Barcelona Airport

We are sitting in the VIP lounge at the airport, unwinding with a couple of people we met on the cruise.  Five hours down... five to go.  Our flight officially gets in after 1 am tomorrow, so, of course, we miss all our connections to Anchorage.  Delta proposed routing us to ANC via Minneapolis on Monday, but not in first class, so Scott asked them to look for the first available flight with first class seats.  To make a long story short, we´ll get to ANC at 6:27 PM Tuesday.  That should put us home around 9:30 or 10... depending on weather.

See you soon!

Valleta, Malta

We spent the sea time out of Alexandria enduring what the ship calls “increased hygiene” measures to prevent GI illnesses – translated that means no self service at the buffets, extra hand sanitizing stations, crew spraying carpets (to counteract the Egyptian dirt we might have tracked in?), and no going and getting yourself a cup of coffee (except for those of us lucky enough to have coffee makers in our rooms).

Valleta entrance

We sailed into Valleta, Malta, eagerly.  The entrance is pretty tight, with massive walls lining the city and a narrow port channel.  We moored behind a German frigate.  

Valleta harbor

Mdina, St Paul's Cathedral

Rather than do a ship tour we opted for the HO-HO bus… that’s a hop on, hop off.  Right as we boarded the open top level of the bus, it started spitting rain… the bus company was prepared and promptly handed out ponchos.

Malta is home to the Knights of Malta, defenders of the Roman Catholic church, and, indeed, there are churches everywhere.  One church in Mdina was St. Paul’s home church when he was named Bishop of Malta and where he is believed to be buried.  

the bombed church

There was one church with a huge dome that was bombed in WWII and the bomb penetrated the roof, but did not go off… today they keep a replica in the sacristy.

Near Italy and Africa, it is a historic crossroads – and has been invaded multiple times, as well as serving as a launch point for the crusades.  It was most recently under British rule (until the 1960s), so they speak Italian, Maltese, and English.  We even saw one building that had a sign saying Napoleon had ruled the island for seven days.  There is even an old naval hospital that handled British troops from the battle of Gallipoli.

They do like their religious festivals, and Christmas decorations at every turn reminded us that December is here… where did the year go?

We are headed now for Barcelona… with strong storms moving across Europe and closing airports in the UK, we picked up some gale force winds and pretty good swells.  We sat at lunch and watched the waves crashing from the lap pool onto Deck 12.  Barf bags began appearing throughout the ship due to the rough seas.  We think the line mistook seasickness for GI distress because at dinner they were serving bread instead of putting a plate of rolls on the table and even the salt and pepper shakers were removed.   After Scott complained, we were allowed to have the waiters give us freshly ground pepper. 

They are taking the measures a bit too far.  After dinner, our friends returned to their room to find their ice bucket had been removed and their coffee maker.  We still have our cappuccino machine and our ice bucket, so there must be separate rules for suites. 

We’re all packed and ready to leave.  We’re taking a ship’s tour to Monserrat (a monastery in the hills near Barcelona).  It is supposed to have a killer view and a famous choir, and what works for us is that it kills some time … allowing us to check in to our hotel.  (When your ship arrives at 5 am to meet westbound morning flight schedules, the hotels just don’t have rooms ready!)

We’ll be home before we know it.

Observations on Egypt

goats on sidewalk, sheep in street

Our overall impression of Egypt was that it was extremely dirty… trash everywhere, trucks dumping garbage into canals that ran between the streets.  Horses, cattle, sheep share the roadways and sidewalks with trucks and cars.  Many of the buildings are unfinished, yet still have their TV satellite dishes.  Major developments are being built to the north of Cairo… there were signs touting malls and planned developments and highway interchanges “to nowhere” were disrupting traffic on the highway.  Chaos is a kind description.

We were very glad to be back on board where we could shower and wash our clothes to get rid of the Cairo dirt.  It makes you believe in the saying, “There’s no place like home.”

Sailing shortly after a beautiful sunset was welcome!

Egypt- Day 2

All day long Sunday we had seen banners for the election… and during the performance we heard many sirens.  The next morning we found a bulletin on the English version of Aljezeera TV that protests over fraud in the election had turned violent. The next morning as we turned from the Alexandria Highway onto Giza Road we saw army armored personnel carriers and riot gear. 

We got to Giza just before it opened.  The smog was a bit better, but it was still hard to see.  The best part was we beat the hordes of buses.  At the panoramic overlook we had the place to ourselves.

We finished with a walk down from the Great Pyramid to the Sphinx.  It looked a bit bigger in the daylight.

We headed from there into downtown Cairo to the Egyptian Museum where we had a chance to see the King Tut exhibit and many, many antiquities.  No pictures were allowed here.

Our drive back to Alexandria was more of an adventure than the southbound trip.  About an hour out of Alexandria, right in front of the McDonald’s pit stop, we were stopped by the police.  Ahead we could see smoke, and people on the highway.  We sat for about half an hour before the police allowed tourist vehicles to go over to the frontage road and around the problem.  As we are moving past, the police in full riot gear are moving in a phalanx along the southbound lane, with weapons drawn.  Scott got a picture of two civilians running along the right hand side of the road with AK-47 rifles.  We were very glad to get away.

We had arranged to return to Alexandria early to tour the Roman catacombs… a cemetery that supposedly was found in the early 1900s when a donkey’s leg broke through the ceiling.  It was originally three levels underground, but problems with ground water prevent anyone from going past the second level.  Because Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great, this cemetery was part Roman, part Greek and part Egyptian… the Greeks and Romans were into cremation, and the Egyptians mummification, so this was a mix.  There was a place they called the dining room, where Greeks would bring supper and get out the urn of their departed family member and have a feast.  In the Greek tradition, after they would break the dishes.  The Arabic name of the place meant pile of broken dishes.  No pictures were allowed here either.

Just as we got back to the ship, they announced that additional problems along the Cairo-Alexandria road meant that most of the buses were going to be late, so they delayed our sailing.  We left nearly an hour and half late.

Egypt - Day 1

We arrived in Alexandria at dawn in a thick fog… from our 8^th deck stateroom we could see wisps of light above the fog as the lighthouse rotated.   Eerie!!!

We hurried off the ship to catch our tour, only to be held in place in the parking lot by the tourist police.  The fog, national elections and standstill traffic were the reasons.  Two and a half hours late we got out of the port.  Our adventure began…

Once we reached the Alexandria Desert Highway we were treated to an exhibition of chaos.  Trucks, buses and vans all competing for the highway… nobody pays attention to lanes, the drivers pull onto the shoulder or a frontage road to get ahead of somebody.  When we made a pit stop at Omar’s Oases, an hour out of Alexandria, most of our fellow travelers were shell shocked.  Walking into the toilet, an attendant hands you toilet paper, and expects you to put money into the pot.  I had heard about this on cruise critic, so was prepared… others were not.

pigeon towers

The adventure continued… past salt drying ponds, a camel ranch, tall towers we were told were pigeon roosts, speed bumps that slowed the traffic to a crawl, pedestrians that run across 6 lanes of oncoming traffic, small pick up trucks with water buffalo, goats, or local produce, and trucks and buses with men and women hanging on.   Four hours later we reached Giza… it was so smoggy we could barely make out the pyramids. 

Ramses II

We had a very good guide named Hagar – a Nubian from the south of Egypt who was working on her masters in Egyptology and Tourism.  She suggested we modify the tour schedule a bit to avoid the huge crowds at Giza, so we headed to Memphis and saw the Alabaster Sphinx and several large statues of Ramses II. 

Ramses II

Alabaster or Memphis Sphinx

From there we went to Saqqara, to the Step Pyramid … the oldest pyramid in Egypt.  We toured the necropolis, and got some good pictures. 

Because the historical areas were closing we headed to our hotel, checked in, then left to attend the sound an light show at the pyramids.  Sitting in the amphitheater, you could make out the shapes of two pyramids, and we suddenly realized that the Sphinx was right in front of us.  Both of us had the same reaction… it’s much smaller than we thought it would be!  At first we thought it might be a model, but, as the show began we realized it was the real thing.