SB '09 Part 2

Monday was the third day of our trip. We were staying in a decent hotel in Cairo called the Luna. It was in an old building and all the rooms were around this big, twisting hallway. Our rooms had a great view of the busy street below. We got up early to go see Coptic Cairo. We saw a bunch of churches from early Christianity, plus Egypt’s first synagogue. We also went inside of Egypt’s first mosque, which was just down the street.

Later in the day we went to the Egyptian museum. It was big and had a lot of cool stuff in it, though there really weren’t any labels anywhere, which made it harder to navigate. The mummy room was pretty cool. After the museum we took a taxi to Al-Azhar Park, which is located inland from the Nile, close to the citadel and Islamic Cairo. The park was relaxing, a nice change of pace from the rest of the city. Afterwards we tried to walk towards Islamic Cairo, but ended up at the Necropolis. It probably wasn’t a good idea to walk through there, since a lot of bums call it home, so we took a taxi back to the market where we went the day before. We walked around and had dinner before heading to catch the train for Luxor.
We didn’t get a sleeping car, so the eight-hour ride was pretty uncomfortable. When we arrived we took a taxi to our hotel and slept for a few hours before walking to Karnak Temple. The temple was pretty awesome. The coolest part was the Hypostyle, which had over 100 huge columns. Afterwards we headed back and saw Luxor Temple at sunset. That was cool because it was lit up.

Luxor was brutally hot. It was at least in the upper 90s and very humid all the time. There was a breeze off of the Nile, so it made things somewhat bearable. The next day we went to the West Bank with a group of people from our hotel. First we saw the Valley of the Kings, then a couple of palaces and the Colossus of Memnes before heading back. It took most of the day. It was nice having a guide to take us around, even though her English wasn’t very good. We tried to nap afterwards, but someone was on the street banging on some metal, which was really annoying. That night we ate at a place on the Nile waterfront and went to bed early since we had a 7:00 flight back to Cairo the next morning.

After arriving in Cairo, we wanted to take a day trip to Alexandria. It was easier said than done, however. The first train we wanted to take was sold out, so we tried to get a bus. After walking around Ramses Station for about fifteen minutes, we thought we had found the place. A guy took us to this back alley where these vans were being loaded, but they only came every fifteen minutes, and there were a lot of people waiting. After awhile we decided to go back and get a later train. It left a little after noon, but we didn’t get into Alexandria until almost three. First we went to the new library, which was really cool. It was a nice change from all the ancient stuff that we had been looking at. Next we went to a seafood restaurant in this side alley. The food was good, but the presentation was lacking. Afterwards we walked along the Corniche and stopped at a café before taking the train back. The next day we flew back to Amman.