Hi All,
Spent the day essentially in the hotel room recovering. Was nice to just lay around and read a book and relax. Even wove a new watch band for Vanessa as her 'genuine' leather one from Rio de Janeiro broke. We needed and enjoyed the rest with our persistent chest problems.
The noise from the road is really bad. The horns tooting is continuous for most of the day and night but we seem to have got used to it. Well at least accepted that we aren't changing rooms. Bit of a bugger as the toilet leaks each time it flushes then washes down the shower drain. Hmmm.
Last day in Cairo. Decided to go to islamic cairo. Amazing navigation skills got us to exactly where we wanted to be for once despite the street signs and map names having no correlation. It was only a 1km walk and we got there early with most shops shut. The first mosque we passed invited us in and we paid a heftly 30EGP for a look around and to climb the minaret. The 'guide' then asked Vanessa for 20EGP backsheesh(bribe) and I gave him 2EGP with a smile. He kept asking for 5EGP but we just smiled and left rather annoyed. So we decided there would be no more money spent going to mosques in the area. Walked out to the citadel. This was 50EGP each but we were lucky and the pyramids could clearly be seen beyond the city and also gave a great view of islamic cairo.
The stone carving of the mosques in islamic cairo is so detailed and beautiful. It is a shame that the pollution has left a dirty cover on much on the building.
We wandered back to islamic cairo and had a chat to a couple of people who had been lucky enough to get sponsored to quilt conventions in Australia and America then headed for the markets to attempt to find some gifts for family. It was not to be. We were swamped with choice and eager egyptians trying to sell us their wares but we never managed to stop long enough to find anything that we liked. Guess it will have to wait for Morocco.
I really enjoyed the outing today.
Tomorrow we fly to Casablanca.
Bye,
David & Vanessa
