Canary Islands - Tenerife

Who can put their hand up and say they know where to locate the Canary Islands?  Probably not many of you.  We definitely couldn’t before we started planning this trip, but we needed to find somewhere to chill out in between tours.  Located off the coast of northwestern Africa, the Canary Islands are the southernmost region of Spain.  There are 7 rugged volcanic isles with the biggest one named Tenerife.  That is where we flew into and have not regretted our decision (apart from a couple of days of not feeling well with mild doses of traveler's diarrhoea)

If you like the hot weather, cheap eating and drinking, the ocean with its many water activities, along with an interest in volcanoes then one of the Canary Islands is for you.  As they are so far away from New Zealand, not many Kiwis venture this way and yet again, we are a near extinct species on a tropical island.  If you don’t count the many people here from the UK, who speak English but still can’t understand them, LOL! we still haven’t found any other tourists from the Southern Hemisphere.

For over a week we have been spoilt with warm temperatures (thankfully not nearly as hot as Egypt), a pool to cool down in, several beaches nearby, countless restaurants and bars to eat in and numerous shops to browse in.

In the middle of Tenerife is Mt Teide, whose summit is the highest in Spain at 3 715m, and third highest volcano in the world.  It last erupted in 1909 and is the most visited natural wonder of Spain.

Travelling on a bus, we didn’t get quite to the summit but close enough to see where many films and tv series have been shot eg:  The Rings of Power, a prequel series to the Lord of the Rings.  The hot, sandy and vast environment was the perfect backdrop for Rhun, in Middle Earth.

During that bus tour we also stopped at Vilaflor, and had a delicious lunch at Icod de los Vinos, were we got to see the famous 800-1000 year old “Drago” Tree.

A wee siesta on the bus before stopping at Garachico, known as the ‘prettiest’ town in Spain.  It also had these awesome rock pools for swimming in.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for a dip as I would have liked to have shown them how to do a proper Kiwi manu!

Before travelling even higher into the mountains to the wee village of Masca. 

I would just like to point out what a terrific job the bus driver did of navigating one of the most notoriously dangerous roads in Spain.  If you think the Crown Range has some tight turns, they aren’t compared to some of the ones on this road where he had to do some 3 point turns to get around them, and the cars coming the other way had to do some reversing back to let the bus through! Spectacular views that I did not miss!

A definite highlight of the week was a 5-hour sailing excursion along the coast to see the spectacular cliffs of Los Gigantes, have a dip in the sea in Masca Bay, all the time looking out for some dolphins and whales, which did make an appearance.

The nightlife in Tenerife is a busy one.  After a delicious Spanish meal at one of the many restaurants eg:  seafood paella,

you don’t have to venture far before you find either a comedy show, karaoke or any variety of music.  It is a small world, Mrs Smith’s (Rosie's relief teacher) Aunty was performing as Adele at one of the bars.  She was great but her husband, Paul, encouraged Rosie to get up and sing a Crowded House song on the karaoke.  I’m afraid to say that Neil Finn would not have liked this particular version of ‘Weather With You’. LOL!

And that is another chapter of our journey completed.  If you are planning a trip in this part of the world, definitely visit the Canary Islands.  It has definitely ticked all the boxes for a week's chill out time before the next adventure.

Egypt - Culture and Lifestyle

In between all the visits to temples, tombs and other ancient sites, we were taken to various businesses that are synonymous with Egyptian culture and were able to experience some basic Egyptian traditions and basic lifestyles.

Alabaster – a calcium carbonate stone that has been valued for centuries for its beauty and versatility, particularly in sculpture, architecture and funerary objects.  Too heavy to carry around with us over the next 2 months but definitely makes a lovely piece of homeware.

Jewellery – huge amount of gold and silver jewelry on sale everywhere and everyone wants you to buy it!  Rosie managed to get a couple of pairs of sterling silver earrings after a bit of bargaining.

Papyrus – versatile material made from the pith of the Cyperus papyrus plant, used for writing, and everyday objects.  It was crucial for recording history, literature and religious texts.

Perfume and oils – in other words aromatherapy which has been used for thousands of years during ancient Egyptian civilization.  We were treated to many examples of different oils, their smells and healing powers.  It was hard to know which ones to get with all our aches and pains!

Herbs and Spices – every known herb, spice, seed and variations of tea grown in Egypt was introduced to us and their benefits explained.  Apparently if they have an ailment, they don’t go to the doctor, they use some concoction of locally grown herb, spice or tea.

Other things that we have noticed in our couple of weeks in Egypt…

Roads and Driving – I have already mentioned the craziness of the drivers and the little regard for any road rules.  There are no stop or give way signs.  There is the occasional traffic light but no pedestrian crossings.  If you want to cross the road, you just walk out and casually walk across to the other side of the road with an arrogance of  ‘I dare you to run me over!’  In saying that, we didn’t see any crashes or people getting run over.

Transportation – if you don’t want to navigate the crazy driving either in a car or on a motorbike, there is a metro system in Cairo that a huge amount of people use (we didn’t), taxis, Uber, Didi etc, some rickety public bus and/or tram plus a cheap shuttle van service.  If you want to use this, just stand on the side of the road and hail it down as there are no bus or taxi stands/signs.  There will only be about 20 people in the 12 seater van! 

Housing – when we first arrived in Cairo, we thought that there were a lot of unfinished houses.  We were right, they are unfinished, but it is on purpose.  A family would buy a house and as the family grew, they would build on top to accommodate extended families so it would be like a floor each for individual families. Eg: mum and dad on the bottom, next floor their son and his family, next floor the next son and his family etc etc.

Food – we have tried all sorts of local cuisine.  There is a huge variety of types of bread, and they have that with all their meals along with Baba ghanoush (like hummus but made out of eggplant) and tahini. A lot of seafood with the most delicious piece of sea bass from the Red Sea, eaten in Cairo.  There is a lot of grilled meat served in a variety of ways eg: sizzling koftas.

The most delicious meat dish was kebab halal, slow cooked lamb in an onion gravy served in a clay pot. Pastries for dessert along with plenty of fresh fruit, especially mango, guava, strawberry and watermelon.  These fruits can also be freshly squeezed into a delicious drink.

Religion – predominantly Muslim, with Islam as the state religion.  There are mosques everywhere and at prayer time, you will hear the wail over very loudspeakers giving them time to get to the mosque to pray.

Hasslers – are everywhere, all ages.  Every tourist spot will have local people trying to sell you their merchandise, but we had word that it isn’t very good quality ie:  Temu most likely!  As much as we wanted to support their local economy, no room in the suitcase for unnecessary knickknacks!  They even tried to capture our attention whilst the cruise ship was passing through the lock on the River Nile.  It was a part of our trip that we didn’t enjoy, constantly being hassled to buy their cheap products. Rosie did manage to negotiate a good price for some bracelets.

Tipping – a huge part of Egyptian culture.  Part of our tour package included a tipping kitty that the tour guide would give to them, so we didn’t have to worry about finding smaller notes to dish out.  We were pleased it was done this way as we were not used to the tipping way, nor how much to give them.  We had it explained to us that it is the money from tipping that supplements their low wage and makes the cost of living more comfortable.  Just like in New Zealand, the cost of living has affected Egypt as well.

Weather - I don’t think we saw a cloud in the sky.  Just blue sky the whole time and hot temperatures that ranged from 28 to 48 degrees the more we travelled into the desert.  I think the best way to describe the heat is me being roasted in the oven on fanbake.  The wind really picked up in Aswan so imagine being in an oven, the heat been blown around, that’s what it was like.  You definitely needed sunglasses on as you could feel your eyeballs shriveling up!

Hospitality – the Egyptians couldn’t do enough for us.  No matter where we went the service was 10/10 but was at a cost with the tipping which was worth not having to carry our heavy bags!

Security – we are quite early in the trip, but I have now lost count of how many metal detectors I have been in.  Every temple and every hotel has one along with the bomb detection dog that checks out all the vehicles that enter onto hotel properties.  There is police, with guns, everywhere as the Egyptians are very conscious of keeping tourists safe in today’s climate.

Egypt, we can now tick you off.  Definitely a country worth visiting due to its ancient history and unique culture which we learnt a lot thanks to our awesome tour guide, Ahmed, who had an extensive knowledge of Egyptology.

Egypt - Cruise on the River Nile

One of the must dos of our mammoth trip was to take a cruise on the River Nile.  Fortunately, our Egyptian tour package included that.  Leaving from Luxor we sailed for a couple of days at a leisurely pace towards Aswan, in the south of Egypt.  We docked a couple of times at Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo before the final destination.

As it is quiet season for tourism in Egypt there are only 7-10 other people on the boat, so it actually feels like we have a super yacht to ourselves, and we believe there are more staff on board than guests!  We are getting special treatment, sometimes it is over the top and then other times we can’t find anyone!

We frequently made visits to the pool mainly to cool down as the temperature has reached the high 40s at some parts of the day.  The further south we travelled, the hotter it gets, and you can see from the clip, the locals like to go cruising on the Nile as well.

We have also been fed very well.  For each meal breakfast, lunch and dinner, there are about 5 courses.  If Rosie and Grant aren’t careful, they will end up being as round as I am!

Guess what we looked at whilst we were docked?  You guessed it, temples.  The thing is that they are quite varied, and all have a different story.  The Kom Ombo one is divided into two parts – one dedicated to Sobek (who had a crocodile head) and one to Horus the Elder (falcon).  Depending on what you believed in would be what entrance you would use.

Another key feature of this temple is the Crocodile Museum where there were several mummified crocodiles, all in remembrance of the God Sobek.

We made the decision to make the 3 hour trek through the desert (in an air conditioned van) to where we saw where the greatest operation to salvage the Abu Simbel temples took place.  These two temples were threatened with being permanently submerged after the rising waters of Lake Nasser in 1960.  After many years of painstaking manual work, the Abu Simbel temples were officially reopened in 1968.  Wow, those monuments are remarkable of Rameses II.

The last temple of our Egyptian tour was of another one that was saved from being submerged in water when they made the Aswan Dam.  Philae Temple is one dedicated to Isis, one of the most significant figures of ancient Egyptian religion.  Based on the Island of Philae, there are many chambers, most of them decorated during the reign of Ptolemy II, whose name is the earliest attested with this temple.  There is also quite a Graeco-Roman flavour about the architecture, and you can see some Christianity symbols featuring on the walls.

And so ends our Egyptian tour bar the 13 hour, overnight train ride back to Cairo which is where I am writing this current blog.   The tour guide asked us what we liked and disliked about Egyptian culture.  Will share our answers in the next post.

Egypt - Temples and Tombs

It was great getting a more in-depth insight into Egyptology before venturing further afield to Luxor where there are many temples and other historical sites to visit.

One of the more adventurous forms of transportation would be the overnight train from Cairo to Luxor.  

In a cabin about 1.5m x 1.5m all three of us, plus suitcases fitted in for the night.  Poor
Grant, it just wasn’t long enough for him to stretch out!

We arrived in Luxor (built of the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes) early in the morning then travelled about 1 ½ hours to the Temple of Hathor in Dendera, through some desert roads.  When I say desert roads, it was quite a new motorway!

On this site a few temples have been built on top of each other with the current one built 54 BC.  In there are 24 columns and the ceiling depicts many astronomical scenes and celestial constellations on both sides of the axis.  There are also six worship rooms.  The hieroglyphics on the walls were amazing to look at and with the help of our tour guide, we were able to understand some of the stories they tell.

Later that evening, we were taken to the Luxor Temple and what a magnificent sight at night.  It is one of the best preserved and links to the Karnak Temple by a 3km avenue of sphinxes, with the last 500m still under excavation.  Amenhotep III started building the Luxor Temple 1390-1352BC, finished by Ramesses II, which is why he features a lot, and several other notable kings and queens helped with the design and building of the sphinx avenue.

The Karnak Temple, east bank of River Nile north of Luxor, is the largest manmade temple in the world and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders, Rameses II and Rameses III to name a couple. There are a remarkable columns, some of them destroyed over the years, but the highlight for us was Queen Hatshepsut’s tallest and heaviest obelisk which was made in Aswan.  How on earth did they a) make it so smooth out of one piece of stone; b) transport it the 300km to Luxor and c) erect it?  See below for some more info on this remarkable woman!

The Valley of the Kings was an incredible place to visit.  We arrived early in the morning (to escape the heat) to see three separate tombs – Rameses IV, Merenptah and Rameses III but you can see from the map that there are many other tombs that have been discovered, and they are still finding more every day.  Instead of building pyramids for the tombs they realized it was better to go underground, which reduced the risk of their tombs being robbed.

We didn’t go into the tomb of Tutankhamen, as we saw most of his treasures at the museum, but the reason why it didn’t get discovered until 1922 was because it was underneath Rameses VI’s tomb.

It was then on to see the awe-inspiring memorial house to Queen Hatshepsut, a ruler for 15 years 1473-1458BC.  She was regarded as one of the great Queens and had a reputation for having a great business brain.  The Egyptian economy was healthy when she was in charge.  

Here is one of her original statues

and I was a bit afraid when I was put up on one of the sacrificial altars!!

Now cruising on the River Nile which is relaxing and peaceful as only 7 guests on board.  Probably more staff on board than passengers but that is great as we are getting waited on very well.

This isn't our boat but a similar one.

Egypt - Museums

With the history of Egypt being so, so old there are now 3 museums devoted to housing all the artifacts, sculptures and information that has been gathered over the years, and they are still trying to gather answers to some of the mysteries, and secrets, that the ancient Egyptians left behind.  It would take weeks to properly look at the displays on offer so here a few highlights of what we saw.

Now known as the Old Museum in Cairo, a lot of the most popular artifacts have been moved to the GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum) but there are still some very interesting pieces eg:  Rosetta Stone replica.  The inscriptions on this stone took years to interpret but once the code was cracked, it unlocked so many answers to life in Egypt, thanks to Napolean Bonaparte and his fascination with Egyptology, who was instrumental in getting it interpreted.

One of the more interesting exhibitions was the one devoted to mummies Thuya and Yuya who lived in about 1400 BC.  Their tomb was discovered in 1904 and due to some high quality mummification, their bodies were in very good condition.  A few bits of their furniture were also found and was considered the richest tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings before Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Speaking of which, around 1320 BC the young king of Egypt, Tutankhamun, was buried in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor.  He had an unexpected death at the prime age of 19 years and was hastily buried.  In 1922 his tomb was discovered, thanks to a young boy who found the steps to it.  It took 10 years for a British archeological team to clear his tomb and conserve all its contents, which are now all on display in the museum but will soon be moved to the GEM. 

Late last year, part of the GEM opened to the public and when it is fully finished, it will be the largest museum in the world devoted to one culture.  WOW!  What a well laid out museum and beautifully designed (by an Irish company who won the tender) that captures the essence of Egyptology.  The public wanders up 4 areas devoted to: 1 Royal Image; 2 Divine Houses; 3 Gods and Kings; 4 Eternal Life.  Once you reach the top of these sections, you are lead to a view of the Pyramids of Giza (photo above) and then it is divided into 3 areas – Society, Royalty and Religion throughout the timeline of Egypt (see photo below).  

It was a great day to wander around an air-conditioned museum and the temperature has finally hit 40 degrees but the mind is boggling with all this fascinating information regarding Egyptian history over the past 3-4 millenniums!

This was my favourite statue of King Khufu's (one who built the big pyramid) grandparents King Huni and Queen Meresankh I.  NB:  Queen is higher than the king as she was the one who actually 'ruled the roost' and had the king right under her thumb!  You can find this in the old museum.

Egypt - Pyramids

The only great wonders of the ancient world to be still standing – The Pyramids of Giza but did you actually know that there are at least 118 pyramids in Egypt?  Some look like mounds of sand and dirt.  We got to see a few of the main ones both at night and during the day, but I didn’t get to see the nighttime show.

Whilst we were waiting for a sound and light show to start in Giza, we were fortunate to see the sunset behind the pyramids and then were treated to a historical recount about the pyramids with some dramatic music and lighting.  After that the tour guide took us to a restaurant for a delicious buffet meal of the finest Egyptian cuisine, including some yummy koftas and for dessert, basbousa (sweet semolina cake soaked in syrup).

Thank goodness that it starting to be the quiet season in Egypt for tourists so there were no queues at the pyramids.  It was hard enough to compete with the searing heat without having to deal with lots of people gawking at me!

Let’s see if we can recall the history relayed to us, which was a lot!  The pyramids were built to be elaborate tombs for pharaohs and were designed to protect the pharaoh’s body and possessions, ensuring a safe passage to the afterlife.   The three main pyramids at Giza were built from roughly 2550 to 2490BC by Pharoaoh Khufu, the largest one originally towering at 147 metres (top fell off), 2.3 million blocks each weighing 2.5 to 15 tonnes.  His son, Khafre, built the second one which looks taller, but it was built on higher ground and the smaller one was built by Khafre’s son, Menkaure.  These weren’t the only pyramids built in this family, Khufu’s Dad built one further away which is referred to as the Broken Angle Pyramid which is alongside one that is called the Red Pyramid.

To this day, it is a mystery as to how the pyramids were actually built but they do know that the many blocks were transported by barge along the Nile River over the 30+ years it took to build them.

In front of the great pyramids stands the Great Sphinx, the oldest of Egypt’s colossal statues which was carved out of one block of limestone.  With a length of 72m and a height of approx. 20m, it is also the largest.  It represents the kings with the body of a lion, in a clear demonstration of his power.  I took quite a liking to him, giving him a wee kiss.

To have a break from looking at pyramids, we visited the Papyrus Museum where there were some beautiful artworks on papyrus, a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times for writing.  It is made from the pith of the papyrus plant that grows in wetland areas, particularly around the Nile River.  Widely used to write documents, letters etc but also used to make boats, mats, baskets and sandals.  Of course, Rosie bought a small art piece which will look great framed when get home.

In the Saqqara area of Cairo is the oldest pyramid, the Step Pyramid.  This was built by Djoser, the first king of the Third Dynasty, around 2700BC, and is considered to be a giant stairway that he would climb after being resurrected to join the sun god Ra in the sky.

We were fortunate to be able to go into a tomb that had a lot of hieroglyphics on the walls telling stories of those historical days.

Another lunch of falafels, molokhia (stew made from jute leaves, served with rice) and mahshi (rice-stuffed vegetables) with an Egyptian ‘traffic light’ (strawberry, guava and mango juice) we were escorted back to the hotel for a well-earned swim in the pool!