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9th February

Blue skies and Pyramids - hooray! We met our excellent new guide, Walid, and set off for Giza, just along the road, where we saw one of the most incredible sights on earth. Huge pyramids, just sat there in front of us. Breathtaking. Walid is an Egyptologist with excellent (and clear) English and a way of explaining things really clearly, so we were enthralled by everything he had to say about the Ancient Egyptians. We decided against going inside a pyramid as it's very hard on your back and knees and we are all getting on a bit! It seems incredible that these huge structures were built for just one King, then closed after his death. Talk about the height of selfishness. We had plenty of time to look around and attempt the age-old game of dodging the hasslers. 'Cheaper than Asda', 'I give you good price'. 'Cheap as chips', even 'I love money'! Even the police wanted us to pay to photograph them. And there were masses of them - something we noticed wherever we went in Egypt. We visited the Mortuary Temple and heard how the body was embalmed and prepared for burial. Also, the Sun Ship, a wooden ship found in pieces, perfectly preserved under limestone slabs, and now put back together and housed in its own museum.

And The Sphinx, guarding the dead in the acropolis from the living. I was staggered at the size of its body, which isn't shown nearly as much as its face. It's absolutely huge. Then on to the Museum - rather than suffer the crowds the following morning, we went in the afternoon and it was much quieter. We had lunch there and the most lovely fresh juices that seem impossible to get in any of the hotels except the Mena House. Walid gave us a tour of the highlights, explaining so much that we'd have missed ourselves. I loved the enormous granite sculptures of the Kings. And of course, the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb, the tomb we saw a few years ago in the Valley of the Kings. It's impossible to prepare yourself for the abundance of riches. And he died very young - think what he would have accumulated had he lived a long life! Staggering. We had time to look around on our own and then went back to our hotel, playing dodge the traffic. I wouldn't have been able to cope as a pedestrian, or as a driver. It was totally manic and we couldn't find any vehicles that didn't have at least a couple of scratches, dents or mirrors missing. We took a slight knock but couldn't find any evidence of it later. 

Back at the hotel, we investigated the shops and Martyn risked a haircut. fascinating stuff - he also had his eyebrows, ear and nasal hair trimmed! That evening we met up for drinks and then the 6 of us had a fabulous Indian meal in the hotels' renowned Moghul Rooms restaurant. It's the best Indian food I've had and the best food of the entire trip. The surroundings were beautiful and we were accompanied by live Indian music throughout the evening, which really added to the atmosphere. And all for under £20 a head including drinks so not at all the price I'd have expected from a place like this. 

10th February

Today we had the luxury of a lie-in, having changed our plans yesterday so weren't leaving until noon. A word of advice - when in Egypt, you must save all receipts for money changed. When settling our bills, we were unable to pay in cash as it was more than we'd cashed - because of the way we sorted out the bill the night before. So there was much messing around between the 6 of us with Egyptian pounds and English pounds swapping hands looking increasingly suspicious. This time our destination was Ain Soukhna on the Gulf of Suez. Walid persuaded the authorities we didn't need need a police escort - although I suspect it cost him a bribe to do so! We were staying at the Swiss Inn Stella di Mare resort and it felt very strange. We drove through a vast building site full of half built villas and apartments before pulling up at the hotel reception. There was a conference going on and the place was buzzing with families. We just weren't used to full hotels! But we might well have been the only Brits there as it was the first day of the Islamic new year and so heaving with couples having a break form the chaos of Cairo with their children. And very noisy those children were too. There were also Italians and French. There was a  fantastic pool, the biggest I've ever seen, but it was empty and very cold. And a great beach - empty when we arrived. I half expected to see Fred Flinstone come round the corner as the pool area was full of rocks. It really was quite a strange place. Despite its size, the hotel had one small shop - selling clothes and golf equipment. The Italian influence, perhaps! This was the place where we had most leisure time - and the place we least wanted it! But our rooms were fine although the corridors noisy due to being tiled, wide, and having no insulating decoration on the walls. That night we ate in the Italian Restaurant, great food, a bit chilly though. But hey, we were getting used to being cold! The other restaurant was packed with noisy families. Sleeping that night was hell - with late night revellers holding shouting contest all along the corridors, finally stopping at 2am. 

11th February

A day of Monasteries, those of St Anthony and St Paul. First was St Anthony's. He was a rich young man who gave away everything when his parents died and went into the desert to serve God. He lived to be 105 years old and is known as the Father of Monasticism. The Monastery was very peaceful and we were given a tour by a monk. It was quite hard to follow him as he spoke so softly. We declined the offer of walking up to the cave in which St Anthony spent much of his life - 1200 steps was around 1000 steps too far after such a bad night. Then on to St Paul's, a much poorer community. Outside there was rubbish everywhere and we couldn't understand why no-one bothered to clear it up. But inside it was lovely, very calm and similar to the other. Our monk guide was lovely and he gave us all fresh baked bread rolls at noon and then later gave us more, together with their own cheese and honey. Plus mint tea - and no suggestion of payment which was most unusual. I felt rather blessed to be given bread by such a gentle monk in such a Holy place, although I am not religious. 

We had a 2 hour drive back to our hotel but it was pretty dull. There are masses of huge developments springing up along the coast but we couldn't see how they could all possibly attract enough people to make a god profit. Back at the hotel, we walked along the beach and admired some of the smarter villas. We found that the cheapest only cost around £5000 but I can't somehow see investment there catching on with the British. That night we enjoyed another delicious Italian meal.

12th February

We had a long drive today down to Sharm-el-Sheikh, at the tip of the Sinai peninsula, during which I took the opportunity to read. We had another guide, named Sharif, who was very keen to discuss English Literature with us. We arrived at 5pm, having gone through numerous checkpoints occupied by bored guards carrying guns - again, we declined to have a guard with us. The best bit about staying here was that none of us will ever be tempted to visit for a holiday, although our hotel, the Sheraton was nice. We were in apartments a long way from the main complex and it wasn't that easy finding your way around. We were shocked at how much more expensive everything was here than anywhere else in Egypt. But we couldn't find anywhere selling snacks - we were hungry, having had no lunch. So we wasted money on Pringles from a surly shopkeeper. I guess they have a captive audience as there's nowhere else to go. The hotels are all in extensive grounds and it was a long drive from what appeared to be the centre. And there was more building going on all around us. We checked out the buffet to find it cost over £20 which was crazy after paying less than £10 everywhere else. So we ventured down into the very smart main hotel and found we could eat A La Carte for less than half that! That night we ate in the traditional restaurant which was great. We had little barbecues at the table and live Arab music. And even had a discount on our bill which was a bit unusual. 

13th February

We had plenty of time to explore the resort before leaving, It really is beautifully laid out with numerous swimming pools and gardens but the red flag was flying on the beach. We found our Sharif had been replaced by another Sharif - did they think we wouldn't notice - had we scared him off? We weren't looking forward to today with the drive back to Nuweiba port and the hassles of the crossing back into Jordan. And it was a bit of a hassle, with our passports being taken and returned at regular intervals. We joined another VJV group who had been in Egypt just to visit St Catherine's, and totally confused them into thinking they were getting on the wrong coach. They were most put out at first but later accepted us and shared their lunchboxes! We finally arrived back in Aqaba at 6pm. It was lovely to be back in Jordan, It's somehow so much easier than Egypt although we'd had a great time. We dined at a local restaurant, The Captain's Table, although were a bit taken aback to find it didn't serve alcohol. Sometimes you can take your own but it was a religious day so we couldn't. The food was good though, although when Carol asked for a hot dish to be recommended, she'd meant hot rather than cold - and not chilli hot! A bit of a shock.

14th February

The weather was good so we had a look at the old city ruins opposite the hotel and then went into town to buy a few souvenirs. We relaxed by the pool for a while and in the afternoon we gathered together all the clothes we could wear in one go and set off for Wadi Rum, reunited with Ahmed the guide. After an hour or so, we transferred to battered old jeeps belong to the Bedouins (smuggled from Saudi Arabia as Jordanian car tax is 400% of purchase price, old or new, according to Ahmed, who is scathing of his government). We drove into the Wadi, featured in Lawrence of Arabia and saw the wonders of Wadi Rum. Fantastic, a fitting end to our trip. We gradually increased our clothes, with me ending up wearing tights, socks, 2 pairs of trousers, 2 t-shirts, a thick cardigan, fleece and a jacket. And socks on my hands......... It was the warmest I'd felt in 2 weeks! We visited a couple of sites and saw ancient graffiti and a fantastic gorge covered in drawings. Then we climbed some rocks to watch the sun go down. No great sunset, unfortunately, but it was privilege to be there. 

Once it was dark, we went back to a Bedouin village where the rocks had been lit up to welcome us. It was beautiful. We ate in tents, a lovely buffet with barbecued meat  and were entertained by singing and music. It was surprisingly warm inside the tent, with its big open fires. A Valentine's Day to remember.

15th February

We had the morning and half the afternoon before leaving for the airport so the 6 of us set off to find a glass bottomed boat for an hour. We negotiated and thought we'd struck a deal. The boatman stripped off and dived under the boat to clean the bottom. The coral was disappointing and virtually all dead and we saw few fish although we did pass over a couple of wrecks. However, our deal seemed to have been misunderstood and our boatman was decidedly upset when we paid him, but we managed to come to a compromise and paid a fair price. We found a café and had coffee before visiting the Queen Noor Craft Centre, full of lovely things made by Jordanian women. We bought a few things and then set off to complete our packing and had some lunch by the pool. The weather really was lovely by now! The journey to the airport was thankfully brief and we finally arrived home in the early hours of Wednesday morning. 

It was a fantastic holiday although if I was planning it again, I think I'd have preferred more time in Cairo and less in Ain Soukhna. And I wish I had assumed the worst of the weather instead of relying on weather forecasts which proved to be pretty inaccurate! Nevertheless, it's a good time of year to visit if you're well prepared.