alexandria until the next day and will have additional photos of that city on our next blog. On 4 April we took a three hour bus ride to Cairo to see Giza and the wonders of that place. As usual we took photos to give a feel of the country. Here are some photos that we took as we entered Alexandria and then on our drive to and from Cairo. Something we observed in the cities visited so far like Barcelona, Rome, Athens and Izmir, they were all very clean. However, our impression of Egypt was the exact opposite, lots of trash thrown out all over the place.
An interesting feature we saw repeatedly on our drive through the country side were pigeon houses. Apparently the Egyptians build these houses for pigeons so that they can retrieve the droppings as fertilizer. Talk about organic. Here are some photos of a variety that we saw. By the way, they are all over the place.
Another characteristic that our tour guide pointed out was the large disparity between rich and poor. She said that we would really notice it as we travel to Cairo. Sure enough, there would be a large elaborate mansion with a shack right next door. Obviously no zoning laws. But we have seen the lack of those kind of zoning laws in all the countries we have been to. Here are some photos demonstrating the economic disparity.
One final interesting characteristic which we observed in both Alexandria and Cairo, but most noticeably Cairo, since it is more rural, are the head coverings of the women. They varied from no covering whatsoever, as was the case with our tour guide to Cairo, to a scarf with a little bit of hair showing, as our tour guide in Alexandria wore, to a scarf that totally covered the hair and finally covering their face totally with a Niqāb, the traditional face covering with just a slit showing the eyes. The more traditional garb was seen more in Cairo than Alexandria. However, the head coverings in Alexandria tended to be very fancy. We will show more of those in our next blog. But here are the first of the head coverings we saw. There is an interesting story that goes with this. Because of the variations we saw, we asked our Alexandria tour guide, the one with partial hair showing, what the difference was. She said it had nothing to do with how "religious" you were. So the complete covering did not indicate being more devote than no covering. As for herself she said she likes to have a bit of style so wanted some of her hair showing. With regard to the women wearing Niqābs over their faces she said "that is purely a 'man' thing". The husband just wants to show his control over his wife. But it ended on a humorous note. Apparently when they buried the pharaohs they removed all the organs except the heart. They left the heart in the body because once the pharaoh crossed over to the other side, ie the afterlife, one of the Egyptian gods puts the heart on a scale with a feather on the opposite side as the balance. If the heart is lighter than the feather then they go to a good afterlife, designating a kind heart. But if the heart is heavier it goes to a bad afterlife. So I asked her, because she was showing part of her hair, how the balance would go for her. She said, "I hope my heart is lighter" and laughed.
After 3 hours of driving, we got to Cairo and then on to Giza to see the pyramids. Our original desire, when we were looking for a cruise, was to see the pyramids so this really represented the highlight of our cruise. The pictures of the Pyramids of Giza can be seen here. After walking around the pyramids we got on the bus for a short trip to the Great Sphinx. Here are pictures of the Sphinx. All we can say is that pictures do not do these marvels any justice. You have to stand beside them to appreciate where you are, what you are looking at and how old they are and the engineering that had to go into building them. Incredible is the only way you can describe it.
After the Giza attractions we went further South for our jeep and camel safari. We signed up for this shore excursion not only for the pyramids but the camel safari. We have ridden elephants in Thailand now it was time to experience another form of travel. Pictures of these two safaris are shown here. After the camel ride we had lunch and then headed, by bus, to Sakkara where the oldest known pyramid exists. This pyramid is called the "Step Pyramid". There were several interesting temples and other things to see, but again, because of time limitations we didn't spend much time at any one location. Here are photos of the Sakkara pyramids and temples.
Subsequent to this was the three hour bus ride back to the ship. It was dark when we got there but had an excellent dinner on board again.
The next day we toured Alexandria. This will be the subject of our next blog.
An interesting feature we saw repeatedly on our drive through the country side were pigeon houses. Apparently the Egyptians build these houses for pigeons so that they can retrieve the droppings as fertilizer. Talk about organic. Here are some photos of a variety that we saw. By the way, they are all over the place.
Another characteristic that our tour guide pointed out was the large disparity between rich and poor. She said that we would really notice it as we travel to Cairo. Sure enough, there would be a large elaborate mansion with a shack right next door. Obviously no zoning laws. But we have seen the lack of those kind of zoning laws in all the countries we have been to. Here are some photos demonstrating the economic disparity.
One final interesting characteristic which we observed in both Alexandria and Cairo, but most noticeably Cairo, since it is more rural, are the head coverings of the women. They varied from no covering whatsoever, as was the case with our tour guide to Cairo, to a scarf with a little bit of hair showing, as our tour guide in Alexandria wore, to a scarf that totally covered the hair and finally covering their face totally with a Niqāb, the traditional face covering with just a slit showing the eyes. The more traditional garb was seen more in Cairo than Alexandria. However, the head coverings in Alexandria tended to be very fancy. We will show more of those in our next blog. But here are the first of the head coverings we saw. There is an interesting story that goes with this. Because of the variations we saw, we asked our Alexandria tour guide, the one with partial hair showing, what the difference was. She said it had nothing to do with how "religious" you were. So the complete covering did not indicate being more devote than no covering. As for herself she said she likes to have a bit of style so wanted some of her hair showing. With regard to the women wearing Niqābs over their faces she said "that is purely a 'man' thing". The husband just wants to show his control over his wife. But it ended on a humorous note. Apparently when they buried the pharaohs they removed all the organs except the heart. They left the heart in the body because once the pharaoh crossed over to the other side, ie the afterlife, one of the Egyptian gods puts the heart on a scale with a feather on the opposite side as the balance. If the heart is lighter than the feather then they go to a good afterlife, designating a kind heart. But if the heart is heavier it goes to a bad afterlife. So I asked her, because she was showing part of her hair, how the balance would go for her. She said, "I hope my heart is lighter" and laughed.
After 3 hours of driving, we got to Cairo and then on to Giza to see the pyramids. Our original desire, when we were looking for a cruise, was to see the pyramids so this really represented the highlight of our cruise. The pictures of the Pyramids of Giza can be seen here. After walking around the pyramids we got on the bus for a short trip to the Great Sphinx. Here are pictures of the Sphinx. All we can say is that pictures do not do these marvels any justice. You have to stand beside them to appreciate where you are, what you are looking at and how old they are and the engineering that had to go into building them. Incredible is the only way you can describe it.
After the Giza attractions we went further South for our jeep and camel safari. We signed up for this shore excursion not only for the pyramids but the camel safari. We have ridden elephants in Thailand now it was time to experience another form of travel. Pictures of these two safaris are shown here. After the camel ride we had lunch and then headed, by bus, to Sakkara where the oldest known pyramid exists. This pyramid is called the "Step Pyramid". There were several interesting temples and other things to see, but again, because of time limitations we didn't spend much time at any one location. Here are photos of the Sakkara pyramids and temples.
Subsequent to this was the three hour bus ride back to the ship. It was dark when we got there but had an excellent dinner on board again.
The next day we toured Alexandria. This will be the subject of our next blog.
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