Landing in New Delhi was an interesting experience, all the Indian’s on the plane burst in a round of applause, I really didn’t get it. Did they not think that the pilot would land successfully? Wish I had known that before I got on the plane!!!! We arrived at 4am we were greeted by a little signed man “Welcome Miss Gayle”. Lucky we had a driver because it deterred beggars from approaching us.
Our first day in New Delhi we decided to walk to Connaught Place. After about a half an hour walk through many streets littered with touk touk’s cows and literally thousands of people, we realised we were going in the wrong direction. We jumped on a touk touk and for 50 rupees he took us to Connaught Place. Connaught Place is a shopping area built during the Colonial times. It has a real buzz to it. It has all the brand name shopping, in proper stores and much cheaper than home. It has great café’s and restaurants; it’s the “in” place to be. We found a great little restaurant called Host and devoured a delicious Indian meal. The best thing about India is the food. The worst thing about the food is that it’s all carbs and meat, and not that great for the waist line!

Our second day in New Delhi was a public holiday, Ghandi’s day. The crazy vibrant city was dead. We felt pretty lost without much to do, so we took advantage of chilling out before we went on our tour the next day. We hung out in our room watching Indian television. The next day we met our guide and only 1 other tour member at the hotel and we took a touk touk to the Government Houses and The Arc de Triumph. We had lunch again at Host restaurant in Connaught Place then we experienced a Metro ride back to our hotel. The Metro is definitely an experience you just have to have. Firstly it’s as cheap as chips, 8 rupees for the ride (about 10cents). Secondly, its jam packed. The train pulled up and it was packed like sardines, I almost fell over when our guide said get on. We shoved our way in, along with 16 other locals. Then as soon as we were in, and we didn’t think anymore could fit in, another 60 boarded!!!! That night we took an over night sleeper train to Varanasi. Varanasi is the holiest city in India. It is like the Vatican for Catholics, Mecca for Muslims and Israel for Jews. The main religions worshiped in Varanasi are Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Our first day there, we visited the Buddhist area. We visited the area where Budda became enlightened. We visited a museum where I learnt about the Buddhist Goddess Tara, the Goddess of Power and Protection. That evening we met up with 7 other group members at dinner.

The next morning we got up early for a boat ride along the Ganges River for sunrise. The Ganges River in Varanasi is the holiest river and thousands of pilgrims venture daily to the shores for spiritual healing. It is considered in Hinduism a very sacred place. If one were to die and were cremated on the shores of The Ganges River and then floated down the river in Varanasi they would skip the re-incarnation cycle and go straight to the heaven. Many people in their old age or when they are sick will pack up and move to Varanasi for the last days of their life. Also, many wealthier people on their deaths have their bodies transported to Varanasi to ascend into the heaven. The boat ride was interesting; there were thousands of people up performing their daily rituals. There were people coming to bathe a spiritual type of cleansing, there were people chanting and praying, performing yoga, washing their clothes, brushing their teeth, floating lighted flowered candles in the river. We saw people cremating the deceased, we even bumped into a few floating bodies that had gone to the heavens. That evening we took another boat ride down the Ganges River, this time experiencing a Hindu spiritual ceremony, much like a mass, held by priests. It was a lovely experiencing to hear the bells and the chanting of the priests and pilgrims.

The next day we took the overnight train to Agra. Agra houses the most magnificent monument in all of India, the Taj Mahal. Despite all the hype about the Taj Mahal it is every bit as good as you’ve heard. It’s made from white marble which depending on the time of day you visit the palace it changes colour with the sun. The Taj Mahal was a perfect place to visit on our honeymoon as it’s a temple built for love. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. We also visited the Fort of Agra. In around 1653 Shah Jahn was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned at the Fort and for the rest of his days he gazed at the Taj Mahal from a window.

We took a local (very dodgy) bus then a jeep to a very little town called Todi. This town is a very small remote village with a population of 1500. We arrived in the afternoon and were awaited by camels and carts to take us for a ride. We hopped on and headed through the village waving at the locals; meanwhile our camel had gastro and was farting the whole way. We headed to the sand dunes and climbed up them and watched the sun set while sipping Marsala tea (chai). The next morning we went for a village walk, visited 2 local schools then getting followed by a whole bunch of kids very keen to get their photo taken. We visited a local hospital/medical clinic, a pot maker, and visited a typical home made from cow dung. The people in the village were beautiful and hospitable. They lived a very simple life and although they were poor, they did not live like the poor, they were prosperous and happy. This was definitely a highlight of our stay.

We then hopped back on the Jeeps and headed to Jaipur. Jaipur is the pink city, ordered to be painted pink being the colour for hospitality, and the capital of Rajasthan. It’s a bustling city with huge markets and shops, and rocking café’s. It has a beautiful fort at the hilltop and a stunning floating palace and the City Palace. The city is known for its block printing and gems.

We said goodbye to our group and Maroun and I along with hour guide Rany headed to a very small village Namajsh only 15 minutes from the home town of our tour guide. We stayed with the Noble Man and Woman of Namajsh in their guest house. They were a very warm and welcoming family; we spent the afternoon in their formal lounge room looking at photos from their family even their wedding photos. We had delicious home cooked meals. There is no refrigeration, so vegetables were picked just before being cooked. During our stay we went on a village walk and a Jeep safari where we spotted wild Cantaloupes. It’s funny, in the surrounding villages in this area it’s a very different way of life. The women are the ones that work on the land while the men stay home and play cards with the other men. This is very typical on this region.

A very long and windy jeep ride got us to Udaipur, which is dubbed the “romantic city” or “the Indian Venice”. It’s a gorgeous city built around Lake Pichola. We visited Jagdish Temple and the City Palace.

We ended our journey in Delhi where we got an early flight home.

After a short flight from Jordan, we were greeted at Beirut airport by Maroun’s mum and cousin’s Susan and Fouad.  It was a great reunion to be back with family.   We drove for around 2 hours to the tiny little village of Saghbine which is in the Beqaa Valley region.  In the village we met the children of Susan and Fouad, 3 gorgeous girls, Emily, Amanda and Angela.  We also met Uncle Abdulla and Aunty Amra who were here from Australia.  After dinner we headed just up the road to sweet Aampty (Aunty) Salwa’s house where we were staying.

The next day we met our neighbours and relatives Aamo (Uncle) Faousi, Aampty Saidy and cousins Coco, Maryanne, Charbel, Shady and Fadi.

Aamo Faousi took us down to the family orchid.  The orchids are on the side of the mountain and have been neatly arranged by levels of retaining walls.  I rode the donkey down, and then on the way back we packed all the fruit we picked on the donkey and walked him back up.  We picked apples, plums, pears, grapes, berries and figs.  The next day we had more work on the agenda.  We went up Maroun’s dad’s orchid and we picked walnuts, leaving our hands stained.  Also at this location there are Maroun’s dad’s olive trees.  He planted these trees before he moved to Australia, now they are thriving and the family here gets to enjoy great olives and make their own olive oil.

We spent many lazy days, meeting family members, drinking coffee and tea, eating eating eating and last but not least, dancing the dabke.  The dabke is a Lebanese line dance.  Every village has a slight variation to the foot movements but we dance around in a circle, going slow in sections then breaking out faster in when the beat picks up in the music.  The music is Arabian folk music which is very catchy “Waile waile waile”.

Village life is a very relaxed life.  We’d be woken in the morning by the neighbours donkey, he sounds like a rusty horn.  The day is filled by a slow breakfast, then visitors coming over having tea and coffee, a light lunch, and walk possibly popping into someone else’s house (unannounced) having more tea and coffee, then coming home in the evening for dinner, whisky and smoking arghilies.

Saghbine is in the Beqaa Valley which is an agricultural region, and I must say has some pretty good wines.  Susan and Foued and the family to us to Chateau Ksara, which is a local winery.  We went on a virtual tour of the winery and walked down into the cellars, before tasting their local drop.  The wine cellars were underground in caves which had the perfect temperature for storing wine.   The caves were discovered in Roman times and were expanded during WWI.  There is over 2km of tunnels.  That afternoon we window shopped through the village of Zahle, then we indulged in ice-cream and fruit cocktails.  The Lebanese don’t enjoy their wine in summer and I must say I received a few comments.  The drink of summer is their national drink Arak.  Arak is an aniseed flavoured spirit, and its it mixed with water to make a cloudy drink.  Similar to Ouzo that the Greeks drink.  One or two small glasses are about all that I could handle before the flavor gets too intense and you can’t taste anything else.

Aamo Abdulla took us to one of Lebanon’s finest tourist attraction, Jeita Grotto.   Jeita Grotto are the most spectacular caves I’ve ever seen.  I think they’d be up there with the world’s finest.  They stretch some 6Km back into the mountains.  We walked through the upper cavern along a man-made path and experienced some extraordinary stalactites and stalagmites.  We only walked through a small section of it but we could see its astonishing size.  We then made our way to the lower cavern, where we took a short boat ride through the beautifully lit caves.

We spent a few days just 21km north of Beirut on a coastal town named Jouneih; however, as soon as we got there I got sick so we were limited in what we could do.  Jouneih is a beach side town where there is a charming old Centre Ville with great little shopping boutiques, and to the North is the night life with bars and “Super” nightclubs where you’ll find expensive exotic dancers.

We visited Harissa which is high above Jounieh.  It has the gigantic white-panted bronze statue of Our Lady of Lebanon with her arms outstretched overlooking Beirut.  We took a very old and dodgy cable car up the mountain, but since we were going up to see Our Lady, we felt safe.  They say that miracles have happened here.  The Our Lady that stands above the church was originally facing in the direction of Jounieh which is the same direction that the Church faces, then when the war broke out in the 1960’s in Beirut, one morning the Mary had turned and is now facing in the direction of Beirut, watching and protecting the people.  The Mary is built from stone and is solidly placed in cement, one man could not have moved it, and it’s a miracle.

We went shopping downtown and to the Arminian area.  There is a large Arminian community in Lebanon who have seeked refuge and have settled there.  We went to see the beautiful views of the Pigeon Rocks in the Mediterranean Sea.  These rocks are large beautiful arches just off shore which is the only natural feature in Beirut.  We visited St George Church and also the Mohammed al-Amin mosque which is where the much loved former Prime Minister Rafig Hariri is buried.

Beirut is a diverse city; it has been reconstructed numerous times due to war disaster.  You can see these bitter memories in the buildings with bullet holes.  There is even a building in the outskirts of the city that was built using army tanks and is a war memorial.  The city has beautiful churches and mosques.  Behind you are beautiful green luscious mountains and in front of you are the inviting warm clear blue waters of the Mederanean Sea.   The people of Beirut live for the moment.    The vibe of the city is a little crazy with maniac drivers, air pollution, universities and cafes.

We went for a drive to North of Lebanon to see the protected Cedar trees of Lebanon.  We went to Byblos which is not the night club on Oxford Street but a gorgeous little port town with ancient Roman ruins.

We hired a local taxi for the day and he took us to Beitadine which is the Kings Palace, a gorgeous palace with fine Arabian architecture.  We then we to Assar Mousa which is Moses’ Castle.  This castle was built by a local man named Moses.  He was not wealthy but wanted a castle.  Everyone told him he was dreaming and would never be able to build a castle.  He also wanted to build it to win the love of a lady.  Little by little, stone by stone, he built his castle.  Each stone has a carved representation of Lebanese life.  The castle is a museum with life size statues of people living the Lebanese lifestyle, baking bread, dancing the dabke, a classroom at school.  Maroun’s mum went to school with this man; she mentioned that he was always getting into trouble from the teachers because he was always drawing pictures of people.  He has now lived his dream and he did marry the woman he wanted to impress.

We also went to Baalbek which is probably one of the largest ancient Roman sites in the world.  It would have still been perfectly intact if it hadn’t gone through theft, war and earthquakes.  Baalbek was known in ancient Greek as the City of the Sun.  The site is huge and the highlight would have to be the Temple of Jupiter.   It had 54 columns and now 6 are left standing.  The columns are 20m high with a diameter of 2.2 meters, its considered the largest in the world.

Overall our trip to Lebanon was relaxing and comforting.  We got to meet family and experience the life that my in-laws speak fondly about.  I’m going to miss Aampty Salwa’s over fussing and giving me a nick name of “Gaioola”.  I’ll miss our conversations where neither of us understood each others language but we got by with laughs hugs and kisses.

I’ll miss the gorgeous little Angela’s persistence with teaching me the Arabic alphabet.  She was such a strict teacher and I bet she’ll grow up to be a fine student, and perhaps a fine teacher.  When I’m home she has even assured me that I’ll have homework by correspondence!!!!

To my new Lebanese family, thank you for welcoming me into your homes and into your family.  I wish I could have communicated with you better but I hope in my next visit I’ll have learnt some Arabic and be able to impress you with conversation.  To Coco, I hope your visa comes in quickly so we can see you in Australia.  To Charbel, Shady, Marianna and Fadi, you now have 2 excuses to come to Australia, one to visit me, and the other to visit your sister Coco.  Good luck with your studies and I wish you every success.  To Emily, Amanda and Angela, you are the most gorgeous girls.  Big hugs to you and perhaps we’ll see you in Australia soon.  Be good and study hard.  To Susan and Foued, thank you for all the time you spent with us showing us around.  It was a pleasure to be in your company.

No more tears, we have more adventures to follow, next stop India….

After a bus ride from Sinai and a ferry ride over the red sea and lots of confusion about passports and visas, wed arrived in Jordan to be greeted by our Jordanian guide Omar.
Our fist night we stayed in a port town called Aqaba. It was a gorgeous town, it had a little castle there and we were surprised at how western this little Middle Eastern town was. We went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant and roamed the streets. We were greeted by locals who liked to spark up conversation, and then before you know it we were best friends hugging and kissing!!!!

The next day we travelled to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is in the southern dessert and it is a spectacular landscape of dessert. It’s famous for the explorer and the movie Lawrence of Arabia and there are many monuments named after Lawrence. When we got there we watched a presentation about the dessert and the types of vegetation and animals found. We then went to a museum then hopped on the back of 4 wheelers and explored. There are beautiful rock cliffs made from granite and limestone, the most famous mountain being The Seven Pillars of Wisdom quoted by T E Lawrence “No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry, however faint, the imprint of the desert, the bind which marks the nomad; and he will have within him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his nature. For this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperature clime can match”. We stopped the vehicles and ran up the sand dunes. We took out shoes off and the sand was soft and silky between our toes. It was gorgeous. We stopped at a Bedouin tent to have a cup of tea; we were so pleased with the tea that we all bought a packet. The tea was a mixture of sage leaves, cinnamon bark, cardamom seeds and black tea, just delicious.
We found that in Jordan, Maroun was treated like a King. Before I go into that I must explain that Jordan has Kings and Queens, and the people of Jordan have the utmost respect for them. King Hussein was the father of the current King Abdullah. Everyone has pictures of both Kings in their shops and restaurants because they were great Kings helping the people of Jordan, especially the poor, providing housing and work. Back to King Maroun. It seems that Jordanians love Lebanese people. As soon as Maroun spoke a little Arabic, or mentioned he was Lebanese, we were treated differently. It’s not like we were treated badly to begin with, Jordan is lovely and the people are lovely, but they seemed to get more excited when speaking with Maroun!!!!
That evening we drove to Petra…….
On arrival to the Petra site I was so excited to be there. I have seen pictures of Petra as a child and it has always been a dream of mine to go. Now I was here and I was getting very excited. There was India Jones memorabilia everywhere as this is where parts of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade were filmed. We got to the site and walked a long way till we got to the East/West cliffs. You almost wouldn’t even know there was an entrance to this site here. We walked between the cliffs and you could see the way they were shaped that they were once joined many thousands of years ago. Along the way we could see draining systems, dams that were built, wild fig trees and a lot of Bedouin flying past us on horses. Then on exiting from the cliffs there was a large opening and the most magnificent carving of a palace I’ve ever seen. It’s funny, it’s a large grand palace carved from the rock face, but going through the door it is only a small room. Of course though that if there were more excavations there may be more to be found. No one really knows what these carved palaces were meant to be, but studies presume they could have been places of worship, or tombs. Petra was a trading city, trading between all the Arabian countries and evidence shows that there were even trades from China. People came in their caravans and camped out stocking up on oil and all sorts of items for business. It was a hidden city, yet a marvelous and mystical place. We wondered around and met the son of Marguerite Van ……. Who wrote the book “Married to Bedouin”. Bedouin is a Jordanian tribe predominantly from Petra who lived in the caves around the rocks of Petra. Marguerite was a Kiwi born traveller who came to Petra, met a man, fell in love and stayed here with him, had a family and settled into the Bedouin lifestyle. I purchased a signed copy of her book from her son, who has lived in both New Zealand and Australia and has an Aussie accent!!! We had a huge lunch then took the walk/climb up to the monastery. There is no monastery but it’s the highest point in Petra, and some years ago monks lived there. It took as an hour and a half to walk up there, but it was worth it, the view was amazing and there were more carved palaces along the way.
We took the famous Kings Highway all the way to Amman. This highway is of great historical and religious significances. It was been around for over 3000 years and has been traversed by the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt en route to the Promised Land, Nabateans to and from Petra, Christian pilgrims to Moses’ memorial at Mt Nebo, Crusaders to their castle fortifications and Muslim pilgrims heading to and from Mecca.
Along the highway we stopped at Dana Nature Reserve where we looked over the Wadi Mujib valley. There we stopped at a little local store where products are made by local women. This was an incentive that was run by Queen Nora in order to help the women in the communities make sweets, soaps and jewelry to sell in tourist shops and provide them with some work. Our next stop was in Karak and we visited a Crusaders castle which is a fortress that dominates the town. It has seen battles between the Crusaders and the Islamic armies. We then continued along and stopped to view a famous mosaic in St George’s Church in Madaba. The Church is a 19th-century Greek Orthodox Church. This famous mosaic is one of an original map of Jerusalem. This mosaic was lost over time due to earth quakes and whatever is left of it the current church has been built around it. The mosaic is estimated to have been constructed in 560AD.
Our final stop for the day was Mt Nebo the mountain where God showed Moses the Promised Land and where Moses died. “On that same day the LORD told Moses, “Go up into the Abrim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel” Deuteronomy 32:48-52. From this mountain we could see into Israel in the direction of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We could also see the Dead Sea.
That evening we arrived in Amman, we cleaned up and went for a walk to a restaurant called Wild Jordan which overlooked the city and watched the sunset sipping tea. We then walked over to a local pizza place for dinner.
The next day we went to the ruins of Jerash. This ancient city rose to prominence from the time of Alexander the Great (333 BC). We entered the city through Hadrian’s Arch which is a Triumphal Arch. The highlight of this ancient city was the South Theatre. It was built between AD 81 and 96. It could seat 5000 spectators and now can hold around 3000. The ancient people who built this theatre were truly amazing; the acoustics that come from the theatre are astonishing. We could feel the acoustics from standing off centre and speaking normally, then standing in the centre and speaking, and feeling the echo and vibrations through the theatre.
We then headed off to the Dead Sea. This was an amazing experience. Firstly after arriving to a resort and getting comfortable on a lido, we walked down to the Sea. There was a man selling mineral mud, e we paid him 1 Dinar and we covered ourselves in black mud. This mud is full of minerals and very good for your skin. Once it dried we washed ourselves off in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is very salty; you don’t want to get any water in your eyes. It makes all your bits feel tingly. Also the Dead Sea makes you buoyant, you just float, and you cannot sink. We bobbed around for a while then we had to get out because it’s very salty. We spent the rest of the day by the pool at the resort smoking shisha’s.
Our final day in Amman wasn’t very exciting. We were there during Ramadan and all the shops and cafes were closed which made it very hard to find food. We chilled out in our hotel till it was sunset then we went out for food.
Next stop Lebanon……

From Cairo and with a different crew we took a 7 hour bus ride to St Catherine. On the ride we took the tunnel under the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal runs through Egypt separating Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula. It links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea and is big business in Egypt. The canal is big enough to support the largest ships in the world. It is a short cut and ships pay large tolls to get through there, but it would save days of travel time than having to go around Africa. On arrival to our gorgeous little hostel we had dinner and sat around drinking tea and telling stories before going to bed in a Beduin tent. We had an early rise in the morning 1:30am to climb Mt Sinai.
We arrived at the bottom of the mountain and started our climb around 2:30am. We were met by a local guide who climbeb up with us, his name was also Mohammad. There are two ways to climb Mt Sinai, the camel trail, and the steps of redemption. Just by the name we decided on taking the camel trail. On the camel trail there are many stops along the way with little huts serving tea, coffee, chocolate, water and soft drinks. They were great resting places. Also along the way there are many camels you can take almost to the top. There were 800 steps that took us to the summit once you reached the end of the trail at 2100 mtrs above sea level.
One step at a time, 2400m and 3 hours later we made it to the top to view the most wonderful sunrise ever. At the top there were heaps of people, even some African’s singing harmonious religious tunes. It was an uplifting experience.
Mt Sinai has a huge religious history. This is the mountain that Moses climbed to receive the 10 commandments from God. At the top of the mountain there is a small chapel. After watching the spectacular sunrise and resting our limbs we started the trek back down the mountain, only this time it took around an hour and a half.
Feeling exhausted we returned to our rooms, had breakfast then had a nap before heading to our next destination, Jordan……………………

Aswan & Abu Simbel

Aswan is Egypt’s southernmost city and most of the people there come from the old land of Nubia.  On arrival to Aswan we had a moment to freshen ourselves and we took a boat ride across the Nile to Philae Temple.  This temple was based on Philae Island and with the construction of the old dam then started to become swamped with water.  In around 1972 after the completion of the high dam which we also visited, Philae temple was then moved.  They had to build a wall around it to get the water out and fill it up with sand and cut it into 42000 pieces and move it , stone by stone to almost its exact original state on a nearby island.

The temple had all the characteristics of an Ancient Egyptian temple with the First and Second Pylon and outer and inner temple.  The temple was for the God Isis but  there was also a smaller temple for her husband and brother Osiris.  I have to tell you the story of Isis and Osiris.  Isis was the God of magic.  Iris and Osiris were Brother and Sister Gods and they were in love with each other and got married.  Then their evil brother Seth which is also Isis` twin got very jealous and killed Osiris and put his body in a coffin and threw it in the Nile, but because Isis is the Goddess of magic she went and got the body out of the coffin and bought him back to live.  Later on Seth was still very jealous he killed Osiris again, this time cutting his body into 14 pieces and disturbing them around Egypt and his manhood was thrown in the Nile and a catfish ate it.  Therefore when Isis found all the pieces of his body to put him back together there was a piece missing and she couldn’t bring him back to life.   This is why at the smaller temple of Osiris there were 14 pillars to represent the number of pieces scattered around Egypt.

The next day we had a very early ride to catch the police convoy to Abu Simbel which is south of Aswan.   It is in the middle of the dessert but what was very surprising was a huge artificial lake which is the world’s largest called Lake Nasser that lifted the scenery.  The  4 hour drive took us to a spectacular site which was worth the trip, the Great Temple of Ramses II.   Ramses II was the longest serving Pharaoh in ancient Egypt.  It was found that he had around 120 children of what was recorded but he could have had many more.  Of course this was not with one wife but many.  Ramses II had this temple carved out of the mountain to appear in a God like fashion to receive the respect and worship from the Nubians.

That evening we headed back to Aswan and boarded the ship for the Nile River Cruise for the next 3 nights.  As the ship wasn’t heading off till the next day, that evening we went to Elephantine Island to have a Nubian dinner with a Nubian family.  We took a small boat to the island, there we saw donkeys running freely, new homes built for the Nubian’s by the government as they lost their homes from the building of the high dam.   We went to a school where our guide Mohammad gave has a history lesson and we all sat in the school chairs and listened like eager students.  We watched the sunset from the roof top and went to a Nubian home and tasted the delicious cuisine.

Edfu

We sailed up the Nile while we were sleeping then stopped briefly in Edfu to visit the Temple of Horus. At the entrance of the temple are two large falcon heads which represents Horus.  Ok, so now I have to  explain the story of Horus.  The God’s Osiris and Isis had a son Horus, Isis was worried her evil brother Seth would kill her son so she took him and hid behind the sacred sycamore tree until he was 20 years old then she told him about his father’s death and she asked him for revenge.  Then Horus and his Uncle Seth had 3 battles the first one nothing really happened, the second one Horus lost one eye and cut his uncles groin, then he went back to his mother with one eye, since she is the Goddess of Magic she cast a spell and gave him the eye of protection which is now a well-known symbol in Egypt.  The magic eye recognises evil in any shape or form.  Then the third battle happened here in the spot of the Edfu temple.  What happened was his evil uncle Seth took the shape of a hippo, but Horus with his enchanted eye recognised him while he was getting ready to attack Horus.  Therefore in the temple there are drawings of Horus attacking the Hippo, Horus then became a worrier God because he fought against evil himself and won.   In this temple there is a passage of victory with carvings on the Falcon headed Horus stabbing a smaller Hippopotamus which was his evil Uncle Seth.

After visiting the temple we got back on the boat and sailed away.  We spent the afternoon hanging by the pool, it was great to relax.  That evening on the boat we had an Arabian dance party.    All the boys got dressed up in their gallabaiah’s and head scarf and the girls wore kaftans and belly dancing outfits.  We all looked rather amusing wearing our costumes and dancing on the dance floor.  We played some games to get the night going, it was a lot of fun.

Luxor

The next day we arrived in Luxor and visited Karnak Temple.  Karnak temple is gigantic, you would need days to visit everything at this site.  There is what you’d expect from a temple, plus more, pylons, sanctuaries, kiosks and obelisks.  Here at this temple was a pillar with a Giant Scarab.  This pillar would represent fertility. If one walks around the pillar 10 times in an anti-clock-wise direction it would make them more fertile.  So off I went walking round 10 times.

The next day in Luxor we took a boat ride to the west bank, then a donkey ride to the Valley of the Kings.  The donkey ride was hilarious, none of us could really control our donkeys.  Maroun’s donkey started to charge into a bunch of other donkey’s and Maroun got his foot caught in another donkey’s saddle and fell off the back of his donkey in a pile of smoke and rubble.  He landed on his bum but his camera was safe.  Then as he looked up he had another heard of donkeys coming at him so he had to commando roll out of the way, whilst still protecting his camera.  It was hilarious.  He’s still in pain!

The Valley of the Kings was definitely an amazing experience.  He we visited 3 tombs, Ramses I, Ramses IV, Ramses IX.  The tombs are underground carved from under Limestone Mountains.  The details of the paintings and decorations in the tombs were amazing.  The sarcophagus were left in all the tombs but the mummies are in a museum.   The tomb of Tutankhamen was at the Valley of the Kings however we didn’t go to see it as his tomb was very basic and all his treasures we had seen at the Egyptian museum.

After the Valley of the Kings we visited Habu Temple in honour of Ramses III.  This temple was different because when Ramses III took over he knew that his predecessors would deface his name and etch theirs, therefore his drawings and cartouche were carved deeply that way no other king could place their name.

That evening we took the train back to Cairo…………..

Cairo is the capital of Egypt; it is hot, dusty, full of crazy driver s and home to the famous Giza Pyramids.  On our arrival to Egypt we stayed at the Hilton and was upgraded to a 3 bedroom suite.  It had 4 bathrooms, maids’ quarter and a kitchen.  We would lose each other in the place that’s how big it was.  It was nice staying there and hanging by the pool for some R&R after Europe and before starting our tour.  One evening on our stay we headed out to the sound and light show at the pyramids.  After several misunderstandings with our taxi driver we finally made it to Giza just to have a man jump into our taxi and sell us a camel ride.  After telling us the prices we agreed to join him, then once on the camel he upped the price by about 2000%.   After screaming at him telling him we want to leave, he then agreed to his original price.  We made it to the sound and light show, although it was pretty tacky it was nice to see the pyramids at night.  After that adventure we decided to stay in the comfort of the Hilton until our tour.

On our 4^th day we met our tour group.  We had a nice mixed bag of Aussies, American’s and Canadian’s.  The first day of the tour we went back to the pyramids, this time actually going into them.  There are 6 pyramids in Giza which are the sole survivors of the ancient wonders of the world.  The largest pyramid is called the Great Pyramid which was tomb for Cheops; it’s absolutely huge at 146m high.  The tip of this pyramid had a gold top but past rulers removed them for other buildings and monuments so a stick stands in its place so you can visualize the actual height of it.  Beside the great pyramid is a smaller pyramid which was built for Cheops` mother.  Although she also had another pyramid in another part of Egypt beside his father’s tomb.  Since these pyramids held personal possessions of the deceased the mother had 2 separate tombs so that she cannot be found.  The second largest pyramid is also in Giza is that of Khafre, and on this pyramid you can still see part of the limestone casing.  All the pyramids had a lime stone casing on it, however over time it has eroded and also stolen.

We then went to the Egyptian Museum where we saw the treasures found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, along with many other sculptures and mummies.

That evening we got on the night train for a very cold and uncomfortable ride to Aswan in Upper Egypt……………………

We came back to Cairo from the overnight train from Luxor.  Our last day in Cairo we got on some Jeeps and headed to the Western Dessert.  We traveled for about an hour on the road, then 3 hours off road.  We stopped along the way to see some old tree fossils.  We headed out to a very remote place, to an open air museum called the Valley of the Wales.  Here we saw fossils of very old Wales back from about 40million years ago.  It has been discovered that the whole of the dessert was once an ocean, ancient mangroves, tree fossils and shells have been found along with bones from large sea creatures.  It was a very long day and a very bumpy ride, we were glad to get back.  That evening was the last evening as a group as we were meeting new members of the group on our way to Jordan and we were losing some members who were heading in another direction.  We had a lovely evening, and watched a local make bread.  I even had a go at throwing the bread in the oven.  First shot was pretty bad but second shot went well.

We arrived in Paris in the afternoon and headed out to buy some supplies as we had our own kitchen.  That night we headed out to the Eiffel Tower to see it by night.  The crowds were huge and street sellers were approaching selling souvenirs.  We indulged in a delicious crepe and watched the Eiffel Tower perform its sparkling light show on the hour.

The next day after waking up very late, we headed to the Louvre Museum.   The Louvre Museum is absolutely huge and very easy to get lost.  We walked through French Sculptures, Ancient Egyptian Statues and Italian Paintings until we got to the Mona Lisa.  Fighting the crowds for a glimpse was rather frustrating, but that is the price you pay when going in the middle of summer.

After the Louvre we walked around a street fair then saw a little bicycle carriage, we decided to take a ride as our feet were killing us.  We were toured round Paris, through St Michael and Notre Dame.  We were dropped off at Notre Dame but it was too late to go up the tower, so we walked around St Michael grabbed a meal and headed home.

The next day we took a stroll up Champs-Élysées which is Paris’ most famous shopping strip to the Arc de Triomphe.  The triumphal arch honors those who fought for France from World War 1.  The monument is huge it’s the second largest triumphal arch in the world, it’s almost 50m high 45m wide and 22m deep.

The day after we went back to Notre Dame and after a 2 hour wait in the queue we climbed the tower for spectacular views of Paris.  Notre Dame de Paris (‘Our Lady of Paris’ in French) is a Gothic cathedral.  Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. We climbed the 400 steps to the Chimera gallery; it’s about 46 meters above ground.  There are statues of little creatures all around the balustrade such as gargoyles, fantastic birds, hybrid beasts and mythical monsters each having their own individual look and name, all there to protect the cathedral.   We also saw the cathedrals largest bell which weights over 13 tons.  This famous monument was the setting for the novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback from Notre Dame.

We then stopped off for lunch where Maroun indulged in Frogs legs provincial style, which is wine, garlic and tomato.  He loved it, dangling their little legs before slurping off their delicate meat off their tiny little bones, of course while I sat there and watched in distaste.   He says the texture is between chicken and fish and although the flavour is not strong it does have its own unique taste.  The food in France was delicious, we indulged in croissants, baguettes, cheese, crème brule`, chocolate fondant, eclairs, crepes both sweet and savoury and onion soup.  Maroun however was a little more adventurous indulging in frog’s legs, snails and ostrich.

After our lunch adventure we headed back to the Eiffel Tower.  It’s an iron tower built during 1887-1889 beside the Seine River in Paris. The Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris and it is the most visited paid monument in the world.  The structure stands at 324m high.  It was the world’s largest tower until 1930.  There were lifts that took us to the first level, then another lift that took us to the second level, then there are some steps that take up to the upper observation deck from where you can see unhindered views of Paris.

The next day we had an, admin day, contacting family, updating posts, posting stuff home and packing as we were due to leave the next day.  However that night we frocked up and went to a spectacular spectacular performance at the Moulin Rouge.  Moulin Rouge is French for Red Windmill which is its most famous icon that stands on its roof.  This is where the modern can-can dance originated by the seductive courtesans who operated there.  We enjoyed the musical dance performance; it was much like a very classy drag show with real boobs.

Next stop…… Cairo….

We arrived in Lourdes at midday and it was extremely hot.  There was 40° heat and not a very comfortable experience.

Lourdes is situated in south western France and is a small market town, famous for the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous.

Bernadette’s life was rather simple before the apparitions.  She was the daughter of a miller and in 1854 the family was reduced to extreme poverty as a result of a work accident to her father making him unable to work.  Her father was also wrongly accused for stealing 2 sacks of flour; the family had to take refuge in a disused prison cell.

When Bernadette was 14, unable to read or write, she had an extraordinary experience.  On the 11^th February 1858, Bernadette and her sister were collecting firewood in a cave when Bernadette heard a sound like a gust of wind.  “Lifting her head, she saw, in the crevice of the rock, a young girl, surrounded by light, who looked at her and smiled”.  She reported 18 apparitions of “a small young lady.”

Despite initial skepticism from the Roman Catholic Church, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief.

Lourdes is now a major site for pilgrimage, attracting millions of Catholics each year.  The Roman Catholic Church has officially recognised 67 miraculous healings which are stringently examined for authenticity and authentic miracle healing with no physical or psychological basis other than the healing power of the water. We saw people filling up gallons of water bottles for its healing powers.  We saw lots of sick and injured people coming to pray for a miracle.

We went to the grotto where there is a large statue of Our Lady and there is the running water which we filled up for our own spiritual healing.

We visited the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes which has a huge square that can accommodate 25,000 people.  The Sanctuary is lovely with a large outdoor staircase with a smaller chapel on top.  There were beautiful mosaics inside and out.

It was a strengthening experience visiting Lourdes to reaffirm our Catholic beliefs.

Next stop…… Cairo….

The drive to San Sebastian from Fatima was very long; however with the carefree roads here we managed to cut the trip by an hour taking 7 hours to get there.  The drives are pretty good, we stopped every 2 hours to change drivers and have a snack at the refreshment bars at the Auto stops.

We arrived in San Sebastian early evening, and we checked into our hotel.  It wasn’t a hotel per say, it was a university dormitory which they used for tourists during the university break to earn extra cash for the student union.   Because this was a dormitory, it was very sterile.  No pretty bedspreads, curtains and a daggy painting on the wall, just all white wash.  We did have a kitchen which proved very handy as we were not satisfied with Spanish food that it was much tastier and convenient to make our own.  After we settled in, we headed to the supermarket to stock up on food for the next few days.  That night I made delicious creamy pasta and then we crashed out.

The next day we woke up terribly late, and the weather looked overcast.  We felt so lazy that we vegged out in our room for most of the day.  I made us a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomato and zucchini.  We spent our day doing the admin things like updating blogs and getting in touch with family.  Then we finally got out of the house and went for a drive in town.  That evening we went to a Bull Fight.

I really don’t get the Spanish, they are mad mans!!!!  Although we tried to get into the atmosphere of the Bull Fight, we were left feeling mortified at the treatment of the Bulls.  It really is a ruthless game, and I don’t understand what people are cheering for!!!!  The matadors are treated like movie stars, I just don’t understand why.  Here is our side of the story.  There are a team of 11 men and 2 horses against one bull.  The main matador is the guy who kills the bull in the end, he has 6 apprentices who tire the bull out by dancing around, there are two guys on horses who do the initial stabbing, then two other guys who stab the bull.  This is how it works……

The 6 apprentice matadors are out on the field all dressed up with pink capes.  The bull gets released into the ground looking very confused about where he is.  He looks around at the audience as we all cheer.  Then the apprentice matadors start to torment the bull.  The bull starts to charge and them.  They dance around the bull, sometimes running and hiding behind a wooden wall.  This goes on for a while.  The closer the bull gets to the matador the louder the crowd cheers.  Then the horses come out with men on top.  The horses are blind folded and padded and the men hold a large long spear.  After some research we found that the horses are slightly drugged, not sure if this still occurs in bull fighting today.  The bull charges toward the horse and hits it.  The horse is padded so there is no injury.  In the old days though the horse was never padded and the bull would tear apart the horse.  The man on the horse then jabs the bull with the long spear in the back of the neck a few times.  The purpose of this is to tear and wound the neck and shoulder muscles, so the bull lowers his head and he can’t raise it high when charging.  The horses then leave the ground and the 6 apprentice matadors continue tiring him out.  Then come out the two matadors who don’t hold capes but 2 short decorated spring types’ spears.  One at a time they call out to the bull and the bull charges for them, they jump out of the way and stab the bull in the back of the neck and the crowd cheers.  Then the 6 apprentice continue to tire out the bull.  Then finally the master matador comes out on stage, he makes a grand entrance with a red cape and arm in the air.  He throws his cap to the ground and starts to torment the bull.  The bull gets revved up by stamping his front foot, and then charges at him.  The matador prances around and the crowd goes off.  Maroun and I are still confused about what all the fuss is about, and a little mortified at the treatment of this animal.  The master matador is looking for recognition from the crowd; he performs tricks with the bull, and has a flare in his performance.  He is also holding a very long sharp sword.  When the time comes, the matador stabs the bull in the back of the neck and penetrates the sword all the way in.  A good matador would reach the bulls heart and cut the aorta.  The bull then drops to the ground and dies, and the crowd cheers.   Then the cleanup crew come in, 3 horses and a bunch of men who assess the bull, if the bull is not completely dead, they stab in in the brain until its dead.  Then if the matador’s performance was astounding the bull’s ear is cut then given to the matador as a trophy.   The bull then gets dragged out by the horses, in some cases if the bull was very good and found to be courageous we was dragged around the whole ground for the crowd to see and cheer waving white handkerchiefs.  The matador then comes in and walks the ground, the crowd cheering, throwing flowers at him, and scarves for him to pick up and throw back at him, complete movie star treatment.  We left the Bull Fight, still dazed and confused about the whole event.  Some parts of Spain are phasing out Bull Fighting, and I can see why.

The next day, once again we woke up very late and vegged out.  We got into this lazy habit, but I think we needed the rest.  Around 5 in the afternoon we finally got out of the house and walked to the old town.  It was the week of the San Sebastian festival, so there was a lot happening in the town.  We walked around, ate some tapas in the bars, and had a few beers and an ice cream.   We walked through a fair with rides.  There were extremely large people parading in the streets slapping us with ham skins.  It was a great vibe and atmosphere.

The next day we headed to the beach and spent the whole day there, it was almost dark when we got home.   Then we had an early night as the next day we headed to our next stop Lourdes……

A long and winding drive got us to Praiano which is in between Positano and
Amalfi.  We stayed in a great hotel with a balcony and wonderful views of the coast.  I could’ve   stayed here for ever.

On arrival we dumped our bags and headed straight for the beach.  It’s not easy getting to the beach, you need to walk down a million steps, and when you get there, there is concrete everywhere and pebbles.  At least you don’t get sand up your crack but is painful walking into the water.  The beach was tiny and the water was lovely to splash around.  It was packed full of locals, even the old Nonna’s were having a splash.

That evening we caught the local bus to Positano, strolled around the town and had some dinner.  Let me tell you, these bus rides leave you feeling green.  They race around the bends heavy on the breaks, every time I got off the bus it left me with my head spinning and my tummy churning.

The next day we went to Amalfi and spent the day on the beach.  We had to pay $15 Euro for a lido, so we spent the whole day there to get our money’s worth.  It’s essential to get a lido, it’s comfortable on the rocky beaches and the umbrellas protect you from the burning sun.  We spent the day splashing around, and working on our tans.  Maroun turned into a Lobster.  Ahhhh the life.  Oh we also bought a packet of UNO and played to occupy our time.

It truly is a kick back lifestyle on the Amalfi coast.

Next stop, family time, Sicilia….

We drove from Florence to Assisi through the lovely country side.  Imagine rolling hills, old country homes and fields of sunflowers, just as you would imagine the Italian country side to be.

We arrived at our hotel in Bastia Umbria at about 3 in the afternoon then headed out to Assisi.  We strolled through the tiny town, down its narrow cobblestone streets. We stopped for a pastry and almost chocked on it after finding out how much it cost.  Can you believe a biscuit cost 6 Euro’s???? That is almost $12 Aussie dollars.  I almost fell for the sheer ordasity of it.

That aside we continued browsing through the town.  We arrived at the Piazza San Francesco where there were amazing views of the Umbria region.  We visited the cathedral of San Francesco and took the steps down to his tomb.  We were humbled to experience being there in his prescence where the body of St Francis, the saint of all creatures lays to rest in peace.  It was a surreal experience, probably one of the most holy experiences I have ever had.

The Umbria region is in the middle of Italy so there is no coast line.  Let me tell you it was terribly hot.  On our return to the hotel, we went for a dip in the pool, which we thought was part of the hotel.  Until the pool keeper told us that it’s free to use the pool but we had to purchase pool caps for 5 Euro’s each.  At this stage I was sick of these Italian’s ripping us off, I told him where he could shove his pool cap and we had a cold shower instead.

The evening was spent in darkness, as the hotel had a blackout.

That was pretty much it for Assisi, now to chill on the Amalfi coast….