Page 15: Egypt - Black and White Deserts

The Black and White Deserts

Today, we're up at the crack of dawn.  We're off for a day and night in the Black and White Deserts, sleeping under the stars! Our guide and driver are joined by a third team member:  our cook!

The desert is a beautiful place.

 The Black Desert

The mountains in the Black Desert are covered with dark volcanic material from a long ago eruption - that's what gives the desert its name.

It's a long drive through the desert. We explore a bit, but are quickly on our way.

Around lunch time, we stop at what they call a "cantine". This is what they call the small way stations that can be found along the way and where travelers can get a meal and drink and use the "facilities". I have to say that I would much prefer not using the "facilities" because they are very nasty.

At the way station, there is a cement water tank. Our guide tells me I should don my bathing suit and go for a swim. That's the last thing I want to do so I settle for dipping my feet in - very nice!

This is the "cantine" - you sit on the pillow and dip your feet in the water that runs throughout the small building - quite refreshing.

While we are here our cook prepares the evening meal in the kitchen, cutting raw chicken, along with vegetables on the cement counter top. We will be eating and sleeping in the great outdoors tonight.

After lunch, we're back on the road. All of a sudden we come to the top of a large hill and the view ahead is breathtaking! Its the White Desert in all its beauty!

Unfortunately, this photo does not do it justice.

By now, another Jeep has joined us along with two American tourists. Their tour guide wants to stick with us because their Jeep is conking out. 

Bill and I are just so excited at what we see that all we want to do is play in this beautiful place. We walk all the way down the hill and then realize that if our party leaves we're on our own in the middle of nowhere!  

Oh well, we shrug it off and decide to have fun.  Here's Bill walking like and Egyptian!

I give it a try, but let's face it, Bill's better at it than I am!

The White Desert is part of the Sahara Desert and is one of Egypt's national parks. It is covered with giant chalk rock formations created by sand storms.
They are beautiful.

The formations are like clouds - they come in all shapes and sizes. This one we called the chicken and the egg! Ow...

It's a magical place, like no other we've ever seen.  

The sun sets early and quickly in the desert. By 5 pm, it's time to set up camp and have dinner. Our cook cooks the vegetables and rice on a bunsen burner and cooks the chicken on a small BBQ. The tourist from the other Jeep join us for dinner and afterwards we are treated to a small concert by our driver and cook who sing traditional songs and play the drums. It's very special and intimate.

Our camp is surrounded by these desert foxes who have been attracted by the smell of our dinner. 

When we are finished eating, the cook throws our bones to the foxes who devour them noisily.  After that, everything is put away and any food or garbage is hung up high on poles where they cannot be reached by animals.

As you can well guess, there are no "facilities" here. I just have to go about 100 feet away from our camp to where there is the nearest chalk formation that can hide me from our campers that have settled near us. Thank goodness I brought a huge shawl that Bill holds up around me to provide some privacy. The hundreds of little bright eyes watching our every step (foxes) can be quite disconcerting!

Bill spends most of the night awake looking at shooting stars, but I wake up quite refreshed to this beautiful site.

Here is where Bill and I slept with an old sleeping bag for cover. Our guide slept on the roof of the Jeep and the other two slept on the sand on the other side of the Jeep - not 5 star accommodations, but quite an experience!

Today, we head back to Cairo.  Tomorrow we fly to Luxor to begin our Nile cruise! 

Page 14: Egypt - Baharyia Oasis

Egypt - The Desert 2010

The Bahariya Oasis

On our first day in Egypt we head off to the Bahariya Oasis, gateway to the Western Desert. Our guide today is a Coptic Christian who has much to teach us about Egypt. We are also accompanied by a driver. The first step before leaving Cairo is to register with the tourism police so they know who we are, where we're going and when we're expected to return. We are expected to confirm our return to Cairo with the tourism police. We're not sure why this is done, but it provides us with a greater feeling of security.  

The drive to the oasis takes all morning and the landscape is barren.

Finally, we arrive at the oasis. It is very small, dilapidated and poor. All tours to the Black and White Deserts go through the Baharyia Oasis, but it must be a quiet time of year for tourism because we don't see any other tourists. From what we can see the standard of living seems to be very low and many buildings look like they are falling apart. 

This seems to be the norm in terms of housing.

We are taken to a resort that looks clean and modern on the outside...

Our room, however, is very basic. The towels and facecloths are grey and stiff, but everything looks clean enough.

We still have a whole afternoon to explore the area around the oasis.  First we are taken to a tomb that is just now being excavated.  Our guide takes us down a very rough stairwell and we have to climb into a narrow aperture to get into the tomb.  

I'm a bit worried of going down these stairs as there is no indication of where we are or what we will see, but our guide encourages us to take the plunge.

Again, I'm a little afraid of climbing through this little hole in the ground.

But once we're inside, it's very rewarding. This is the tomb of a rich person - not a king or a queen. Our guide explains that the Baharyia Oasis has just recently revealed a number of tombs of the upper classes that are just now being excavated. We are very much surprised at the high quality of the pictures drawn upon the walls and the brightness of the colours. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures inside the tomb. 

Next, we are taken to an area where there are two buildings, both looking liked dilapidated warehouses.

Under one of the buildings, there are 3 or 4 men hiding from the sun and conserving their energy given that they cannot eat nor drink and it is about 39 degrees outside. 

One of the men comes out from under the building and leads us to the other warehouse and unlocks the door so we can enter. Our guide is very secretive and does not let us know what we're about to see, so again we're a tad worried. 

Surprise of surprise! Inside one of the rooms there are a dozen glass cases and in each case is a mummy.  We are told that these are some of the Golden Mummies that have just recently been found in the Baharyia Oasis. Of course, we cannot take photos, but we spend quite a while going from case to case and listening to our guide as he explains who each might be and the circumstances of his of her death.  Very interesting.

As we leave, our guide indicates that I should have my photo taken with the guard who opened the door for us.  He is adamant that he will not have his photo taken with a woman. When I promise him that I will not touch him, he gives in, but takes a few steps ahead of me before he agrees to pose for a photo.

Next stop is a temple built by Alexander the Great who was passing through the area on his way to Alexandria around 330 BC. It is the only temple built by Alexander the Great in all of Egypt. 

As you can see it's not a grand temple, but getting to see this rarity is awesome! Again - no photos allowed.

Next and final stop of the day is a camel ranch, where camels are saddled up for a 30 minute ride in the desert.  We meet the rancher's very young daughter Myriam. She is quite sweet and we communicate with her through our guide.

My friend Merion had given me a fuschia boa to wear during our camel ride (à la Sex in the City). I do get a few funny looks from the camel rancher. Myriam is very intrigued and is enthralled with my pink toes and the fuschia boa.

It takes quite a while for the rancher to catch two camels and saddle them up. The camels are quite recalcitrant and ornery. They do not want to be ridden.

When you get atop the camel, the beast is sitting on its haunches. He first gets his hind legs up and then his front legs. Each time, the rider is perilously close to being tossed off. Once we're on, though, it's not very comfortable, but exciting nonetheless.

Our camels were very grouchy, but I became quite a camel whisperer and eventually my camel was cooperative.

Just before we leave I give the boa to Myriam. She is very happy!

Page 12: Monaco 2010

Monaco

Today is September 1, 2010 - our 20th wedding anniversary!

Monaco is a Principality - that means it's ruled by a prince - at this time, Prince Albert II. Like the Vatican, it is an independent city-state - the second smallest in the world and is bordered by France on three sides and the Mediterranean Sea on the other side. 

It has a very interesting history with strong linkages to both Italy and France.

Monaco is a tourist destination and recreation center for the rich and famous. It is the richest country in the world with the highest number of millionaires and billionaires and the lowest unemployment (0%) in the world. Monaco attracts some of the world's richest people because it does not collect individual income tax. One of its major tourist attractions is Le Grand Casino de Monte Carlo (gambling casino) that helped the country recover from an economic slump in the mid 19th century. 

This is a statue by Damien Hirst in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Oceanographic Museum. The other side of this statue shows the outer skin. There is a similar statue of a pregnant woman on the waterfront side of the building.

Monaco's Oceanographic Museum was inaugurated in 1910 by Prince Albert I. The famous Jacques Cousteau was its director from 1957 to 1988. 

Near the Royal Palace there is a beautiful garden. Here is a pond full of koi fish. The strings, laid out on top of the pond, prevent the seagulls from eating the fish.  Mighty ingenious!

The Cathedral of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception consecrated in 1875 sits on the site of Monaco's first parish church, St. Nicholas Cathedral which was built in 1252. 

According to a 1918 treaty between Monaco and France, the ruler of Monaco must always be from the House (family) of Grimaldi. If not, the country would no longer be independent and become a French protectorate. 

Monaco became of interest in my world because of a famous love story between Prince Rainier III and American Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly who married in 1956. She was gorgeous and he was handsome and it all sounded so romantic and exotic. 

Unfortunately, Princess Grace died in a car crash in 1982. Her remains are entombed inside the Cathedral.

The Prince's Palace of Monaco has been the one and only residence of the Grimaldi family for 700 years. Unlike other royals, their lands are so small that they cannot build new palaces or castles. Instead, they have focused on adding wings and renovating the one built as a Genoese fortress in 1191.

Although it is old, it's very lovely. We take a guided tour inside the palace, but unfortunately are not permitted to take photos. 

These guards are posted at the Palace doors - don't they look like Mounties?

Monaco places great importance on health and prevention and you can find up to 30 defibrillators in and around Monaco. 

In 2008, nurses held public training sessions on the use of the defibrillators.

Monaco is made up of 5 separate quartiers (wards):  Monaco-Ville, Monte Carlo, La Condamine, Fontvieille and the suburb of Moneghetti.

This is Fontvieille which is a very large tract of land reclaimed from the sea in the 1970s.

Today is a very special day for us and it is the end of our Mediterranean cruise. Tomorrow we land in Barcelona and fly off to Cairo, Egypt for the next leg of our 2010 journey.

We have a lovely anniversary dinner at the Crown Grill where we enjoy lobster and other fine sea food. 

View my next blog: Egypt 2010.

Page 11: Tuscany: Florence and the Chianti Region 2010

Tuscany: Florence and the Chianti Region 2010

Tuscany is a region in central Italy knows for its landscapes, artistic legacy, wines and food. It produces a variety of different wines including Chianti. Florence, Pisa and Siena are within the Tuscany Region.

Florence

Florence is the capital of the Tuscany Region of Italy. Today we have a short visit of Florence in the morning and then we head off for the Chianti country-side for lunch at a winery/castle and a visit to the City of Greve to explore a wine store where a number of Chianti wineries have their wares on sale.

Florence is a smallish city (approximately 350,000 citizens), but it is beautiful beyond belief. It is considered to be the birthplace of the Renaissance and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982.

The Renaissance was inspired by one of Florence's wealthiest families: the Medicis. The Medicis originally derived their wealth from the textile trade, but later became the most powerful bankers in Europe. A number of Popes come from the Medici family and the Medicis were strong supporters of art.  

This is the Uffizi Gallery, one of the oldest and famous art galleries in the world. This building was erected by the Medici family in the mid 14th century as the offices of the Florentine magistrates (court of law).

I fell in love with the Ponte Vecchio - a closed stone bridge that crosses the Arno River. Crossing the bridge is like being inside a mall with shops on either side. Most of these shops sell exquisite and expensive jewelry. It's a wonder how the shops don't fall off the side of the bridge - see the stilts securing them to the bridge?   

Best of all in Florence is the abundance of porn for women! Here's Neptune: don't ask me what's going on here!

The Fountain of Neptune was commissioned by the Medici Family to commemorate the wedding of one of the Medicis to Austrian Princess Joanna. The artist Bartolomeo Ammannati completed the fountain in 1565.

... and here's Hercules, trying to hide his privates behind his boyfriend's head.

 Actually ... this is a statue depicting the God Hercules as he vanquishes the evil Cacus who, according to myth, fed on human flesh. This work was commissioned from Baccio Bandinelli initially from enemies of the Medici, but was taken over by the Medici and is intended to represent their victory over their enemies. Florence has quite an interesting history if one wishes to explore it. 

David in all his glory!

The original statue of David by Michelangelo is a key masterpiece of the Renaissance. While this statue is located in the Palazzo della Signoria (seat of the municipal government of Florence), the original is can be viewed by the public in the Accademia Gallery. 

After all that male nudity, my legs were a little wobbly so we went for a horse and buggy ride. It was an amazing mode of transportation to see this beautiful city.

San Lorenzo Market Square, famous for its shoes and leathers. Of course we each end up buying leather jackets!

The Piazza del Duomo is the historical centre of Florence is dominated by the Santa Maria del Fiore Basilica faced with multicoloured marble panels.

The Basilica is absolutely beautiful and very large. It's the third largest cathedral in the world. 

The Basilica is adorned with intricate carvings and designs by various Renaissance artists. 

 The Chianti Region

As you may have guessed, the Chianti Region is best known for its wines. Chianti offers a beautiful landscape with green, gentle hills, vineyards, olive groves and stone-covered country homes.

Rolling hills and vineyards everywhere.

The castle at Vicchiomaggio, first built in the 9th century, had fallen into disrepair when it was purchased by the Matta family in 1964. It is now one of Chianti's elite estates and its wine has won many competitions.

The Castello Vicchiomaggio is a real castle with a defensive tower.

We have a wonderful lunch at the castle. Of course, too much excellent food and wine. Bill is fonder of the house wine than the Chianti Reservas that sold at a much higher price. 

Here's Bill showing off again.  He's pretending he's the owner of the castle and winery.

Here we are at lunch. What an experience! (Remember the tags are so our guide knows we are part of the group.)

After lunch we are escorted to the castle's winery where we have an opportunity to taste and purchase wines. During the afternoon we are driven to the small city of Greve to visit a wine shop where a number of producers offer wine-tastings. All in all a good day!

View my next blog:  Monaco